Why are the upgrades so expensive?

[Pr999]

This is another question about them. Why are they so expensive and why don't they come with the unit?

 

[RaleighGuy]

This is another question about them. Why are they so expensive and why don't they come with the unit?

Because Uniden must pay for licensing agreements to use the technology, and not all users want or need the upgraded modes, so instead of charging all users an extra $120 + for the upgrades the offer them al a carte.

And, before you compare them to Whistler Scanners which do not charge for the upgrade remember, Uniden scanners do true trunk tracking on the systems while the Whistlers just scan each of the frequencies for traffic and do not do true trunk tracking.

 

[fxdscon]

This is another question about them. Why are they so expensive and why don't they come with the unit?

This was asked and answered many times over when the paid upgrades first became available, a search of the forums will yield many posts on the subject.

In a nutshell, Uniden has to pay ongoing royalties and licensing fees on each scanner that has the upgrades enabled. Uniden chose to not charge every customer for the upgrades by raising the cost of the scanners across the board.

 

[Pr999]

Oh sorry, It didn't show me that when I typed the title. I'd be nice if I could get a link to it.

I didn't know that digital modes decoders have to be licensed to be used. Who owns DMR?

 

[ProScan]

Oh sorry, It didn't show me that when I typed the title. I'd be nice if I could get a link to it.

I didn't know that digital modes decoders have to be licensed to be used. Who owns DMR?

See this link. Search the doc for Uniden and Whistler

https://www.motorolasolutions.com/content/dam/msi/docs/about-us/company_overview/technology-leadership/dmr_licensees_01jun2022.pdf

 

[RaleighGuy]

Oh sorry, It didn't show me that when I typed the title. I'd be nice if I could get a link to it.

I didn't know that digital modes decoders have to be licensed to be used. Who owns DMR?

You will find many posts by using the search feature in the top right, as @fxdscon suggested, the suggested similiar posts when you create new threads do not include all posts.

 

[Pr999]

See this link. Search the doc for Uniden and Whistler

https://www.motorolasolutions.com/content/dam/msi/docs/about-us/company_overview/technology-leadership/dmr_licensees_01jun2022.pdf

Whistler is not on there.

 

[ProScan]

Whistler is not on there.

Exactly.

 

[Pr999]

Exactly.

Are you saying they are illegally putting the feature on their radios?

 

[ProScan]

Are you saying they are illegally putting the feature on their radios?

I'm not saying that. I'm pointing out that Whistler isn't licensing DMR. Perhaps the IP lawyers will chime in. I guessing they are getting around the licensing by using DMR in a conventional system, programmed as a trunking system.

 

[fxdscon]

Are you saying they are illegally putting the feature on their radios?

Check this link from the Radio Reference wiki:

DMR - The RadioReference Wiki

wiki.radioreference.com

Again, rather than re-hash the issue all over again, you can find all the answers by using the forum search function here:

Search threads

forums.radioreference.com