I would like to know if any MontrealTaxi fleets use data transmission terminals. If so, on what frequencies. Tks.
Montreal Taxi data transmission
- Thread starter hermite
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Probably on the cellular band
Nick
Nick
No one seems to know ?
I would guess there terminals are most likely DATA Cellular band (Internet)..
But most don't even have radios anymore, so that must have liberated a few frequencies..
Would like to know for sure, since it would be interesting if all the dispatch information was actually send trough the radio waves in some form of packet coding.
I would guess there terminals are most likely DATA Cellular band (Internet)..
But most don't even have radios anymore, so that must have liberated a few frequencies..
Would like to know for sure, since it would be interesting if all the dispatch information was actually send trough the radio waves in some form of packet coding.
35 years ago all the taxis in Ottawa had exactly that - there was a (primitive!) digital display on the dash. I think this was where Gandalf got their start in data communications. You have to be old to remember Gandalf without thinking about those hobbit books.
I haven't been in a taxi for years, let alone in Montreal. In Chicagoland, one of the big suburban taxi companies had an automated voice dispatch. Samples of humans, not digitized. Everyone with a scanner or ham gear in their car knew about it because they seemed to run about 15 kW from their transmit sites - they got into EVERYTHING when you were close by.
I do remember back in the day in Montreal when all the taxi services ran half-duplex systems on 152/157. Cars on one channel, base on the other. No repeater so the drivers ONLY heard the dispatcher - no car-to-car stuff.
I do remember Gandalf , i worked with their Multiplexer modems ; put 12 people on a 9600 baud modem for a ticketing system.
That Half-duplex system was still the norm until maybe 4-5 years ago.
It was indeed only Dispatch to Cars , no Cars to Cars . I know that it had some kind of Tone or Identifier because Dispatch could respond to the car number if they just pressed the button to talk.
So these Terminals started appearing and Radios disappearing; When i ask the drivers not one of them said he missed the old radio system .
It does look GSM / Internet based but i was telling myself that with the cellular data costs in Canada maybe they would have re-used some of those frequencies they had with Dispatch radios and just added some form of Digital Data ..
And this is where no one seems to know . Would have been something interesting to analyze if it was some sort of radio data transmission (not cellular)
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That Half-duplex system was still the norm until maybe 4-5 years ago.
It was indeed only Dispatch to Cars , no Cars to Cars . I know that it had some kind of Tone or Identifier because Dispatch could respond to the car number if they just pressed the button to talk.
So these Terminals started appearing and Radios disappearing; When i ask the drivers not one of them said he missed the old radio system .
It does look GSM / Internet based but i was telling myself that with the cellular data costs in Canada maybe they would have re-used some of those frequencies they had with Dispatch radios and just added some form of Digital Data ..
And this is where no one seems to know . Would have been something interesting to analyze if it was some sort of radio data transmission (not cellular)
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So we've established that you are old. 
TAFL should have something traceable, no? Assuming the taxi coop/corp/whatever owns it and they don't just buy the service (which makes more sense than owning it, really). Maybe start with the old channels and go from there?
TAFL should have something traceable, no? Assuming the taxi coop/corp/whatever owns it and they don't just buy the service (which makes more sense than owning it, really). Maybe start with the old channels and go from there?
mike_art03a
Member
I live and work here in the Ottawa area. The cab companies in Ottawa are using an EDACS based packet radio for their data comms (in the 800 mhz range I believe). If they want to talk to the dispatcher, they have to request voice access via the MDT, once they get the okay, they switch their radio to a second channel and then chat with the dispatcher and then switch back or their MDT would have a heart attack. Their POS system (Credit/Debit cards) is cellular based.
In Gatineau (across the river), the majority of the cab companies still use voice dispatch, Aylmer Taxi and Allo Taxi (in Aylmer) use a digital voice system. Regal/Crown in hull still use analog voice (as I can get them on my little Baofeng), Loyal too I think... Bob taxi in Gatineau is the only one I'm aware that uses an all IP digital dispatch system using USB data sticks from Rogers. But they have use analog voice for the drivers to chat amonst themselves or the dispatch to advise people of traffic alerts, etc.
In Gatineau (across the river), the majority of the cab companies still use voice dispatch, Aylmer Taxi and Allo Taxi (in Aylmer) use a digital voice system. Regal/Crown in hull still use analog voice (as I can get them on my little Baofeng), Loyal too I think... Bob taxi in Gatineau is the only one I'm aware that uses an all IP digital dispatch system using USB data sticks from Rogers. But they have use analog voice for the drivers to chat amonst themselves or the dispatch to advise people of traffic alerts, etc.
DaveH
Member
Not EDACS based and on VHF (not 800MHz). It's a continuation of the original Gandalf
CabMate which came in the lates 70's or early '80's. Original channels 166.11, 166.35, and 166.47
have been joined with a bunch more in the 162-170MHz range (some inputs above 170).
Dave
DaveH
Member
Perhaps you are confusing this with OC Transpo city busses which are on the 850MHz
EDACS system, and use a combination of short-messaging plus voice (largely I-calls with
some talkgroup access, to avoid a lot of cross-chatter).
Dave
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