why are they so expensive?

Astro_Saber · Post by **Astro_Saber** » Fri Nov 16, 2001 6:53 pm

other than trunking and such.

i guess its just hype

Elroy Jetson · Post by **Elroy Jetson** » Fri Nov 16, 2001 9:34 pm

Supply and demand. They can get that much, so they do. But there is a lot of custom made technology in some of these radios, and that does cost money. It's not as cheap to build an Astro Saber as it is a CD Walkman, but if the chips used in the radio were as commonly available and cheap as the Walkman's chipset, it could get much cheaper, especially if the radios were produced in larger quantities.

Elroy

RFdude · Post by **RFdude** » Sun Nov 18, 2001 8:31 pm

Is there an entry level digital ASTRO SmartZone type radio? Motorola's MCS2000 is entry level ANALOG with SmartZone trunking. Then the price doubles before getting into a basic digital Astro Spectra. It makes the digital radios very dear. A large fleet must seriously consider a hybrid system because of the pricing of digital mobiles makes them unaffordable for the entire fleet.

I've seen one other company produce "licensed" SmartZone digital trunking, but it costs the same as the Spectra, and doesn't work right yet.

Any ideas?

Post by Pj » Mon Nov 19, 2001 3:10 am

If you are looking into a DIGITAL Smartzone system, then you can afford to pay the price of it.

Really only large spread out agencies need that system, including utilites, and they can afford it.

Post by **wavetar** » Sun Nov 25, 2001 3:45 pm

On 2001-11-18 23:31, RFdude wrote:
Is there an entry level digital ASTRO SmartZone type radio? Motorola's MCS2000 is entry level ANALOG with SmartZone trunking. Then the price doubles before getting into a basic digital Astro Spectra.

Actually, the LCS2000 is the entry level analog radio for SmartZone, about $1000 cheaper than the MCS as well. But the MCS is worth every extra penny, in my opinion.

Cowthief · Post by **Cowthief** » Fri Nov 30, 2001 1:20 am

Hello.

R&D, as well as the scale of production, have a great bearing on the overall cost.
In consumer television, the cost of production is reduced by making chassis units common on a large number of sets, the PAL and NTSC sets are the same, save for 2 jumpers in GE/RCA sets.
The high-end model with PIP and MCA audio and the base model share the same main PCB.
This is not the case with 2 way radio.

Thank You.

Cowthief · Post by **Cowthief** » Fri Nov 30, 2001 1:31 am

P.S.

FRS, cellphones, things like that, where units are counted in the millions, the cost is very low per unit, and digital cellphones are far more complex than digital trunking, remember, a phone with IRDB has a lookup table for the entire roaming network, as well as crypto to protect the ESN, dual band models are just that, and they run full duplex, in a small package.

Thank You.