Do analog 800 Mhz cell channels still exist?

[danesgs]

I was told that verizon or some carrier still has some analog channels in use for whatever reason. Not sure if this is for testing or company use. Anyone know about what frequency this would be?

KJ4DGE

 

[trentbob]

As far as I know the FCC stopped analog 800 megahertz phone service in February of 2009 calling it The Analog sunset.

 

[danesgs]

Understood, but I am guessing there are still some internal analog systems and frequencies being used. Just wonder if anyone has scanned the Cell allocations to see if this is correct.

 

[trentbob]

Interesting, I used to use my GRE Radio Shack Pro 2004 with the diode cut to permit analog 800 megahertz phone frequencies to be received but I haven't used that radio in decades. It's buried in the Boneyard in the garage

 

[danesgs]

Well if you ever want to let it be reborn or plan to scarp it, I will take it.

KJ4DGE

 

[RichardKramer]

I just did a quick scan of the band on my AR8000; don't remember the ch spacing; I have that info in a notebook somewhere. I get strong what sound like control channels around 874 - 879MHz, 880 - 888MHz, and 891.8 - 893.5 MHz. I'll have to do more research later to see if they are images or actual hits. Haven't checked that band in ages. Thanks for bringing it up. Great listening back in the 80's & 90's.

Rich

 

[iMONITOR]

I just did a quick scan of the band on my AR8000; don't remember the ch spacing; I have that info in a notebook somewhere. I get strong what sound like control channels around 874 - 879MHz, 880 - 888MHz, and 891.8 - 893.5 MHz. I'll have to do more research later to see if they are images or actual hits. Haven't checked that band in ages. Thanks for bringing it up. Great listening back in the 80's & 90's.

Rich

When I had my ICOM IC-R8600 (unblocked) I checked the band. As you said, control channels loud and clear. I'm in Macomb County, Michigan.
I wonder if some of the older commercial alarm systems might be on there, like Guardian.

 

[danesgs]

Here is the ranges for the old GSM cell phones, Most newer T/CDMA carriers use a different band in the 1800 range I think.

GSM frequency bands

GSM band	ƒ (MHz)	Uplink (MHz) (mobile to base)	Downlink (MHz) (base to mobile)	Channel numbers	Equivalent LTE band	Regional deployments
T-GSM-380[a]	380	380.2 – 389.8	390.2 – 399.8	dynamic	None	None
T-GSM-410[a]	410	410.2 – 419.8	420.2 – 429.8	dynamic	None	None
GSM-450	450	450.6 – 457.6	460.6 – 467.6	259–293	31	None
GSM-480	480	479.0 – 486.0	489.0 – 496.0	306–340	None	None
GSM-710	710	698.2 – 716.2	728.2 – 746.2	dynamic	12	None
GSM-750	750	777.2 – 792.2	747.2 – 762.2	438–511	None	None
T-GSM-810[a]	810	806.2 – 821.2	851.2 – 866.2	dynamic	27	None
GSM-850	850	824.2 – 848.8	869.2 – 893.8	128–251	5	CALA,https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GSM_frequency_bands#cite_note-cala-2 NAR[c]

[TR]
[TH]P-GSM-900[d][/TH]
[TD]900[/TD]
[TD]890.0 – 915.0[/TD]
[TD]935.0 – 960.0[/TD]
[TD]1–124[/TD]
[TD]8 (subset)[/TD]
[TD]None
deprecated[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TH]E-GSM-900[e][/TH]
[TD]900[/TD]
[TD]880.0 – 915.0[/TD]
[TD]925.0 – 960.0[/TD]
[TD]0–124, 975–1023[/TD]
[TD]8[/TD]
[TD]APAC,[f] EMEA[g][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TH]R-GSM-900[h][/TH]
[TD]900[/TD]
[TD]876.0 – 915.0[/TD]
[TD]921.0 – 960.0[/TD]
[TD]0–124, 955–1023[/TD]
[TD]?[/TD]
[TD]APAC,[f] EMEA[g]
used for GSM-R[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TH]T-GSM-900[a][/TH]
[TD]900[/TD]
[TD]870.4 – 876.0[/TD]
[TD]915.4 – 921.0[/TD]
[TD]dynamic[/TD]
[TD]None[/TD]
[TD]None[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TH]DCS-1800https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GSM_frequency_bands#cite_note-9[/TH]
[TD]1800[/TD]
[TD]1710.2 – 1784.8[/TD]
[TD]1805.2 – 1879.8[/TD]
[TD]512–885[/TD]
[TD]3[/TD]
[TD]APAC,[f] EMEA[g][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TH]PCS-1900[j][/TH]
[TD]1900[/TD]
[TD]1850.2 – 1909.8[/TD]
[TD]1930.2 – 1989.8[/TD]
[TD]512–810[/TD]
[TD]2[/TD]
[TD]CALA,https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GSM_frequency_bands#cite_note-cala-2 NAR[c][/TD]
[/TR]

1. ^ Jump up to:a b c d T-GSM is Trunking-GSM.
2. ^ Jump up to:a b CALA: Canada, US, Caribbean, and Latin America
3. ^ Jump up to:a b NAR: North American Region
4. ^ P-GSM is the standard or primary GSM-900 band
5. ^ E-GSM is the extended GSM-900 band: a superset of the standard GSM-900 band.
6. ^ Jump up to:a b c APAC: Asia-Pacific
7. ^ Jump up to:a b c EMEA: Europe, the Middle East and Africa
8. ^ R-GSM, or GSM-R, is the Railways GSM-900 band, which also includes the standard and extended GSM-900 bands.
9. ^ DCS: Digital Cellular System
10. ^ PCS: Personal Communications Service

 

[Whiskey3JMC]

Use Antenna Search to take a look at the cell towers in your area and see what frequencies they emit

 

[dlwtrunked]

I just did a quick scan of the band on my AR8000; don't remember the ch spacing; I have that info in a notebook somewhere. I get strong what sound like control channels around 874 - 879MHz, 880 - 888MHz, and 891.8 - 893.5 MHz. I'll have to do more research later to see if they are images or actual hits. Haven't checked that band in ages. Thanks for bringing it up. Great listening back in the 80's & 90's.

Rich

Channel spacing was 30 kHz. A spectrum analyzer will show that the old analog service is gone. None of the replacement digital services have "control channels. They often have transmissions that are about 4.5 MHz in bandwidth. One will much better see them with a spectrum analyzer or SDR than a scanner. And of course other additional bands are in use.

 

[dlwtrunked]

Here is the ranges for the old GSM cell phones, Most newer T/CDMA carriers use a different band in the 1800 range I think.
...

there are also newer services in the 700 MHz band and above 2 GHz.

 

[mikewazowski]

Here is the ranges for the old GSM cell phones, Most newer T/CDMA carriers use a different band in the 1800 range I think.

GSM1900 is missing. GSM850 and GSM1900 were the dominant bands in North America.

there are also newer services in the 700 MHz band and above 2 GHz.

So far I've seen 600, 700, 800, 1900, 2100 and 2600 for LTE. 5G uses the same bands plus I've seen it deployed on 2.5GHz and 3.5GHz. Then there are the bands that are much higher like 38GHz.

 

[RFI-EMI-GUY]

God I miss the old days of listening to those. Of course after ECPA it was only done from international waters.

 

[dlwtrunked]

GSM1900 is missing. GSM850 and GSM1900 were the dominant bands in North America.

So far I've seen 600, 700, 800, 1900, 2100 and 2600 for LTE. 5G uses the same bands plus I've seen it deployed on 2.5GHz and 3.5GHz. Then there are the bands that are much higher like 38GHz.

I meant to include 600 MHz in my post. And there is also a service at 2350 MHz (AT&T Mobility) in a few areas of the U.S. sitting close to XM/Sirius.

 

[dlwtrunked]

A look here at 600 and 700 MHz.

 

[mmckenna]

I was told that verizon or some carrier still has some analog channels in use for whatever reason. Not sure if this is for testing or company use. Anyone know about what frequency this would be?

KJ4DGE

I've got all the big carriers at my sites, and none of them are running any analog. None of their company trucks have analog radios. They are all using standard cell phones.

NexTel/Sprint had some weird 800MHz licenses that they had taken over that included some old analog systems. Basically spectrum they were gobbling up back 'in the day'. No more NexTel, and they never used analog, it was all IDEN. Still, they held some analog licenses, but never used them for cellular use.

Anterix has been buying up 900MHz systems across the country (including some analog), basically making their own LTE band with the help of the FCC.