Batboard

O.K., for you Super Quantar Experts:

Do you knnow if the current Quantar is upgradable to handle the next phase of APCO?

Today's Quantar is capable of meeting the current APCO P25 standard that requires 2 talk paths of FDMA per 25 kHz channel. The next phase of APCO dictates 4 talk paths of TDMA per 25 kHz.

Please don't shoot the Messenger---I'm not saying the next APCO phase standard is good/bad---just stating the facts, maam! The next phase has been set in concrete for some time, so there's no turning back. I think the next APCO phase is expected to take effect in the next several years, give or take.

I understand that the UHSO option on the Quantar will be a necessity for supporting the 6.25 kHz bandwidth TDMA scheme, but what about the rest of the repeater's guts?

What about the DIU3000? (A good guess says that it dies with the end of the current FDMA phase, since I believe that APCO calls for 100% digital at that time---You know: What's analog?) I think Motorola's current S6 infrastructure already is 100% digital, with no such animal as a DIU3000, so I can't imagine the next phase having any use for DIU's and any sort of analog ancillary gear.

I won't even ask about the ASTRO P & M radios' abilities to be upgraded to the next APCO phase, especially since that question doesn't belong under infrastructure.

Larry

Exactly what I was getting at in the Kenwood VS Motorola repeater thread. Who's to say you'll even be able to use the Quantar you buy today, 10 years down the road? I have no idea if it'll be able to support the 4 TDMA paths, without actual hardware FRU changes, as well as the seemingly mandatory firmware updating required. The same goes for the field radios.
In the world of rapidly changing technologies, my advice is to hold off on getting something until you actually need it, or you could very well pay more in the long run.
Case in point: Our PD bought 100+ MTS2000 radios with SmartZone already flashed in them for "the future", since they were on AMSS at the time. Well, 5 years later, they go to put them onto the new SmartZone system & what happens? They're forced to do a FLASHport upgrade to them, to bring the firmware up to the current version, otherwise they weren't "supported". So much for spending the extra $1000/radio 5 years ago! They had to do it again anyway.
Then there's the people who jumped on the VSELP bandwagon in the early 90's, as another example. Hey, it was also the best, most advanced way to go at the time as well.
Sometimes things happen that make the best laid plans go awry.

Todd

Bob Galvin gave a very interesting speech at Motorola's "Winds of Change," quite a few years ago, wherein he predicted that x% (can't remember the exact %, but it was significant) of Motorola's revenue would be derived from software by about this time. Well, I think it's REALLY coming true, albeit it's maybe taking a bit longer than Motorola had predicted. If you look through the August, 2003 price book, it is AMAZING to see the hike in FLASHport costs! I mentioned the example of the DIU3000 firmware (so-called "Software Refresh") that simply brings you current, and that went from $500 to now $1,200--- a $700 increase over it's price the previous month of June, 2003. I cruised through the price pages for various other FLASHport prices, only to discover many other huge FLASHport price increases. Something happened in July, 2003 in terms of an earthquake in FLASHport pricing. Perhaps this is the dreaded ASTRO gear price increases that we kept hearing about for the past year or so? The hardware seems to be hanging in there, at pretty much the same prices, but FLASHport has taken off like a rocket!

Seems odd to do this when we are still in the middle of a recession, and while many economists are worried about deflation! Maybe it's the Homeland Security picture whereby the Big Fed Agencies are swimming in upgrade dollars. Seems like the "First Responders" have yet to taste any of this rich gravey.

Larry