I was doing very rough planning of an approx 30 site NXDN Type C system with no tower costs and it estimated like $20-30k per NXR5k repeater lmao. Ameradio one-off quote is like $5k. This was co pilot and its been useful for some things, brainstorming channel abbreviations that make sense and like but its been way off on price estimates.
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Price of VHF simulcast Analog Paging System?
- Thread starter otobmark
- Start date
Installed a ten site simulcast analog/P25 system for fire paging 3 years ago using Kenwood Kairos gear. Equipment for all ten sites was $210K and tower labor was an additional $40K at prevailing wage rates.
Existing 800 MHz trunking system sites utilized so tower, shelter, microwave backhaul and -48 VDC plant was already in place. New antennas, tower mounts and hardline runs were installed at every site for the paging channel. Other than the tower work equipment install was performed by agency techs.
I see no mention of $5 million???
Chief Deputy of Emergency Services Jared Byrd said on December 10, 2024, Randolph County
received proposals (RFP# 24-1030) for the purchase and installation of a VHF single channel 3-
site site simulcast paging system. The purpose and use of the VHF paging system is to provide
alert notification of emergency calls to all Randolph County Fire Departments, ambulances, and
other first responders in Randolph County. This project will replace the VHF single site paging
system currently in place.
Randolph County received proposals from:
Vendor Bid
Motorola Solutions, Inc $ 995,292.00
Last February, the Board approved this as an American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) project and
authorized up to $1,000,000. Emergency Services is seeking the approval of the Board of
Commissioners for the Motorola paging system proposal of $995,292 and the associated Budget
Amendment.
Commissioner Allen asked if the connected systems would cross County lines. Deputy Chief
Byrd replied yes.
Chief Deputy of Emergency Services Jared Byrd said on December 10, 2024, Randolph County
received proposals (RFP# 24-1030) for the purchase and installation of a VHF single channel 3-
site site simulcast paging system. The purpose and use of the VHF paging system is to provide
alert notification of emergency calls to all Randolph County Fire Departments, ambulances, and
other first responders in Randolph County. This project will replace the VHF single site paging
system currently in place.
Randolph County received proposals from:
Vendor Bid
Motorola Solutions, Inc $ 995,292.00
Last February, the Board approved this as an American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) project and
authorized up to $1,000,000. Emergency Services is seeking the approval of the Board of
Commissioners for the Motorola paging system proposal of $995,292 and the associated Budget
Amendment.
Commissioner Allen asked if the connected systems would cross County lines. Deputy Chief
Byrd replied yes.
And this...
On motion of Allen, seconded by Haywood, the Board voted 5-0 to 1) accept the paging system
proposal by Motorola Solutions for $995,292,
12/19/24
On motion of Allen, seconded by Haywood, the Board voted 5-0 to 1) accept the paging system
proposal by Motorola Solutions for $995,292,
12/19/24
The above 2 posts are assuming the bid linked earlier is the correct one.
3 sites and a dispatch center, but who's counting.
Think about the resources required to do it. Several people are going to eat, breathe, and sleep this thing for months. People had to get paid to read, analyze, and respond to a 104-page RFP. And be right. Add inflation and tariffs to numbers that we were used to in past decades and you get ...
Thats easy. have a policy in place that after 4 minutes or some other reasonable specified time, if no responce from the paged department, there is a response check. After an additional 2 minutes, you second dispatch and dispatch a cover.
There is enough alarming capabilities out there that if a site loses connectivity or a transmitter alarms due to high vswr, power supply issue, or a mouse crawls across the shelter floor, someone will be notified via SNMP traps.
There are plenty of 911 dispatch centers out there using analog two tone paging without issues.
You’re welcome.
So, while at the high end, the $995,xxx is within the "Grok" estimate.
prcguy
Member
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If there were kickbacks the actual cost of the system would be less…..
RFI-EMI-GUY
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A fire alerting paging system is going to have redundancy in every aspect to meet NFPA.
freddaniel
Member
By reviewing the RFP, it appears the three simulcast paging transmitters is the smallest element of the contract. The real meat is the:
- Microwave system with 4 sites plus 2 control centers, in a fully ring/redundant configuration, requiring many radios & antennas.
- Reprogramming a large unstated number of existing pagers
- Evaluating the sites to determine if existing facilities are sufficient to support new system
- Providing any new towers, building, generators, UPS, batteries which may be necessary to meet specification
- Engineering the new system, including the compatibility with existing facilities and systems
- Providing labor to create all the documents, training and pricing for the full life-cycle of the system
- Limiting bidders to only those who have successfully engineered & built at least several systems of this size before
Sounds like the RFP was designed for Motorola or maybe a major project management company like Black & Veatch.
I would think the County would be better off financially if they first hired a engineering firm to determine the paging transmitter & control requirements and perform any field tests to verify coverage. This is pretty settled science and should be under $100,000. This could be like the Fire System with a VHF input frequency for simple & reliable control. The existing pager reprogramming can be a separate contract.
They reference the existing undefined VIPER microwave system, which the new system must be compatible with, but provide no insight as to if it will be replaced with the new microwave system or continue in tandem.
If the county wants a new redundant microwave system, they can evaluate the requirement in-house to determine if existing facilities are sufficient to support a new system without new facilities and hardware. Then they can bid the microwave radio system after KNOWING what new facilities & hardware is needed, to the major microwave manufacturers, for the best price.
Otherwise, the bidders must assume the worst case and bid accordingly. Thus the large price tag.
- Microwave system with 4 sites plus 2 control centers, in a fully ring/redundant configuration, requiring many radios & antennas.
- Reprogramming a large unstated number of existing pagers
- Evaluating the sites to determine if existing facilities are sufficient to support new system
- Providing any new towers, building, generators, UPS, batteries which may be necessary to meet specification
- Engineering the new system, including the compatibility with existing facilities and systems
- Providing labor to create all the documents, training and pricing for the full life-cycle of the system
- Limiting bidders to only those who have successfully engineered & built at least several systems of this size before
Sounds like the RFP was designed for Motorola or maybe a major project management company like Black & Veatch.
I would think the County would be better off financially if they first hired a engineering firm to determine the paging transmitter & control requirements and perform any field tests to verify coverage. This is pretty settled science and should be under $100,000. This could be like the Fire System with a VHF input frequency for simple & reliable control. The existing pager reprogramming can be a separate contract.
They reference the existing undefined VIPER microwave system, which the new system must be compatible with, but provide no insight as to if it will be replaced with the new microwave system or continue in tandem.
If the county wants a new redundant microwave system, they can evaluate the requirement in-house to determine if existing facilities are sufficient to support a new system without new facilities and hardware. Then they can bid the microwave radio system after KNOWING what new facilities & hardware is needed, to the major microwave manufacturers, for the best price.
Otherwise, the bidders must assume the worst case and bid accordingly. Thus the large price tag.
speedway_navigator
Member
The IEEE changed (oops, I mean depreciated) that term to exposure reference level.
I don't know any coax mfg that offers that warranty. The system in Mesa AZ I monitor has a 15 year life cycle for coax and antennas in their budget.
Is prolonged exposure different from 20 years?
speedway_navigator
Member
A quick search for the pdf's author, David Gelyana, turns up linked in profile for Mission Critical Partners. I'd say he is an engineer based on this title.
"Microsoft Word - Appendix G - Tax Froms.doc"
One of us would have put forms, but we are only techs, not ingineers...
talviar
Member
All I'm gonna say is I hold as much faith in the RF Engineers at MCP as I do trusting a fart when I'm sick with diarrhea. If this RFP was done by MCP I'd hire another engineer or consulting company to recheck everything....
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