Nextel i580 & Direct Talk

[K7AAR]

I have been missing the old Nextel Direct Connect (no longer available) and Direct Talk, as I had Nextel, back in the day. I started looking around and found two brand new in the box i580 for $40 total, so I ordered them and they arrived today. I also ordered three used Nextel SIM cards and an i355, which I will get next week. Upon getting the i580s today, I open them up and seen that they had existing SIM cards in the slots, so I installed the batteries and fire them up. They went into the home screen so I was able to navigate through the menu got into the direct talk option and set them up to boot into direct talk and channel 1, code 15 on both handsets. I decided I would then reboot the phones before trying Direct Talk, which obviously was a mistake. Now when they boot up they go to the home screen but it says no service but it shows the walkie-talkie icon on the screen. I know there has been some threads about Nextel Direct connect and I'm wondering if somebody may be able to get me to the next step on these phones.

 

[doctordialtone]

I'm wondering if somebody may be able to get me to the next step

Nextel Sprint Direct Connect

Hi. Recently discovered that you can change your old Nextel Sprint phones into walkie talkies. Obviously line of sight reception. The talk on the web says you have to have a sim card in the phone in order for "off network" direct connect to work. I picked up a brand new Nextel ic502 phone with a...

forums.radioreference.com

 

[nokones]

The Nextel infrastructure also went away. I believe the FCC mandated that Nextel had to sell their frequencies to Public Safety Agencies. Also, I believe the Technology that Nextel was using is longer being used these days.

What you have now are antique paper weights and non-wireless conversation pieces.

 

[mmckenna]

The Nextel infrastructure also went away. I believe the FCC mandated that Nextel had to sell their frequencies to Public Safety Agencies. Also, I believe the Technology that Nextel was using is longer being used these days.

What you have now are antique paper weights and non-wireless conversation pieces.

Nextel was bought by Sprint, and they took over those systems/frequencies. Later on, T-Mobile bought Sprint….
With 800MHz rebanding, they had to slide Part 90 users down 15MHz.
Sprint got to keep their stuff with some adjustments.

Sprint shut down iDEN pretty quickly and reused those frequencies for their cellular.

I'm sure there's some iDEN running somewhere, they did sell it to private users.

 

[K7AAR]

The Nextel infrastructure also went away. I believe the FCC mandated that Nextel had to sell their frequencies to Public Safety Agencies. Also, I believe the Technology that Nextel was using is longer being used these days.

What you have now are antique paper weights and non-wireless conversation pieces.

Sir,,I said DIRECT TALK,,it is 900mhx direct comms.

 

[KevinC]

No help, but the i580 was my favorest ( ) Nextel device. Next was myi325's. I still have all of my Nextel handsets, starting with an i600.

 

[K7AAR]

No help, but the i580 was my favorest ( ) Nextel device. Next was myi325's. I still have all of my Nextel handsets, starting with an i600.

No help, but the i580 was my favorest ( ) Nextel device. Next was myi325's. I still have all of my Nextel handsets, starting with an i600.

Here is the list is phone with DIRECT TALK, which still works,,1-2 mile in the city,,farther in the country.

 

[K7AAR]

It got them to work,,,yes!

 

[radioman2008]

if you go to Dayton Hamvention, bring them and set up on channel 1 code 1 and you will sometimes hear other direct talk users there. im on there when i can remember to bring my i355 and i576 and ill be there this year.

 

[K7AAR]

if you go to Dayton Hamvention, bring them and set up on channel 1 code 1 and you will sometimes hear other direct talk users there. im on there when i can remember to bring my i355 and i576 and ill be there this year.

I won't be at the ham convention as I'm in texas. But I've got them working great I will be doing distance testing this weekend I'm out in the middle of the country so I'm hoping for a half mile minimum and up to a mile if not farther. What I really like about the old direct talk is it's 900 MHz but it's a scrambled frequency plan. Fun times!

 

[radioman2008]

I won't be at the ham convention as I'm in texas. But I've got them working great I will be doing distance testing this weekend I'm out in the middle of the country so I'm hoping for a half mile minimum and up to a mile if not farther. What I really like about the old direct talk is it's 900 MHz but it's a scrambled frequency plan. Fun times!

true that a scanner wont decode you.
thats what i like about the old motorola astro sabers and xts3000's that ran VSELP digital (most digital models of them found today are P25). nothing but a VSELP radio can decode it, not even a digital scanner. its not encryption so its green light on the ham band too

 

[K7AAR]

true that a scanner wont decode you.
thats what i like about the old motorola astro sabers and xts3000's that ran VSELP digital (most digital models of them found today are P25). nothing but a VSELP radio can decode it, not even a digital scanner. its not encryption so its green light on the ham band too

I assume the only organization able to decode it would be one of the government agencies, with 3 letters?

 

[radioman2008]

I assume the only organization able to decode it would be one of the government agencies, with 3 letters?

im sure the 3 letter agencies have VSELP decoders, but its not encryption

 

[K7AAR]

3.15 mile hop (phone to phone) This was up on a hill, back to the bunkhouse. Nextel Handset is 60 milliwatts (0.06 watt)

 

[cavmedic]

No help, but the i580 was my favorest ( ) Nextel device. Next was myi325's. I still have all of my Nextel handsets, starting with an i600.

I know two of abandoned Nextel shelters with iden equipment still in if you are looking for a project

😁

 

[rescuecomm]

The output from the NEXTEL phones on Direct Talk should be the same as on the now defunct Direct Connect. That is about 0.600 watts or 600 mw. The 902-928 ISM Band limit is 1 watt for spread spectrum.

 

[K7AAR]

The output from the NEXTEL phones on Direct Talk should be the same as on the now defunct Direct Connect. That is about 0.600 watts or 600 mw. The 902-928 ISM Band limit is 1 watt for spread spectrum.

The output from the NEXTEL phones on Direct Talk should be the same as on the now defunct Direct Connect. That is about 0.600 watts or 600 mw. The 902-928 ISM Band limit is 1 watt for spread spectrum.

I have gotten 3.28 miles (phone to phone) This adapter says it fits the i355, but it does not seem to drop all the way in. Here is the listing. External Antenna Adapter Cable... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B007RS3I6Q?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

 

[rescuecomm]

Nice antenna setup. I've only used the threaded-on fixed antenna setups on the I355. They worked on cruises when we were ashore. Legality of use - ??? No time spent in a Caribbean prison so far.

What are you using for batteries?

 

[radioman2008]

I know two of abandoned Nextel shelters with iden equipment still in if you are looking for a project

😁

a few months ago, I stumbled across a power transmission tower with a cell site platform at the top, no antennas or anything up on the platform. about half a block away on a main road was some cabinets that had "Nextel" on the plates and some kind of fiber connection box that had NEXTEL in the phone company's typical orange and black labels.
I assumed abandoned.

 

[K7AAR]

So far I have bought (2) i580's & (2) i355's. All 4 came with sim cards and the batteries hold a decent charge. Really like to figure out this adapter issue there's a guy that did the same thing with an antenna and he got 14 miles from base to someone driving around.