Systems, devices, and methods of managing short addresses in a wireless communication system include receiving reservation requests on a random access channel from subscriber units at a radio frequency (RF) site such that the reservation requests includes a minimum number of requested time slots for data transmission between a subscriber unit and the RF site, and a subscriber long address. Further, for each of the reservation requests, the RF site selects a subscriber short address for the respective subscriber unit as well as transmitting the selected subscriber short address to the respective subscriber unit on a RF site channel. In addition, the RF site determines a short address transmission schedule for the subscriber units as well as transmitting a schedule message to the subscriber units on a schedule channel such that the schedule provides slot assignments for data transmissions by subscriber units according to their assigned short addresses.