One Radio to Bind them all...

[KyCAP]

Sorry I couldn't resist the JRR Tolkein ..

http://www.thalesliberty.com/media/pressreleases/DHSHQFinalMBRPressRelease.pdf

https://secure.thalescomminc.com/newsroom_details.asp?ID=321

http://www.thalesliberty.com/

I've read they are about $4000 fully loaded.

[wingnut]

$4,000

thats pathetic,
typical of the 911 sharks sucking the Nation dry, I will go 2,000 tops and I better get a Donut.

[airdale]

Actually, the radios probably cost much less than $2000.  Here is the kind of thing you are getting for your $4000:

-A formal contract kickoff meeting at the contractor's facility, attended by government employees and government consultants, the entire contractor project team and (intermittently) by the contractor's management up through the division general manager.  Probably a man-month of preparation for this meeting on the part of the contractor technical and administrative staff.

- Monthly written technical progress reports.    Contractor technical and administrative team support to preparation of these reports and to dealing with any action items resulting from them.

- Periodic (at least weekly) telephone reports from the contractor project manager to the government technical rep.  Contractor technical and administrative team support to preparation for these calls and to dealing with the inevitable action items resulting from them.

- Periodic (at least quarterly) on-site meetings with government employees and consultants on a scale similar to the kickoff meeting and with similar preparation costs.

- Monthly written financial reports

- Multiple telecons between the contractor administrative staff and the government procurement and administrative staff, dealing with questions on the monthly financial reports.

- A government-compliant accounting system

- Internal auditors to ensure accounting system compliance

- Contractor support for on-site government audits to ensure accounting compliance

- Contractor review and compliance with twenty pages of contract boilerplate relating to everything from labor relations to domestic procurement of various items not actually used on the contract.

- Internal auditors to ensure compliance with the boilerplate.

- Contractor support for on-site visits by government auditors ensuring boilerplate compliance.

- Contractor technical team effort responding to frequent (at least weekly) suggestions from the government reps and government consultants.

- Contractor technical team effort to respond to the government's consultants' responses to the contractor technical team's initial responses.  (This, in particular, is a never-ending battle as the consultants can only justify their presence by hassling the technical team into making changes to the project.)

- Contractor management and technical team support to ad-hoc on-site and government-site review meetings.

- Contractor technical preparation and management support to on- and off-site dog and pony shows for government management above the government technical monitor's level.

- Contractor technical preparation and management support to industry meetings and trade shows where the government wants the project to be briefed.

- High-fidelity mockups, photographs and visual aids for all the dog and pony shows, also to give to the government reps for use in their own dog and pony shows.  This stuff is never returned, so multiple copies have to be created.

(The list is longer.  I'm tired of typing.)

And ... you do not want to know how much the radios cost when the government-side costs are factored in.  Or when the government's specifications are internally inconsistent, technically impossible, or are changed in the middle of the project.

[Duke Dillio]

Quote snipped ^ - MIKE

All this and no donut.....

I'm kinda thinking that we don't need $4000 radios...  Just my opinion though.

[KyCAP]

Don't get me wrong.   $4000 for ANYTHING is a lot of dough.

Let me explain this a bit more...

This is an (expensive) Software Defined Radio vs the traditional transciever that we would normally see in the Public Sector.

This is the equivalent to FOUR radios purchased from traditional SKUs.

134-174 MHz (1), 380-520 MHz(2), 700 MHz (3), and 800 MHz (4)

Every person in public safety doesn't need one of these, but in the Command Post or responders responsible for IntraAgency comm that's 50% savings at $2000 per radio as the market currently sits.

In the scheme of radio world this is on the low-end.

Technisonic in the current Fleet (roughly $10K each)
Wulfsberg Avionics can go as much as $60K each
The Bendix King UHF-AM Military radios that we NEED for interop are $20K each

The THALES MBITR (software defined radio) that you commonly see on ground troops deployed cost $8,900 for the basic radio.

https://secure.thalescomminc.com/cart2/tcDesc.asp

"Description: 8.44L X 2.63W (IN), PRC6999-BBS-SYS, JTRS Enhanced MBITR (JEM) Handheld Radio - Urban System (Encrypted), AN/PRC-148[V]4[C], 2 meter immersible, US Type 1 Secure, includes 2 each Rechargeable Lithium-Ion Batteries, 2 each Battery Cell Holders, 30 to 90 MHz Antenna, 90to 512 MHz Antenna, 136 to 174 MHz Antenna, Holster, Accessory Bag, CD-ROM, Manual, Operator Card, SINCGARS, HAVEQUICK II, ANDVT, and RETRANS Software, 10-Year Warranty on the R/T Unit, 6-Month Warranty on the Batteries, and 1-Year Warranty on other System Components. US Government sales only."

That's a whole GAGGLE of HF, VHF, UHF AM and AM (aircraft) radios in there..

From the GSA contract
https://www.gsaadvantage.gov/advgsa/advantage/search/search.do?BV_UseBVCookie=Yes&op=0&rq=PRC6999-BBS-SYS&sort=0&lmt=&vnd=&mf=&cat=ADV&act=refine&sk=82862&q=00AN%2FPRC-148%28V%291%28C%29

And they also have a GPS interface so that you can know where everyone is like APRS or the Garmin Rhino...  And that's just the things I know this thing does...

I've used one of these... They are sweet and built like a tank yet VERY light!

[wingnut]

Well why not, we should get about 100 of them

[notaNCO forever]

Well why not, we should get about 100 of them

For only 4000 each why not I have that in my wallet. I wish.