FCC Application 0005972614 - ELGIN, CITY OF
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SUPPLEMENTAL INFORMATION
REGARDING
THE CITY OF ELGIN, IL.
REGION 54 FREQUENCY APPLICATION
Section 1 – Service
The City of Elgin submits this application on behalf of its Police and Fire Departments
which  will  use  this  system  subject  to  the  terms  and  conditions  of  the  Starcom21
Subscription Agreement. Use of this system  will also be made available to other City
Agencies.

Section 2 – System Type
This  new  system  will  be  an 8-site  700/800MHz  ASTRO  Project 25  Simulcast System
with  a  9  link  Point-to-Point  (PTP)  microwave  backhaul  network  on  the
STARCOM21network.  It  will  maintain  the  Grade  of  Service  required  by  the
STARCOM21 contract at each of its sites, with 16 dB in-building coverage for the City of
Elgin Public Safety Agencies dispatched by its Main and Backup Dispatch Centers. The
subscribers will use a combination of both mobile and portable radios.
The  City  of  Elgin  has  requested  to  join  STARCOM21  which  will  combine  State
frequencies  with  Elgin  frequencies.    Upon  addition  of  these  frequencies  to  the
STARCOM21 system the City of Elgin will actively use the Starcom21 system for public
safety purposes. The State of Illinois STARCOM21 system is a statewide public safety
radio  system  used  and  governed  by  public  safety  entities  throughout  Illinois  and  is
managed  by  Motorola  Solutions,  Inc.   Motorola  Solutions,  Inc.  maintains  the  radio
infrastructure  of  the  system  and  assists  with  coordination  of  frequencies  into  the
STARCOM21 system. Motorola Solutions, Inc. does not own licenses on the system.
Elgin also has AutoAid and Mutual Aid partners that can come onto the subsystem  the
amount of radios which will be included are:
Kane County Office of Emergency Management  -  4 Streamwood FD  -  30 Streamwood
PD  -  20  Hoffman  Estates  FD  -  42  Hoffman  Estates  PD  -  30  Bartlett  Fire  Protection
DIstrict - 38 South Elgin Fire Protection District - 9 Pingree Grove Fire Protection District
-  3 Rutland Dundee Fire Protection District  -  3 West Dundee FD  -  2 East Dundee Fire
Protection District - 2
The future subscribers coming onto the system is projected to be about 125 additional
subscribers over the next 5 years.
The City of Elgin is requesting that the licenses be granted to enhance the coverage
and interoperability with the State of Illinois. This interoperability will provide enhanced
public safety operations within this region. Granting these frequency requests will allow
the  City  of  Elgin  to  join  the  statewide  STARCOM21  system,  and  allows  Law
Enforcement,  Fire,  and  EMS  agencies  to  significantly  improve  their  public  safety
communications  capabilities.  The  system  is  owned  by  the  vendor;  however,  the
subscriber radios (mobiles and portables) and consoles are owned by the City. The City
of Elgin will license these frequencies in its name for use on the STARCOM21 system.
This  system  uses  Motorola’s  ASTRO  25  digital  platform,  an  FDMA  based  technology
that uses the P25 IMBE vocoder. It supports integrated voice and data applications.

Section 3 – Intersystem Interoperability
The  new  City  of  Elgin  radio  system  will  have  the  ability  to  interoperate  with  existing
public safety agencies using 800 MHz and UHF/ VHF/ low band frequencies.
The 800 MHz users will be able to communicate with City of Elgin STARCOM21 system
users,  such  as  the  Illinois  State  Police,  via  the  five  NPSPAC  821  Mutual  Aid
frequencies. The subscriber units will have the ability to o perate on these channels with
analog operation.
Interoperability between the City and other agencies on UHF or VHF frequencies can be
achieved by having the dispatch operator setup a crosspatch between a talkgroup in the
network  and  the  desired  analog  conventional  channel.  Interoperability  between  the
existing ISPERN and IREACH frequencies will be accomplished in accordance with the
guidelines  outlined  by  each  respective  Governing  Board.   The  Illinois  State  Police  &
Motorola  have  identified  specific  STARCOM21  ISPERN  and  IREACH  talkgroups  that
will allow for interoperability with VHF ISPERN and IREACH users.
City  of  Elgin  subscribers  will  utilize  the  STARCOM21  system  through  talkgroups
dedicated to their specific agencies. Existing STARCOM21 users will be  encouraged to
enter  into  an  intergovernmental  agreement  that  will  allow  for  the  sharing  of  specified
talkgroups to provide for interoperability with other county, state and federal government
users.
Other  non-City  public  safety  &  local  government  agencies  that  subscribe  to  the
STARCOM21 system will be able to interoperate directly with City users.

Section 4 – Channel Loading Factors
These frequencies will be used by 738 units initially. Of these, 409 will be distributed to
the  Police  Department  and  329  to  the  Fire  Department.  Since  trunking  technology
shares  resources  among  all  users,  the  radio  and  microwave  frequencies  the  City  of
Elgin will add to the STARCOM21 network will also support radio traffic of other network
subscribers. This includes 1306 State Police, 3492 DuPage County, 8785 Cook County,
1224  Tollway,  and  1166  McHenry  which  include  neighboring  local  government  Public
Safety Agencies.

Section 5 – Coverage area
This application includes the necessary 40, 25, and 5 dBu contour maps for the City of
Elgin  sites  and  the  current  STARCOM21  sites  located  in  Kane  County.  The  City  is
requesting additional frequencies to support the microwave sites, which include: Plato,
Nessler, Illinois State Police District 2, Shales Water Tank, Elgin Toll, Randall/College
Green  Water  Tank,  120  S.  State  Street  and  both  the  Main  and  Backup  Dispatch
Centers.
The  additional  frequencies  are  necessary  to  provide  the  backhaul  network  and  to
maintain the Grade of Service for the public safety users of the STARCOM21 system.
The contour maps were run on a software program called Hydra. Hydra is an internal
use only software program designed and used by Motorola.
Section 6 – Vacated Frequencies Returned
________________________________________________________________
No frequencies are planned to be vacated at this time.

Section 7 - Implementation Schedule
The City of Elgin plans to roll out all subscribers, 738 users, by October of 2013 when
the system is fully implemented and on the air