No More Nextel/Sprint Phone/Radios for WDW

WebmasterMike

When Yuba plays the Rumba on his Tuba...
Joined
Dec 3, 2007
Starting today, Motorola began the installation of a new Capacity Plus Mototrbo Radio system for WDW. This includes over 14000 handheld radios and some 18 Tower sites.

Sprint has been warning of the impending death of the IDEN Push-to-talk (Nextel) system.

Part of the California Grill remodel may have been instigated by the need to revamp the radio room on top of the Contemporary Resort. The main radio site of 6 new MotoTrbo repeaters, combiners, controllers, network gear, and multicouplers would have to be rehabed before the installations.

The other two "Prime Site" will be Animal Kingdom Lodge and at Wild World of Sports. There will be smaller inbuilding sites all over property that will be connected via the Disney TCP/IP network.

That would explain why I saw new UHF Antennas on the Monorails this past trip.

It also appears that buses, Vero Beach, and Hilton Head have been the "Guinea Pigs" testing the systems

Monorail_antenna.png



License is in Radio One, Inc's name. WDW must be leasing the spectrum from them.
http://wireless2.fcc.gov/UlsApp/let...tterPdf&licSide=Y&letterTo=L &archive=null

http://wireless2.fcc.gov/UlsApp/let...tterPdf&licSide=Y&letterTo=L &archive=null

http://wireless2.fcc.gov/UlsApp/let...tterPdf&licSide=Y&letterTo=L &archive=null

http://wireless2.fcc.gov/UlsApp/let...tterPdf&licSide=Y&letterTo=L &archive=null

http://wireless2.fcc.gov/UlsApp/let...tterPdf&licSide=Y&letterTo=L &archive=null

http://wireless2.fcc.gov/UlsApp/let...tterPdf&licSide=Y&letterTo=L &archive=null

Here is a Google Maps KML File showing the locations of the Repeater/Antenna sites
https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=...d=201332057900675965282.0004d8d639854bf53ca9d

Coverage Map of the "Wide Area" System, minus the Animal Kingdom Site, which is the biggest site with the most users and frequencies (10).
WDWRadioSystem.png


motorola-mototrbo-radiostanice.jpg
 
Mike, only you would notice two new UHF antennas on the monorails. ;)

But very interesting reading. The coverage area includes the development where our new house will be. I wonder if these communications are going to be encrypted or if I'll be able to monitor some of the voice communications. I'm guessing encrypted.
 
Oh, for some reason I'm not able to pull up the links here.
 
They will be digital, Jeff. I am not sure if they will encrypt them or not. I know that somewhere, not sure where, WDW Transportation and WDW Security will be recording their voice traffic. Each Frequency is a 2 to 1 TDMA voice path. So for every 1 12.5khz channel, there will be two equivalent "Channels".

I will check the links. Darn FCC.
 


They will be digital, Jeff. I am not sure if they will encrypt them or not. I know that somewhere, not sure where, WDW Transportation and WDW Security will be recording their voice traffic. Each Frequency is a 2 to 1 TDMA voice path. So for every 1 12.5khz channel, there will be two equivalent "Channels".

I will check the links. Darn FCC.

I just wanted to give you a heads up.

The new radio system at WDW resort is NOT, i repeat NOT mototrbo.

They are leasing from Radio one on an existing trunk system.

This was revealed 2 Months ago and I was just over there from 6/6 to 6/20.

For now, they will still be using nextel as they have no plans to convert until the radio one system is in place.

If you want to see exactly what they are using from the links, check the emission codes.

I'll help to see what's going on too
 
Starting today, Motorola began the installation of a new Capacity Plus Mototrbo Radio system for WDW. This includes over 14000 handheld radios and some 18 Tower sites.

Sprint has been warning of the impending death of the IDEN Push-to-talk (Nextel) system.

Part of the California Grill remodel may have been instigated by the need to revamp the radio room on top of the Contemporary Resort. The main radio site of 6 new MotoTrbo repeaters, combiners, controllers, network gear, and multicouplers would have to be rehabed before the installations.

The other two "Prime Site" will be Animal Kingdom Lodge and at Wild World of Sports. There will be smaller inbuilding sites all over property that will be connected via the Disney TCP/IP network.

That would explain why I saw new UHF Antennas on the Monorails this past trip.

It also appears that buses, Vero Beach, and Hilton Head have been the "Guinea Pigs" testing the systems.
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Emmett here,


I checked the freqs from the FCC links you gave and it's NOT mototrbo i believe. The emission codes say mototrbo but the trunk system they will be using is not encrypted.

Disney leased some freqs from Radio one on an existing trunk system that is used by many businesses from Orlando to over here in brevard county.

ALSO, make note that this is NOT the entire Disney resort or the magic Kingdom that is switching. I was just over to WDW and they are still actively using nextels.

The freqs that they applied for are OPEN channels, which means that they might not be planning to go encrypted.


I am keeping an eye on this and I will be going back over to WDW in October.
 


I just wanted to give you a heads up.

The new radio system at WDW resort is NOT, i repeat NOT mototrbo.

They are leasing from Radio one on an existing trunk system.

This was revealed 2 Months ago and I was just over there from 6/6 to 6/20.

For now, they will still be using nextel as they have no plans to convert until the radio one system is in place.

If you want to see exactly what they are using from the links, check the emission codes.

I'll help to see what's going on too

Buses are allready on the system and new Connect Plus systems have been installed in Vero Beach and at the Hilton Head resorts. Disney is also using this on their newer cruise ships (Fantasy/Dream).

The Emission designator, 7K60FXE, is for a 2-slot DMR (Motorola MOTOTRBO) TDMA voice system with 4FSK modulation. Motorola is very excited about the conversion to Mototrbo away from the Nextel IDEN infrastructure. Yes, they are leasing all radios and infrastructure from Radio One, Inc. But it is just a Motorola Capacity Plus Mototrbo system that will be stretched to design capacities.

Feel free to glance at the 4FSK Digital Modulation spec on the slick below:
http://www.ancom.org/pdf/Mototrbo/MOTOTRBO system specs.pdf

The Digital Mobile Radio solution that is being deployed is Digital. You can monitor digital with no problem if you have the right software and $20 TV tuner. Mototrbo can also be encrypted beyond the digital modulation. It is all in the software that is in the radio. I doubt WDW would ever go on another SMR or ESMR again after Nextel bought them out of their channels and then Sprint turned off all of their communications.
 
Buses are allready on the system and new Connect Plus systems have been installed in Vero Beach and at the Hilton Head resorts. Disney is also using this on their newer cruise ships (Fantasy/Dream).

The Emission designator, 7K60FXE, is for a 2-slot DMR (Motorola MOTOTRBO) TDMA voice system with 4FSK modulation. Motorola is very excited about the conversion to Mototrbo away from the Nextel IDEN infrastructure. Yes, they are leasing all radios and infrastructure from Radio One, Inc. But it is just a Motorola Capacity Plus Mototrbo system that will be stretched to design capacities.



The Digital Mobile Radio solution that is being deployed is Digital. You can monitor digital with no problem if you have the right software and $20 TV tuner. Mototrbo can also be encrypted beyond the digital modulation. It is all in the software that is in the radio. I doubt WDW would ever go on another SMR or ESMR again after Nextel bought them out of their channels and then Sprint turned off all of their communications.

Nextel is still in use at WDW as of today according to my friend. I do not know where you got that they were turned off but i have been following the switch since the freqs were applied for.

Radio one doesn't have any trunked systems that are TDMA, that is verified because I can listen to the system that WDW freqs will be on and that isn't all of the freqs.

Someone gave me a tip though, If you want to get an idea of who is using what, Pay attention to the radio count.

I will be going back over to WDW in October but before i left, the monorails were still using nextels and not the nextels that we are used to seeing

OH and BTW, you don't need a TV tuner to hear mototrbo.

you can hear digital on just about every current digital scanner out there today. I would suggest you look up DSD.

cheers!
 
Nextel is still in use at WDW as of today according to my friend. I do not know where you got that they were turned off but i have been following the switch since the freqs were applied for.

My son is a Cast Member in the Magic Kingdom and just told me today that they no longer have Nextels and are now training on the new Motorola system (and iphones for the managers).
So- at least for them, Nextels are gone as of this week.
 
Nextel is still in use at WDW as of today according to my friend. I do not know where you got that they were turned off but i have been following the switch since the freqs were applied for.

Radio one doesn't have any trunked systems that are TDMA, that is verified because I can listen to the system that WDW freqs will be on and that isn't all of the freqs.

Someone gave me a tip though, If you want to get an idea of who is using what, Pay attention to the radio count.

I will be going back over to WDW in October but before i left, the monorails were still using nextels and not the nextels that we are used to seeing

OH and BTW, you don't need a TV tuner to hear mototrbo.

you can hear digital on just about every current digital scanner out there today. I would suggest you look up DSD.

cheers!

Those Nextel's that Monorails were using, were really MotoTrbo UHF DMR, 2 slot TDMA, Radios. The radios look similar in form factor to Iden radios, but with longer 1/4 wave, UHF Antennas.

Yep, all Mototrbo at WDW and not in analog and not any existing Radio One systems. This is all new build. (To the tune of near $10,000,000 for Radio One). Nextels are being turned off, never to be heard from again. I was just there 2 weeks ago. I use DSD and a $20 TV tuner works great for monitoring MotoTrbo and P25 Digital Systems of all flavors. Just need an Audio Tap to send the Audio to DSD. A $20 TV tuner is a heck-of-a-lot less expensive than at $400 - $600 GRE or Uniden Scanner. I prefer to tap the audio off of my IFR1200 Super S.

You should really read this article..:thumbsup2

or this communication from Sprint to it's Nextel Customers...



http://support.sprint.com/support/a..._June_30/3e5d4663-6111-4595-b141-6ed9a5a6ea18
 
Those Nextel's that Monorails were using, were really MotoTrbo UHF DMR, 2 slot TDMA, Radios. The radios look similar in form factor to Iden radios, but with longer 1/4 wave, UHF Antennas.

Yep, all Mototrbo at WDW and not in analog and not any existing Radio One systems. This is all new build. (To the tune of near $10,000,000 for Radio One). Nextels are being turned off, never to be heard from again. I was just there 2 weeks ago. I use DSD and a $20 TV tuner works great for monitoring MotoTrbo and P25 Digital Systems of all flavors. Just need an Audio Tap to send the Audio to DSD. A $20 TV tuner is a heck-of-a-lot less expensive than at $400 - $600 GRE or Uniden Scanner. I prefer to tap the audio off of my
You should really read this article..:thumbsup2


or this communication from Sprint to it's Nextel Customers...


Last Updated: Jun 25, 2013[/URL][/B][/INDENT]




The Radios we saw were gray, not black and they didn't have UHF antennas and they nowhere near matched the normal TRBO radios in the pics in the prev msg. Plus they still had the familiar nextel sound. This was on june 20th and My friend's husband says that the resorts are NOT on any other radios but nextel right now because he is a custodian at the Contemporary.

Disney's iden system is a special one according to the web master of a freq web site i use for East Central Florida.

who knows???

If they are using TDMA, the only way you can listen via the GRE psr-800. That was stated to me by the guys at Radio Reference.

I'll check when Kari and I go back in October.
 
They have been prepping for the transition off of Nextel for a while. I believe the cutover was sometime this past week.

My new iPhone has luckily been quiet.
 
The Radios we saw were gray, not black and they didn't have UHF antennas and they nowhere near matched the normal TRBO radios in the pics in the prev msg. Plus they still had the familiar nextel sound. This was on june 20th and My friend's husband says that the resorts are NOT on any other radios but nextel right now because he is a custodian at the Contemporary.

Disney's iden system is a special one according to the web master of a freq web site i use for East Central Florida.

who knows???

If they are using TDMA, the only way you can listen via the GRE psr-800. That was stated to me by the guys at Radio Reference.

I'll check when Kari and I go back in October.

Nextel goes quiet tomorrow. Mototrbos will be out in force at that point. Nextel, Mototrbo, Smartnet, & Smartzone all use the same "Clear to talk tone." A PSR-800 does not decode 2 slot DMR at this time. There is a Beta version of firmware for the PSR-800 that decodes P25 Phase 2 TDMA and the legacy FDMA. I think you also need to check the Florida Forums on Radio Reference. They too have confirmed Mototrbo. I have been in with Radio Reference since the beginning when Lindsay was just getting started with the site and before it was radio reference. I worked for a Motorola MSS for a very long time and all of my contacts at Motorola have confirmed that Walt Disney World is in the process of converting to the Radio One Capacity Plus, Mototrbo system ahead of tomorrow's "death of Nextel." This is my line of work and my industry watches these "unique implementations" very closely so that we can possibly implement something similar in the future.

WDW was strictly on Nextel. WDW did not have it's own IDEN system (Harmony or Harmony+). Walt Disney World sold their 900mhz frequencies to Nextel in the early 2000's and as part of that sale received special plans, reduced price equipment, and group calling (which used to be not be readily available on Nextel until they switched to the 6 to 1 TDMA solution that is being turned off tomorrow). Disney had Nextel sites on property and Bi-directional Amplifiers installed all over property to help improve coverage. But this was typical for Nextel back in the day. If you purchased enough units, they would justify substantial in-building enhancements for their signal.

They have been prepping for the transition off of Nextel for a while. I believe the cutover was sometime this past week.

My new iPhone has luckily been quiet.

You darn IT guys :P

Andy, maybe you can shed some light? :rotfl2:
 
You darn IT guys :P

Andy, maybe you can shed some light? :rotfl2:

Ha. All I know is that I've deployed a handful of updates that were apparently necessary for the switch.

Oh, and I have a shiny new iPhone4S in an Otterbox instead of the Blackberry.
 
Ha. All I know is that I've deployed a handful of updates that were apparently necessary for the switch.

Oh, and I have a shiny new iPhone4S in an Otterbox instead of the Blackberry.

Andy, my Blackberry died it's death back in January and I got an Iphone as well. I kind-of miss the BB keyboard, but that is about it.
 
Andy, my Blackberry died it's death back in January and I got an Iphone as well. I kind-of miss the BB keyboard, but that is about it.

I think my IT Director still has a stash of Treos, if you two want to get nostalgic. As my first "smartphone," notice the scare quotes, it was quite a thrill, but I happily parted with it for the iPhone and don't miss the keyboard.

What is DSD?
 
What is DSD?

DSD is a Software Digital Speech Decoder. It takes the discriminator audio out of an external receiver/scanner or, thru the use of Virtual audio cables, from a software application, and decodes the 4 level FSK modulation into useable data and voice.

http://wiki.radioreference.com/index.php/Digital_Speech_Decoder_(software_package)

Here is an "in-the-clear" audio sample from a DMR system - http://www.rtl-sdr.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/DMRMOTOTRBOSample.ogg
 

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