Given how well *cough, cough* today's digital trunkers work on simple FDMA P25 Phase I, the first generation of TDMA scanners will probably be bricks.
The question is, how long will today's current FDMA P25 systems be in use? Phoenix (and surrounding municipalities) have spent a gazillion dollars on the current system, so unless switching to PII involves the flip of a switch (somehow I doubt it, judging from the pa$t when it come$ to the Big Batwing) it's gonna be a long time (hopefully) before Phase II is rammed down our throats.
Personally, I think it's a mistake. Every layer of technological complexity we add to these radios puts our first responders at some degree of risk - it's simply more pieces of a process that can fail. If TDMA is all that fantastic, why not just do away with the radios altogether and use GSM cell phones instead? With PTT and text messaging capability, we could replace both the MCT and the police band radio with a simple, cheap, easily replaced and upgraded handheld device that will work anywhere in the country with no additional infrastructure costs needed, so why don't we? Because they are subject to failure, that's why. I think APCO has forgotten who in the hell they're supposed to be looking out for. Do you really think these whiz bang digital systems are going to stay up and running during a major disaster? Pfft.
Just listen to the Phoenix digital feed sometime. Several times a day, a dispatcher tells a unit "please repeat, you went digital". And now we want to add TDMA to this mix? Yeah, what a great idea, that'll fix everything. :roll: These systems are a joke now, let alone in the future when we are basically giving our first responders $5000 cell phones.
-AZ