1. The LTR trunking format was not 'widely accepted' as a trunking standard, at first, when it was new. However, in not-too-many-years, it became the 'defacto' standard for business/industrial trunking systems. This was due to market demand for a reasonable-cost trunking system (as compared to Motorola's Privacy Plus systems, which were many times more expensive. Sound familiar? As more and more public safety agencies make the decision to use MOTOTRBO, it becomes more and more widely accepted. Who's to say that DMR (MOTOTRBO) might end up the 'defacto' standard for public safety communications in this country? After all, just because the Federal Government says something, doesn't 'make it so'.
As to "impromptu interoperability", I understand what you're saying. But, consider "impromptu interoperability" with P25.
P25 conventional radios will not communicate with P25 trunked radios, unless the P25 trunked radios switch to conventional mode, or there is a 'bridge' between the P25 conventional system and the P25 trunked system. Therefore, just because two 'systems' or even two 'radios' are "P25", they won't necessarily have "impromptu interoperability".
Actually, the best way to get "impromptu interoperability" at this point in time, is for everyone to switch to analog when needed.
2. The XTS-series of radios are definitely built for 'ruggedness". The MOTOTRBO XPR-series of portables meet the same MIL-STD ratings that the XTS-series of "public safety quality" radios meet. The IP-rating of the XPR-series of MOTOTRBO portables exceeds the IP-rating of the 'standard' XTS-series of radios.
By the way, many thousands of HT1250 radios are currently in use in mission critical applications. Do you not consider the HT1250 to be a 'public safety quality' radio?
3. There are other differences between P25 trunking and P25 conventional systems, besides capacity, such as the lack of multisite roaming capability in P25 conventional systems. For rural agencies that need wide-area coverage, this means that conventional P25 systems must be built out as simulcast/voted systems, for wide-area coverage, which substanstially raises the cost of the infrastructure (as compared to conventional multisite roaming systems), and such simulcast/voted systems simply don't work as well as multisite roaming systems.
4. The MOTOTRBO radios work extremely well in analog mode. In fact, multiple agencies in our area that are using MOTOTRBO radios in analog mode, have reported that they are working much better than any of the other radios that they were previously using (that includes various models of various brands, including some other models from Motorola). The cost of an XPR-6550 portable is less than the cost of a comparably-equipped HT1250 portable.
Your statement that MOTOTRBO radios "are typically not used in that mode for normal operation and they are likely never programmed to operate in the analog mode" is an assumption. It is very likely that MOTOTRBO radios, used in public safety systems, would be programmed for analog channels (or at least should be), even if they are being used primarily in digital mode. At the very least, this should include the VCALL and VTAC interoperability channels.
John Rayfield, Jr. CETma
1) Because 7K60FXE is not widely accepted in the public safety realm and is a hinderance to impromptu interoperability. And when these small departments are sold these radios, they are set up to operate using the 7K60FXE modulation.*
2) Any high quality FCC type accepted radios that are capable and will be programmed using modulation schemes acknowledged by APCO and the majority of public safety agencies in the United States of America. Not business / industry quality radios.
3) The answer to #2 is not strictly P25. There is no mandate for P25 by the FCC, APCO, or otherwise. The selection of Conventional or Trunking should really come into play with capacity requirements in relation to the number of frequencies available and licensed (or with personal preference.)
4) The answer to #2 is not strictly P25. There is no mandate for P25 by the FCC, APCO, or otherwise. A good commercial radio from ICOM, MOTOROLA, etc. like mentioned above in answer #2 is no more expensive than the MOTOTRBO radios you speak of and they will be able to communicate with all of the analog and P25 capable radios already out there when necessary.
* Note the MOTOTRBO radios will operate in the analog mode making them compatable with most other public saftey radios in use today but they are typically not used in that mode for normal operation and they are likely never programmed to operate in the analog mode - rendering them practically useless for stand alone interoperability requirements.