Do have a timeframe for when moto discontinued smartnet/zone?
Many years ago, I don't recall the specifics, but when I dumped my SmartNet system in 2011, it was right on the verge of going out of support, if it wasn't already.
The reason I ask is because this is a new system for NYC and is probably no more then 10 years old. I know NYC is backwards when they do stuff but I have to wonder why they would introduce 3 new trunking systems in recent years when it's no longer supported by Motorola. I can't see them getting rid of it or upgrading it anytime soon.
Could be a number of reasons.
-Big purchasing agencies don't always make the best decisions.
-Motorola loves to lock users into systems long term, so selling a SN/SZ system when it was nearing end of life would more or less ensure they had at least 10 years of support contract and radio sales, although EFJohnson sells SN/SZ compatible radios.
-Motorola also has/had a very clear upgrade path for SN/SZ systems to P25. Likely the base stations that were sold to them were P25 capable, which creates another possible revenue stream.
-Other angle is that the customer may have had SN/SZ compatible radios, so going with that system saved a lot of money.
-Motorola and EFJ still sell radios that will support SmartNet and SmartZone, and probably will for quite a while to come. What's been end-of-lifed is the controllers.
I can only guess they may still have a vendor supplying them with parts and such.
The radios themselves are not an issue. Radios are still actively being sold that support SN/SZ. the APX line of radios will support it, so will the new EFJ radios.
The repeaters themselves are not an issue, either.
It's the controllers. And if the guys who maintain it are good, they can easily replace failed components and keep the system running indefinitely. Might be a good solution if they have a lot of subscriber radios that will support it. Big issue I had with my 6809 controller was the leaking capacitors that etched the circuit board.
As others have said, licensing the protocol from Motorola costs money. The only reason EF Johnson did it was because Motorola needed to satisfy purchasing requirements for some agencies that prohibited sole sourcing equipment. It wasn't because Motorola wanted more competition, it was to meet legal requirements. EF Johnson was happy to get the business. When Kenwood took over EFJ, they were able to keep the SN/SZ licensing on the EFJ branded radios.
I'd agree with the others, I would be surprised if they wasted the money licensing a protocol that is dying off. Pagers are nice, but when there's a flood of older radios that will support SN/SZ, buying someone a new one way pager doesn't make a lot of sense.
And while I know the hobby crowd loves these pagers, there are other suitable scanners that will work. I'm not sure what Unication's marketing plan is for their products.