Robust manual search for autonomous private systems

In a mobile station for use in both public cellular systems and private cellular systems, the private cellular systems using select allocated frequency bands from the public cellular systems, a system for manually searching for a specific private cellular system comprising:

• a memory storing a directory of private cellular systems, including identification information for each private cellular system and a frequency band associated with each private cellular system;
• a transmitter and receiver for communicating in the public cellular systems and the private cellular systems;
• an input for initiating a manual search for a specific private cellular system, the input selecting from the directory of private cellular systems;
• and
• a programmed processor operatively coupled with the memory, the transmitter and receiver, and the input, said programmed processor for operating the transmitter and receiver to search for the selected private cellular system on the frequency band associated with the selected private cellular system.