Greensboro, NC - City faces stiff pricetag for replacing emergency radios

[Thunderbolt]

GREENSBORO, N.C. -- Things go out of date quickly these days. Now, that includes the two-way radio communication system used by the Burlington police and fire departments.

City faces stiff pricetag for replacing emergency radios | city, police, burlington - Burlington Times News

 

[N4DXX]

Thats the way to make some money just stop supporting your old hardware and software..lol

 

[RADIOUSER5]

There is an FCC rule for 700 MHz that requires 6.25 KHz narrowbanding in 2016. XTS and XTL radios cannot be upgraded. The APX line is OK.

 

[mmckenna]

E-gad, either that is one poorly written/researched article, or the taxpayers are about to take one in the shorts. 800MHz band that they say the went to in 2001, is NOT affected by the 2013 narrow banding rule.
Support issues are true, Motorola likes to do that frequently.

Sounds like the Motorola Sales team got them to drink the cool-aid.

 

[MTS2000des]

Note the use of the word "scanners" in the article.
Very poorly written, typical of today's Google/Wikipedia powered reporting. Complete and utter rubbish.

As far as their situation, well that's what you get when you buy a proprietary system. Your forever married to a single source vendor for all your infrastructure needs.

Harris, MA/Com, EF Johnson, and EADS/Cassidian all sell true P25 systems. Too bad they are stuck with feeding the blue pig.

 

[WISCOMM]

There is an FCC rule for 700 MHz that requires 6.25 KHz narrowbanding in 2016. XTS and XTL radios cannot be upgraded. The APX line is OK.

FCC has yet to announce a "rule" for 6.25 KHz.

Only the APX line is P25 Phase II "ready"

 

[kayn1n32008]

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Note the use of the word "scanners" in the article.
Very poorly written, typical of today's Google/Wikipedia powered reporting. Complete and utter rubbish.

As far as their situation, well that's what you get when you buy a proprietary system. Your forever married to a single source vendor for all your infrastructure needs.

Harris, MA/Com, EF Johnson, and EADS/Cassidian all sell true P25 systems. Too bad they are stuck with feeding the blue pig.

As does Motorola, Icom(V/Uhf only) and Kenwood.

 

[MTS2000des]

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As does Motorola, Icom(V/Uhf only) and Kenwood.

Icom and Kenwood don't sell P25 700/800MHz systems that I can find in their catalog.

Motorola sells Astro 25, which is a proprietary "one off".
What Greensboro has is a Smartzone V4 proprietary system.
Too bad they didn't shop around. Many other customers who got sucked into buying this proprietary junk are getting the same bad news.

 

[kayn1n32008]

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That's what I said, kenwood does sell 7/800Mhz subscriber equipment, I was assuming they would sell the whole shebang.

Icom sells, teamed up with Daniels Electronics, complete P25 trunk systems for Vhf/Uhf.

 

[mmckenna]

Icom and Kenwood don't sell P25 700/800MHz systems that I can find in their catalog.

TK-5910 mobile will do 700 and 800MHz P25
TK-5410 hand held will do 700 and 800MHz P25

One of the issues I have experience is people that refuse to use anything but Motorola. Cops are pretty bad for this attitude, but maybe if my life depended on my radio, I might get picky too.
Fire departments don't seem to be as bad, at least not in my area.
The worst are the non-public safety folks on my trunked system that think that Motorola is the ONLY company that makes reliable radios. No amount of convincing will change their minds.

When I was shopping around for a new trunked 800MHz system, it came down to p25, MotoTrbo and NexEdge. I specifically inquired with Icom about future plans for 800MHz, the guy I talked to at IWCE sort of suggested they were considering it, but I haven't seen any products mentioned yet.
So, I've got a NexEdge system going in. P25 was too expensive for non-public safety use (for public safety too, if you ask me). Motorola specifically has blocked the NPSPAC channels from the MotoTrbo line. Kenwood was the only one that fit the bill. Considered an LTR system, but that technology is getting a little long in the tooth.

Really disappointed how the government spends my money sometimes.