wondering how many commercial motorola systems still remain

[wazzzzzzzzup]

i saw the earlier posting about the trunked systems and was wondering, i know that nextel took down thier commercial 800 type 1 trunked systen several years ago, but was wondering how many remain around the us?

my question doesnot need to be restricted to nextel owned type 1 systems, but could be a private company that still has license for 800 freqs and has a type 1 useage.

a second question is do they still allow new customers on thier system?

i was in arlington texas in feb of 2001, and i heard on my scanner an idle type 1 system data so i figure there is atleast one in the us....

[apco25]

Clear channel is operating a Smartzone system in Illinois. Made up of public utility companies they are offering service as a not for profit organization so costs are down. I believe they have 112 freqs and 38 sites in use over about 3/4 of Illinois outside the metro chicago area. Has all sorts of private users on it mostly construction and agricultural. I think Type I is close to being dead. Plenty of Type II 800/900 commercial systems around the country in operation, especially on 900.

[OX]

Good question. Anyone know who is running the old B&C system in Columbus OH? I know it was sold off a couple times and Nextel owned it at some point (maybe still does) but it is still an active system. I was looking to aquire service from this owner for a few portables and mobiles since the system is still up.

[Cat_Herder]

Good question. Anyone know who is running the old B&C system in Columbus OH? I know it was sold off a couple times and Nextel owned it at some point (maybe still does) but it is still an active system. I was looking to aquire service from this owner for a few portables and mobiles since the system is still up.

Bubbasnest, you might want to check with B&C communications....I *think* that they are a direct Nextel company now, it's been a while since I was last in Columbus,OH. (I do know that they maintain the Franklin County communications system for the Police,Fire and Rescue....)BTW, the people at B&C are great to work with....

[bernie]

My two bits worth:
No, Nextell did not aquire all of the Motorola 6809 trunking systems.
There are indeed Motorola trunking systems in service all over the place.
Island SMR has several sites, and systems from here to Gaum.
I was just in Anchorage, and worked on two systems for GCI.
There are also other Motorola systems in Alaska.
There has always been commercial trunking systems not owned or controlled by Motorola.
Not to mention Local Government, hotels, condos, schools and hospitals that have there own trunking systems.
Aloha, Bernie

[Twisted_Pear]

Ignoring 900MHz (there are a ton of the Motos throughout CA), in the California Central Valley area where there is a ton of farm land there are a bunch of Type I systems operating. They're run by Kathleen Jansen(sp?). I think Nextel still runs one or two.

-Wayne

[level42]

We still have one type 1 system here in my little town in South Georgia. Actually I think it's a hybrid system but I can't confirm that right now. It was bought by Nextel from the local Motorola shop. I think that the only reason that it's still up is because there is one particularly weathly company that made a HUGE investment in the system. They are the primary user now and have probably hundreds of radios on it. The Moto shop still maintains it and will not accept any new suscribers on it prefering to put people on their UHF LTR system. It's a shame though, we had 3 really good SMR type 1 systems in this city just 5 years ago. They all saw pretty good use too. Nextel came in and bought out the systems out one at a time. Then they proceeded to buy EVERY remaining 800mhz freq. within 20 miles. I was fairly dissapointed when I heard that the trunk system I used was going to disappear. They didn't allow much time either. It was turned down within a month of the announcement that Nextel had bought it. They left about fifty businessess scrambling for comms. I only had about 6 radios on it, but it did work very well. Excellent coverage with 30 watt maxtracs and mostars. I even had autopatch capibilty. I had no problem talking mobile 45 miles away from the tower. I do miss that system. Most people ended up on Southern Linc, Nextel digital, or cell phones. It really hurt the radio industry around here too. We had 3 mom and pop shops and a Moto shop. Now only the Moto shop and 1 mom and pop remains (they mostly do cell phone installs now). There was a HUGE surplus of type 1 maxtracs and mostars though. Most people gave them away or sold them real cheap. As for my guys we had a few other options so it wasn't a big blow. I do miss the phone patch. I think we're going to try to go back to lowband. There's NOBODY there and i have piles of lowband gear. I think there's 6 lowband licenses within 15 miles of here and maybe three of them actually use their radios. I wonder how had it is to get a lowband freq. these days? Anyone aquired any lowband freqs. recently?
-chall
KG4PUZ

[Twisted_Pear]

I miss those old Type I days in San Diego. We used to have a bunch of them out there. A lot of the time a system would set up a sub for a couple subfleets but the sizecode allowed for more so myself and some friends used them for chit-chatting. Decent coverage too.

-Wayne