Dual band question

[22nineline]

Only need a radio that is dual band and not this multiband stuff out there. Is Motorola the only company making a radio that will do VHF and 700/800 in one radio. I've looked and did not see anybody else making one radio that will do those two bands like that. Kenwood seems to make single band and then the multiband with VHF,UHF and 7/800. Harris seems to do only the same thing. So is Motorola the only ones to be able to get those two bands in one radio

 

[DeoVindice]

Kenwood and Harris both allow radios to be optioned as dual-band only for a slightly reduced price.

 

[22nineline]

Kenwood and Harris both allow radios to be optioned as dual-band only for a slightly reduced price.

That was quick. Thank you for the info. Would it be worth it to just remove the UHF band? Not sure if the department would want to think about resale value down the road or not

 

[DeoVindice]

That was quick. Thank you for the info. Would it be worth it to just remove the UHF band? Not sure if the department would want to think about resale value down the road or not

A future buyer who wants to add UHF can purchase it as a feature upgrade. Bands should be around $600 each per radio depending on contract pricing. If that is significant for the initial purchase, then it may make sense to omit UHF.

 

[22nineline]

A future buyer who wants to add UHF can purchase it as a feature upgrade. Bands should be around $600 each per radio depending on contract pricing. If that is significant for the initial purchase, then it may make sense to omit UHF.

Thanks all is good to know. They are about to start looking for bids soon and needed to figure out who to look at.

 

[mmckenna]

Thanks all is good to know. They are about to start looking for bids soon and needed to figure out who to look at.

Motorola
EFJohnson
Bendix King
L3 Harris
Tait

Don't get hung up on brand names, shop all of them as the price ranges pretty wide. Also, make sure you are purchasing under state contracts, or something like NASPO. You should see a minimum of 30% off list price.

All will do what you want. It's about provisioning the radio for what you need. Make sure you consider interoperability with all the agencies around you, and consider grant funding as an option.

Resale value isn't usually a consideration in the industry. Public safety radios have an approximate lifespan of 7 to 10 years on average. By that point these radios are beat pretty hard, out of alignment, and won't be worth much. Generally they either get passed down to a volunteer fire company, relegated to 'admin' use, become cache radios, or get dumped on the used market for hobbyists to gobble up. Maybe looking at 200 bucks per radio resale value at the end of their life, and often the hassle of selling property through the right process makes that difficult. In all my years of doing this job, resale value was never a consideration.

 

[Project25_MASTR]

As previously stated, the "dual band" radio today is a multiband radio that one simply doesn't option the unneeded band for.

In the decade prior where manufacturers were offering strictly dual band radios, there were limitations. For example, while Motorola's APX7000 and APX7500's consisted of a primary band baked onto the RF deck (so you could order it as single band) the secondary band was simply a daughter RF board within the housing. The odd ball configuration offered was VHF/UHF as the VHF/800 and UHF/800 had a common 700/800 primary RF deck. In comparison, EF Johnson's route with the VP900 and VM900 was to offer 7/800 in all models but VHF or UHF as a secondary so they were only producing two portables and two mobiles (all RF components were baked in).

Today, multiband radios are capable of whatever the order wants. Want V/U? Cool, just option it that way. Want U/7/8? Just option it that way. Want V/7/8, just option it that way. Want all "three" (it's technically four even though we consider 7/8 a single band)? Go for it. Want just one band and see if you need to add later? You do you. Single sku for the portable and mobile, just different features in software to enable/disable. In fact, EFJ had Kenwood cease production of the VP6000 entirely and move to the VP8000 optioned as a single band because it future proofed the purchaser and allowed them to get better pricing on manufacturing from Kenwood as it's only a single RF board versus three separate RF boards with different take rates. Some vendors (such as EFJ) even let you reclaim features you configured on a radio when that radio reaches the end of it's usable life and apply those features towards it's replacement at no additional cost.

 

[K7UDZ]

One factor to consider if omitting a band is whether you may need it down the road. Yes you can (usually) add it back in, but often the price to add features post-sale is non-trivially higher than at original purchase. This is especially true for Motorola.

 

[K7UDZ]

For example, while Motorola's APX7000 and APX7500's consisted of a primary band baked onto the RF deck (so you could order it as single band) the secondary band was simply a daughter RF board within the housing. The odd ball configuration offered was VHF/UHF as the VHF/800 and UHF/800 had a common 700/800 primary RF deck.

This is entirely untrue.

The APX 7000 and 7500 detailed service manuals including schematics can easily be found online, and while there is some commonality between different bands, they are single-RF-deck radios, and there is no secondary board for the secondary band. If the radio is specced for two bands, it will have RF hardware for the two and only the two bands selected. Whether the “secondary” band is usable depends merely on purchased flashcode.

Fun fact, there is even an APX 7000 RF deck for UHF1/UHF2!

 

[GTR8000]

Yeah, definitely incorrect about the APX 7x00. You had to order both the primary and secondary band initially, even if you only cared about one band. All of the RF boards were dual-band, there was absolutely no "daughter card" for a second band. Once you ordered the two band, you were locked in to them forever. If you wanted to save a few pennies, you didn't order the FLASH option for QA00579 Enable Dual Band Operation, which left the secondary band dormant but the hardware was always there (and could easily be unlocked in the future).

 

[prcguy]

If the OP is looking at an APX 7000 or APX 7500 you can buy an all band Harris XG-100P handheld or XG-100M mobile for a fraction of what the APX cost and just don't use the extra bands. I have an APX7500 here and a bunch of Harris XG-100Ms and prefer the Harris for features, ease of use and ease of programming, not to mention I probably got three of the Harris radios for what the APX7500 cost.

 

[jeepsandradios]

Op didn't state if looking for new or used. As said if your looking for used the APX7500/7000can be found with VHF/7/8. If new 8000/8500 is the way to go with all bands. If this is for a department then haveing UHF for interop channels is a plus even if they dont get used rutinley.

 

[22nineline]

It's a fire department that will have to switch to a state wide 700/800 trunked system but will still need VHF for all the other fire channels. I'm just getting asked some questions to help them figure out what they want. Believe they are wanting to look more into Kenwood over Moto. I believe only the trucks and officers will get anything with more then the VHF band and they will be keep the rest of their VHF radios.

 

[mmckenna]

It's a fire department that will have to switch to a state wide 700/800 trunked system but will still need VHF for all the other fire channels. I'm just getting asked some questions to help them figure out what they want. Believe they are wanting to look more into Kenwood over Moto. I believe only the trucks and officers will get anything with more then the VHF band and they will be keep the rest of their VHF radios.

Kenwood has pretty much moved out of the public safety market, EF Johnson is their division that handles this market. Same radio, better programming software.

VM8000 for the mobile and VP8000 for the portables.
A lot of options to choose from.

Make sure you check with the statewide system guys to make sure they support the EFJohnson radios, have system keys, programming files, etc. Get their input on which features you need (Phase 2, encryption, etc.)