Good to know you base your opinion on fact. There are several reasons Kenwood and ICOM are inferior but most of them don't show up until you have a larger commercial system with lots of users.
On Wed, Nov 4, 2015, 6:01 PM Jaime Solorza <[email protected]> wrote: > Sounds crappy....no matter what anyone says. I like the Kenwood and Icom > better > > > Jaime Solorza > On Nov 4, 2015 4:57 PM, "Brian Webster" <[email protected]> wrote: > >> P25 or Project 25 was a Motorola proprietary technology that was >> developed in the 80’s. They championed it to APCO to become the digital >> standard for public safety radio systems. APCO would not adopt it until >> Motorola agree to license it to other manufacturers. That delayed the >> process a very long time and Motorola went kicking and screaming in to the >> agreements at first. It was not cheap for a manufacturer to go that way but >> APCO did not want a single vendor solution. In the rest of the world the >> Tetra standard was adopted but again this are older technologies. Now the >> push is for LTE and Voice over LTE. When the FCC mandated narrowbanding for >> analog VHF and UHF radio systems they gave a 15 year window to migrate. >> Even with that much lead time big cities like NYC, Boston, DC and others >> did not make the deadline because it was typically a complete system >> replacement. These big cities got waivers with a plan to migrate, those >> plans were special licenses for the Firstnet spectrum and the plan to >> develop a public safety grade/reliable voice over IP type network to become >> their primary dispatch radio system in conjunction with their data >> deployments. That VoLTE development is ongoing. They need a lot more >> reliability than what Nextel and CDMA push to talk cellular solutions >> currently deliver. >> >> >> >> Given that VoLTE development and the push for FirstNet systems, many >> folks argue that it’s a waste of money to go P25 at this point. There are >> even some Tetra deployments now in the US. Seems to me a standard that >> follows LTE and will also work in the narrowband spectrum of public safety >> radio systems is more productive. I started my wireless career in public >> safety radio designing and selling Motorola systems. I think they build a >> great product but P25 radios are way too expensive for smaller agencies to >> afford them. With the proliferation of sub $100 FCC approved Chinese radios >> out there, it’s real hard to justify these digital systems when one is on a >> budget. P25 radios are in the $1500 per radio price range. Small fire, EMS >> and law enforcement agencies have a hard time paying those prices. There >> are benefits to digital systems but in all honesty many users don’t take >> advantage of them. The cost of the central site controllers for the system >> really pushes the price tag up. To add insult to injury almost all federal >> grant programs now state that if there are radios involved, they HAVE to be >> P25 compliant. The DOD has mandated all radios be P25 compliant. If Utah is >> getting grant money that is probably why they are going P25. >> >> >> >> Thank You, >> >> Brian Webster >> >> www.wirelessmapping.com >> >> www.Broadband-Mapping.com >> >> >> >> *From:* Af [mailto:[email protected]] *On Behalf Of *[email protected] >> *Sent:* Wednesday, November 04, 2015 4:56 PM >> *To:* [email protected] >> *Subject:* Re: [AFMUG] OT 2-way radio systems >> >> >> >> Thanks, that is helpful. >> >> >> >> *From:* George Skorup <[email protected]> >> >> *Sent:* Wednesday, November 4, 2015 2:50 PM >> >> *To:* [email protected] >> >> *Subject:* Re: [AFMUG] OT 2-way radio systems >> >> >> >> Illinois has state-wide P25 (owned and operated by Motorola Solutions). >> Interoperability between agencies and all of the other P25 stuff is nice, >> but every little town can't afford it and that's why we still have little >> dispatch centers that represent small communities and make use of regular >> old analog VHF. Plus, a lot of users on the state system say the coverage >> sucks, and that would be Motorola not building enough sites. >> >> On 11/4/2015 1:16 PM, [email protected] wrote: >> >> In Utah, there is a very very large proposal to change all the 2-way >> radios for public safety out to a P25 system.� Some of the opponents say >> this is an outdated system.� I had not heard that before.� Looking for >> opinions.� >> >> >> >
