Markef
Member
Is this system still active in Texas?
TeamConnect (pdvWireless Connect Plus)
- Thread starter RadioDitch
- Start date
-
- Tags
- pdvwireless teamconnect
- Status
The DFW Sites are gone (although a couple of control channels are still out there, there's zero activity).
As far as the Houston sites, I know someone earlier in this thread mentioned their subscriber radio no longer was working on the system, but I don't think anyone's actually validated them being off the air to remove them from RRDB.
I know both the DART OpenSky in Dallas and United Airlines OpenSky at IAH both have new 800MHz frequency licenses pending for them, since they are part of that rebanding of the 900MHz band (where Anterix is going to get a clean 2.5MHz for broadband services nationwide, but I think they're on the hook to pay for the railroads and everybody else to vacate that 2.5MHz, similar to what Nextel did in the 800MHz band years ago). Based on the applications, it looks like DART is going to stick with OpenSky, while United is going some flavor of DMR.
- Joined
- Dec 15, 2015
- Messages
- 403
I have a legit radio lying around at work that used to be active on that system, I'll bring a battery from home and see if it'll affiliate or anything and see what info I can get then share here, today is my Friday so it'll be a few days
No sites have been active in the Houston area since Jan. I think the system has been deprecated.
Interestingly, I started picking up 936.500 Connect Plus control channel broadcasting the same System ID (435), Site ID (177) and Color Code 0 near Passaic, NJ.
A quick search in FCC didn't reveal any sites near the area, but the license control point is at Woodland Park, NJ, about 5 miles away from where I picked up this site.
No traffic or affiliation heard. Probably someone found some equipment laying around and decided to flip the switch
A quick search in FCC didn't reveal any sites near the area, but the license control point is at Woodland Park, NJ, about 5 miles away from where I picked up this site.
No traffic or affiliation heard. Probably someone found some equipment laying around and decided to flip the switch
Looks like someone deprecated it in August, 2021.
2021-08-31
2021-08-31
TeamConnect Trunking System, Various, Multi-State
TeamConnect Trunking System Profile
www.radioreference.com
- Joined
- Oct 6, 2021
- Messages
- 690
Not so fast, Apparently there is a site near Spring on the air still. Just had a wrecker customer come in to have a mini PL connector put on and after that his radio was talking away. I put one of their spares on the outside antenna and it found a site, but this ID is shut off with "SUID Unknown".
I know several of the Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW) sites have control channels on the air again, but is the system really supporting paying subscribers?
Anterix is keeping most of the frequencies once the rebanding of the 930MHz band completes, and it is likely they may be keeping the control channels active, so they don't get tagged by the FCC for inactivity until such a point they replace the repeaters with the wideband gear that is to replace the TeamConnect Connect Plus system - which of course can't happen until all other licensees are out of their new wideband block. If the controller is online for those sites, some subscriber radios may still affiliate and be using the system rogue, meaning activity is going to be hit or miss, and could stop working again at any time.
They also got 10-year renewals on a bunch of their licenses last year, again likely placeholders until the rebanding is complete. Many of them do not have DMR emissions designators and the ones I'm looking at are using 13K6F3E (900MHz Analog Voice) and 13K6W7W (900Mhz iDEN)
I can tell you from my listening post, where I could hear 4-5 sites before the shutdown, a quick sweep of the band only showed one, and that signal is weaker that it used to be (it happens to also be the closest, about 5 miles line of sight) - it also happened to be outside the frequency band that Anterix is keeping (Control Channel 936.3125).
I have a screenshot from RRDB showing the DFW sites before they were removed in early 2021, along with my submission archive (I cleaned a bunch of the sites up in 2020), so I could theoretically resubmit everything back into RRDB, but at this time, I doubt there's any paying traffic left on it. I also heard and had seen additional sites while travelling around the DFW area, that would have pinpointed their location more accurately, but knowing the system is theoretically dead, didn't take time to really log them.
Anterix is keeping most of the frequencies once the rebanding of the 930MHz band completes, and it is likely they may be keeping the control channels active, so they don't get tagged by the FCC for inactivity until such a point they replace the repeaters with the wideband gear that is to replace the TeamConnect Connect Plus system - which of course can't happen until all other licensees are out of their new wideband block. If the controller is online for those sites, some subscriber radios may still affiliate and be using the system rogue, meaning activity is going to be hit or miss, and could stop working again at any time.
They also got 10-year renewals on a bunch of their licenses last year, again likely placeholders until the rebanding is complete. Many of them do not have DMR emissions designators and the ones I'm looking at are using 13K6F3E (900MHz Analog Voice) and 13K6W7W (900Mhz iDEN)
I can tell you from my listening post, where I could hear 4-5 sites before the shutdown, a quick sweep of the band only showed one, and that signal is weaker that it used to be (it happens to also be the closest, about 5 miles line of sight) - it also happened to be outside the frequency band that Anterix is keeping (Control Channel 936.3125).
I have a screenshot from RRDB showing the DFW sites before they were removed in early 2021, along with my submission archive (I cleaned a bunch of the sites up in 2020), so I could theoretically resubmit everything back into RRDB, but at this time, I doubt there's any paying traffic left on it. I also heard and had seen additional sites while travelling around the DFW area, that would have pinpointed their location more accurately, but knowing the system is theoretically dead, didn't take time to really log them.
I can assure you that the radios quit working as of jan 4th or 5th of last year. I had 15 subscriber units in North Houston and Cypress. At like 6 in the morning they all went dead. So, they must have turned the controllers back on for some reason and now they are rogue users. There would probably be no guarantee for coverage and could be shut back off at any moment.
- Joined
- Oct 6, 2021
- Messages
- 690
WooHoo! bootlegging away! lol
Site 21 is still on the air in the Philly region. Not a peep as far as traffic
Back in my iDEN days Nextel had "thumpers" on licensed but as of yet unused frequencies just to keep the license active. Also the first 3 sites with 900 MHz frequencies in the Houston area were strategically placed so as to cover the most counties. Those 3 sites made those licenses active in 7 counties. I "suspect" the re-emergence of these CC may be something along the same line. But it's just a guess on my part.
One more thing, during the twilight of Nextel and before PDV they put up several 900 PP sites strategically around Houston to hold keep those licenses active.
I'm sensing a trend here...
One more thing, during the twilight of Nextel and before PDV they put up several 900 PP sites strategically around Houston to hold keep those licenses active.
I'm sensing a trend here...
- Status
