Taxi cabs

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mainetrunk

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I have always seen uhf antenna's on taxi's. I had 2 at once on a local LTR system, but no longer. Have they gone Verizon, or something phone related?.
 

N9NRA

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I have always seen uhf antenna's on taxi's. I had 2 at once on a local LTR system, but no longer. Have they gone Verizon, or something phone related?.

Around here they went to DMR (Mototurbo) on uhf i believe. Mabey they went DMR in your area too, do they still have the antennas on the cabs? They also could be using a Direct Connect system too. Good luck.
 

W8RMH

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Many taxis are using Taxi Dispatch Systems, with GPS tracking, in-car phones, and intelligence systems which email managers of instances of speeding, diversion from standard routes, excessive idling, etc. Customers can even book a cab via online or smart phone and see the cab's location.

The discontinuation of voice dispatching eliminates the possibilty of the competition stealing their calls. I dispatched taxi's back in the 70s and this was the biggest problem. We often had to dispatch one to a nearby intersection or business then give them the actual address at the last minute. [Example: "Cab 406 call me at Fourth & Main". "Cab 406 @ Fourth & Main". "Cab 406, 201 Fourth St. for Mr. Smith".]
 
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br0adband

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Here in Las Vegas we've got one or two in the 150 MHz VHF range, one or two in the 450 UHF range, and one or two in the 850 MHz UHF range nowadays as well, something like 11 companies all together with some consolidation going on between them, several owned by one but still doing business as (DBA) or by the other name, etc and using the same radio dispatch comms.

I haven't noted any moving to DMR as of yet but that could change. Dispatching is still done primarily by voice, with backups using cellular phones, but I've yet to be in a cab by any of the local companies where there's no actual verbal radio comms but it might happen someday. They do have data being sent by MDTs, however, but it's not the primary form of dispatch, just a confirmation of sorts and also the data circuits are used for credit card processing/order tracking/etc.

Can be some interesting stuff to monitor on occasion, especially on a holiday weekend like this one which is already underway...
 

k1agh

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This is Maine I think he is talking about. Most of the companies use vhf/uhf and cell phones to dispatch.
 

Project25_MASTR

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I know some of the casinos were running DMR but are now upgrading to Icom's IP radio. When I was there in March it looked like analog Icoms for the cabs I rode in.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

mainetrunk

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In the Dover NH area, there WAS 1 cab company back in 2005, heard them on and off for years.. last year I heard another cab Co. announce it's ID- as Dixie cab.. I let it go, and when I went back there to the LTR system they were on, no cab talk.. Now, these other cabs have showed up with no antenna's on them.
The cab co's. that was the Quimby LTR system at Mt. Aggementicus. 1-05-085 was Sunshine cab.. 1-05-196 was Dixie cab.
I hate DMR
 

kc4jgc

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In southeast Virginia, there are some that are using LTR trunk systems. There is a cab conglomerate that has UHF antennas on their cars but appears to be 100% data dispatch much like what W8RMH has described along with cell phones. Those cab companies that are still using voice dispatch will ask for available cabs in a particular area; then will give the closest driver a phone to call. Impossible to determine what's the cab company.

The old taxi full duplex pairs on vhf seem to be no longer in use; locally one of the old pairs has a repeater now that seems to be a shuttle service for a local medical provider.
 

MTS2000des

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Around metro Atlanta, NXDN, MotoTRBO and analog LTR dominate the taxi world. A few taxi services still use conventional VHF/UHF split base, some on repeaters.

Most have gone to MDT/CAD type solutions but even those that have still have a radio for backup. Since state law specifically excludes two-way radio use from the distracted driving state law, this makes it a popular choice. We have many cab services aimed at Hispanic customers, and most all of them are on UHF NXDN or LTR systems operated by Georgia Fleet Talk.

I don't see two way radios completely going away, they are cheap (GFT is around $15 a month for basic dispatch), and since as they say, operation of cell phones in commercial vehicles is prohibited by state law, a two way is a logical choice.

Georgia FleetTalk
 

mainetrunk

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I completely forgot about the 1 in Concord NH. On a 935 MO: system.. ID 304. I have it on manual roght now to see if they are still there. i hear 2 entities, not the cab yet..
( off subject here ) there are 4 analog 935 system's around me, and I got so much going on, I haven't paid them much attention.. Seems like for every analog MO: signal I hear, there is also a TRBO signal too..

I -know- there are cab companies in Concord. Just ---phased out---..? i'll let you know if I ever hear 1 again in The Me/NH line

Meanwhile, I gotta see if those other 935 systems are still used or not..
 

mainetrunk

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Well, I scanned all my taxi freq's, including trunked. Nothing heard.
OFF TOPIC--the 935 stsytems I heard are still there with users. No cabs
OK, thanks for the input guy's!!
 

mike_art03a

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I'll chime in here. In my area, we have 2 large metro areas here (Ottawa,Gatineau) with over a dozen cab companies (some are owned by one larger entity) with an interesting mix of comms setups. In Ottawa, most (if not all) the cabs are equipped with data terminals that are linked to a 800mhz EDACS radio. Their dispatch is exclusively done via MDTs or cell phone if the cabbie's radio died or some other issue. They also have a dedicated voice channel that the dispatches will use occaisionally to talk to cabbies, but it's mostly done via the data terminal in the car.

In gatineau, most of the companies still use analog radio for dispatch (as I can pick 'em up on my little Baofeng) in the VHF spectrum. Some are using digital radio for voice as well. The exceoption in area is Bob Taxi, they use MDTs exclusively for dispatch, but they are using an IP System as all their cars MDTs have an LTE USB dongle connected to them. The cars all have rados for backup dispatch if their IT systems go down (or Rogers is having network issues, which isn't uncommon).

Here's the MDT I've seen most of them use, there's a color touchscreen version one, but I haven't had luck finding it yet: Series 2008 MDT « mobile-knowledge.com
 

mainetrunk

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Wow... I guess the day's of hearing " check " at the end of each transmission is over.. ( around here anyway ) OK, thanks guy's.. At this rate we'll be scanning for c,b's by 2040
 

mainetrunk

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I did talk to a radio rep, and the word is; cab's can still use a radio. I guess some of them choose not to. a cell problem is easier than a repeater problem. Well, far as I'm concerned, unless anyone has anything to add, subject closed
 
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