Xcel 800MHz
Someone told me a number of years back that then Northern States Power had a scheduled replacement for their ENTIRE radio system something like every five years. I am skeptical, but like many things, there may have been some truth to it. Every place I have ever worked has always replaced radio equipment piecemeal, unless it was a complete change. For example, when we went from old fashioned, analog narrow band FM to ARMER, that was pretty much a complete swap out.
Now the IT folks in places that I have worked do seem to have a schedule to replace computer equipment on a regular schedule. At the old job, it was every three years originally, but then they moved it up to four years. I think part of the justification is the cost of labor for maintenance vs. the cost of replacement. So, if it is less expensive to just replace a desktop, monitor, or laptop computer than just replacing it, I guess that makes sense.
Now back to Xcel, they very well might be going to APCO P25 Phase II. Since they are just now going from analog to P25, I am not even sure if there is much difference in costs between having the system Phase I or Phase II. I rather doubt that the having enough frequencies or spectrum is a problem for them. When I have monitored that system, it certainly has not sounded like it was running at full capacity.
I do find it interesting, too, for as many businesses that are moving to MOTO TRBO, that Xcel is going P25. For the people wanting to scan it, that is probably a relief. I do still hope that we get MOTO TRBO scanning capability on consumer grade scanners soon. Even though there are few organizations on MOTO TRBO that I want to monitor, I would still like the capability.