System Renaming - MotoNet CP+

[mwjones]

I am wrapping up creating a large update for the MotoNet CP+ system in Kansas/Missouri/Iowa, and during my research, it appears that 3 of the principal companies that built out the system are now commonly referring to the system as "Connect Plus". Before I submit my large update, I wanted to get the input of the maintainers of this resource, to see if there is concurrence on the change. I know there is another system in Texas called "Connect Plus 231 Texas" (I live not far from one of its sites) so I wouldn't think there would be an objection to seeing this system renamed "Connect Plus 153" either.

It appears in this Post, that the "MotoNet CP+" name was branding used by Midwest Mobile in the earlier days of the system, but that is no longer the case as the system expanded.

Midwest Mobile:

ConnectPlus Trunking System | Midwest Mobile

If you need coverage across multiple sites, ConnectPlus can be scaled to meet your needs. Get your Wide Area radio system for effective two way communication.

www.mw-radio.com

Commenco:

wide area wireless radio network | Commenco Kansas City

Connect+ wide-area wireless is a trunked two-way radio system that automatically assigns frequency channels to groups of users.

commenco.com

TFMComm:

Motorola Two-way Radio Airtime Solutions TFM Communications Topeka and Lawrence Kansas

Find out more about our wide area two-way radio solutions.

www.tfmcomm.com

Midwest Mobile also has a map of the system, which I used for much of my research:

Connect Plus Digital Trunking Coverage | Midwest Mobile

If you need radio coverage across multiple sites, ConnectPlus can be scaled to meet your needs. Set up your Wide Area radio system for effective two way communication.

www.mw-radio.com

 

[mtindor]

"Connect Plus" is quite generic. Are you sure that MWMR no longer references it as MotoNet CP ? I know I don't see anything on their pages referencing the old name. But just to have "Connect Plus" is going to be obscure. Perhaps since most of the sites are managed by MWMR, it should be something like "Midwest Mobile Radio Connect Plus" or something like that.

Mike

 

[mwjones]

"Connect Plus" is quite generic. Are you sure that MWMR no longer references it as MotoNet CP ? I know I don't see anything on their pages referencing the old name. But just to have "Connect Plus" is going to be obscure. Perhaps since most of the sites are managed by MWMR, it should be something like "Midwest Mobile Radio Connect Plus" or something like that.

Mike

Since I've been living in Texas the last 17 years, I am a newcomer to this system while I was visiting family, so the only history is what I found in searching the forums here, and research on my own. I was tipped off to this system's existence when talking to a friend that said that his employer is using a "regional radio system", and when I first went looking for it, it wasn't appearing in the RRDB (partially because the site they were likely using hadn't been listed so they weren't showing in that county) and the unusual name made it more difficult. I actually started building the system out from scratch based on FCC license data before I was able to connect the dots.

Midwest Mobile does operate 37 of the 51 sites (by my own count) and presumably since they have the Motorola net design map were the principal builder of the network, so they are, by far the largest player, but as far as sheer number of users, Commenco may have them beat (the 4 sites that cover the Kansas City metropolitan area are the largest of any other site on the network)

 

[wa8pyr]

We don't typically rename systems unless we have confirmation of the actual system name; if you can verify the official name of the system we'll change it, but as mtindor noted above, "Connect Plus" in any form is awfully generic.

This situation is complicated by the fact that three different companies cooperated in the build out and share the system.

 

[mwjones]

We don't typically rename systems unless we have confirmation of the actual system name; if you can verify the official name of the system we'll change it, but as mtindor noted above, "Connect Plus" in any form is awfully generic.

This situation is complicated by the fact that three different companies cooperated in the build out and share the system.

No, I certainly understand the concern. That's why I provided the links to 3 of the 4 companies involved with the build-out (the 4th company currently does not have a functioning website) - all three are marketing it as "Connect Plus", and a user on the system even told me they used "Connect Plus" for their radios.

Knowing I was going to try and find the system I started looking in the RRDB, and clearly couldn't find the system under that name. With the map from Midwest Mobile in hand, I started researching the FCC licenses, thinking the system hadn't been identified at all. As I began piecing things together, I came across the MotoNet CP+ system in RRDB. The site the user was on wasn't listed, it wasn't in that county on RRDB, and as I pieced the findings together I found the system was largely incomplete (I didn't find the user who told me about the system, but they aren't using the system very heavily right now either).

So, the name difference is already causing confusion. This system has (from what I gather in the forums) been through two other names before MotoNet CP+ was chosen (I was also confused since there is also a system labeled "Connect Plus 231 Texas" here in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, which is operated by another couple of companies together - but one of the companies has no information about the system on their website, so it's not as easy confirming the real name of the system - while the second company calls it "MOTOTBRO Connect Plus").

So the difference in names is causing confusion today. At the same time, I'm building the Wiki pages (I use an offline editor when creating new pages as its easier than building it online when the pages don't already exist) for the system with a lot of detail, and I'd rather fix the system name using a find and replace in my offline editor than trying to fix the name and links across the 4 pages I've built (and planned links from Wiki pages for other systems that are "donating" frequencies to the network system).

On a side note, I see in the last 24 hours, another edit was published (the other user PM'd it to me right after I submitted mine, and it supposedly had more frequency data than I captured in my short trip, but does have frequency errors based on my data), but mine (with all the location data and site names) is now 8 days pending - without the system name change.

 

[wbloss]

FWIW I have worked with one of the owners of the system at MMR when I lived in St Joe. I rented radios from him when I ran an arts festival and chatted with them frequently.
WHen I started looking at this system I sent him an email and he responded: in January of 2018:

"looks like they are talking about our Connect Plus MotoNet UHF DMR wide area network. We have 46 sites covering about 80,000 square miles in Missouri, Kansas and Iowa. We go from Junction City Kansas to Moberly Missouri and Harrisonville Missouri to almost to Omaha Nebraska.

Six of the sites belong to Commenco and forty are our responsibility."

w

 

[mtindor]

A user sent me the lateste repeater map. I added it to the wiki. The repeater maps shows a site 53 (Chapel Hill MO) and a site 54 (Higginsville MO).

1. Somebody should really start a thread for this system in the Multi-State forum, since this is a multistate system. I can't find a single thread where all discussions of MotoNet CP occur, but there should be one instead of having different theads each time somebody wants to post something about it.

2. Sites 53 and 54 are under existing MidWest Mobile Radio licenses -- pending applications (so you won't see the sites on RR and have to look at the FCC directly).

53. Chapel Hill MO (LaFayette) - WQYA823 - Pending app - ULS Application - Industrial/Business Pool, Trunked - 0009274981 - MIDWEST MOBILE RADIO SERVICE INC. - Frequency Summary

54. Higginsville MO (LaFayette) - WQMY409 - Pending app - ULS Application - Industrial/Business Pool, Trunked - 0009271367 - MIDWEST MOBILE RADIO SERVICE INC - Frequency Summary

Google Map

3. I am not suggesting that these be added to the DB yet, because they haven't been confirmed online. In fact, Sites 51 and 52 appear to not be confirmed online yet but are in the DB and probably shouldn't be.

At any rate, just making you guys aware of two new sites.

The person who sent me the repeater map may choose to reveal themself in a post here, but I won't reveal them since they sent the repeater map to me in private.

Mike

 

[mwjones]

3. I am not suggesting that these be added to the DB yet, because they haven't been confirmed online. In fact, Sites 51 and 52 appear to not be confirmed online yet but are in the DB and probably shouldn't be.

Site 51 was visited and confirmed online be me back in July (it was showing on Midwest Mobile's map of the system, which was the basis for a lot of my research and the source of the names of sites - see link in the first post in this thread). The repeater map I received from this same person when doing that research in June/July did not include Site 51, so everything on that site as listed in RRDB was confirmed by me (during my 1,500 mile road trip from Texas all across Kansas, Missouri and Iowa).

Sites 52, 53 and 54 were not part of Midwest Mobile's map, and thus weren't part of my research. The map has not been updated as of this morning, so as far as I'm concerned they aren't online. My current plans have me back in the region a couple of times in the next 2 months, but I won't have time to conduct an extensive road trip like I did last time (and I've got two research projects already planned unrelated to this system, although my upgraded mobile rig might tune in a few sites when in range to gather more data, ie neighbor lists, etc.)

 

[mtindor]

Site 51 was visited and confirmed online be me back in July (it was showing on Midwest Mobile's map of the system, which was the basis for a lot of my research and the source of the names of sites - see link in the first post in this thread). The repeater map I received from this same person when doing that research in June/July did not include Site 51, so everything on that site as listed in RRDB was confirmed by me (during my 1,500 mile road trip from Texas all across Kansas, Missouri and Iowa).

I only mentioned that they looked uncomfirmed because there is no CC listed in the DB for site 51 or 52 and the no proper color code on Site 52 in the DB.

Sites 52, 53 and 54 were not part of Midwest Mobile's map, and thus weren't part of my research. The map has not been updated as of this morning, so as far as I'm concerned they aren't online. My current plans have me back in the region a couple of times in the next 2 months, but I won't have time to conduct an extensive road trip like I did last time (and I've got two research projects already planned unrelated to this system, although my upgraded mobile rig might tune in a few sites when in range to gather more data, ie neighbor lists, etc.)

Rgr on 52/53/54 not being part of the current map that Midwest Mobile has on their website. Although absence of a site from a map shouldn't be a reason for people in those areas not to sniff around and see if any of the sites are online. I know of many multistate systems where the operators only update their coverage maps a couple times a year, even if they have added five new sites since the last update.

I was simply making the post to let it be known there were two new site locations based upon the repeater map, and where those sites were located -- in the event that somebody in the general area wanted to keep an eye out for them.

 

[mtindor]

PS: The repeater map that I added to the wiki should probably be on a separate page instead of cluttering up the main one, but that takes a significant amount of work and I wanted to get it in there. I'll try and migrate it out into its own page later this evening.

 

[mwjones]

I only mentioned that they looked uncomfirmed because there is no CC listed in the DB for site 51 or 52 and the no proper color code on Site 52 in the DB.

When I did my original survey in early July, I was only using an SDS100, and wasn't pinning down what was Control Channel or not, more focused on Site numbers, LCN's and Color Codes. My upgraded kit now includes four RTL-SDR radios and DSD+ FL, Unitrunker and SDRTrunk, so I can better capture more data from each site.

Site 51 was unique in that it is a simulcast site, with 2 physical sites (my guess was to provide better coverage of Whiteman AFB - The site is Called Shawnee Mound, but the second simulcast site is at Centerview) - I validated this by parking very close to each transmitter site based on FCC license data, and used the SDS100 with no antenna connected to pick up the control channel and get the site number, both came up the same site 51.