Company equipment

[flatlander89]

Coondog, I understand you position as seems similar to mine.I would recommend going with the commercial setup in a farming instance.I myself enjoy cb as a hobby but there's nothing like picking up a mic on a commercial Kenwood etc.and being able to have crystal clear conversation with coworkers,especially when running equipment around power lines trees and so forth.So much easier when everyone can hear and understand when changing fields an so on,being able to have split second communication should be priceless.And some places we run cell service is sketchy at best and don't hold a candle to commercial FM reliability

 

[flatlander89]

And like Captain K stated when the skip is rolling,an operator will run the squelch so high even line of sight comms.are a no go.THAT is frustrating.believe me,ive been there

 

[Captain Kilowatt]

Don't forget that the rental fees are a tax write-off as well. It's all a part of operational costs.

 

[Road Squawker]

Don't forget that the rental fees are a tax write-off as well. ... It's all a part of operational costs.

As would the actual purchasing, maintenance, and/or repair costs.

Then he could also claim depreciation too.

 

[Captain Kilowatt]

As would the actual purchasing, maintenance, and/or repair costs.

Then he could also claim depreciation too.

Yes but then HE would have to be responsible for all that whereas renting he simply calls up the service provider and says "It's broke. Fix it" and there is no charge usually.

 

[StrangeBrew]

The cost of the radios and their maintenance is nowhere near as big a problem as downtime would be. Keep in mind that the whole purpose here is not to play with radios, it's to keep his equipment and their operators productive. The fact that the productivity of the machine the radio is installed in is tied to reliable communications is all I would need to know to let the professionals handle it.

 

[222DBFL]

A good install and good equipment, I don't see it being an issue. Have had a Chinese small radio in my work van. NMO mount and about a 15" antenna. Could talk out to 20-25 miles reliably with the radio back to the repeater. Good coax was used. Andrew LMR240, good connectors and a decent NMO mount. Radio plugged into just cigarette lighter receptacle worked great. A more permanent power solution could have been installed. Point is, never had any issue with it since it being installed. Works when needed. And that is with a small
China radio. Yes it's legal. Operate under bosses license and frequency that was allocated to him by FCC. Repeater antenna was at approx 95ft. A dual band vertical. Icom repeater setup with solar panel and GFCI receptacle mounted into a Hoffmann enclosure and mounted to tower. Tower was knocked down by hurricane. Tree fell on guyed wire. Repeater system is okay!! But needless to say until he Hurricane it provided reliable comms back to the office when needed. Rebuild is coming soon. He is already getting prices for all work and new tower!! Gotta have it as he says LOL!!

 

[Road Squawker]

Yes but then HE would have to be responsible for all that whereas renting he simply calls up the service provider and says "It's broke. Fix it" and there is no charge usually.

Yes, that is a consideration

actually there is a charge, it is built in to the rental fee and is paid even of no repairs are done.

Perhaps the provider will provide prompt and effective repairs,.... perhaps not.

Many companies will promise you the moon, but,............ when it comes to actually doing what they promise, .....................


BTW, I just picked up another new client that left their previous company due to poor maintenance/repair issues.

It really doesn't cost me anything (over all) to provide good services to my clients, everything is a write off.

Heck, Donald Trump could take a lesson from me about write offs

Bottom line, either option may or may not be the best, and not actually knowing the actual failure rate of the equipment only adds more variables.

 

[Road Squawker]

For what it worth, I recently purchased a property from a person that ran a logging company, it came with a 150 foot tower with a 4 bay vertical antenna, hardline, Motorola repeater, FCC licensed and co-ordinated on 158.370 MHz, ect.

All that equipment had not been used by the company for years, they all used Nextel walkie talkies with no problems.

 

[Captain Kilowatt]

Yes, that is a consideration

actually there is a charge, it is built in to the rental fee and is paid even of no repairs are done.

Yes true but I was just thinking about the extra unexpected cost aspect of it. With service fees built into the monthly/yearly rental fees you pay a constant amount regardless and makes budgeting easier.

 

[Tallman]

Yes but then HE would have to be responsible for all that whereas renting he simply calls up the service provider and says "It's broke. Fix it" and there is no charge usually.

Plus if they choose the wrong equipment and it does not satisfy the need of the customer, the customer can still say fix it. Different radios, frequencies, adding a repeater tower could all be in the mix to satisfy the contract.

 

[N0NB]

I have had our own 450 MHz repeater set up on our farm for 20+ years. As I am also employed as a radio tech, I've been able to source various stuff and build the system up over the years. It is duly licensed in the Part 90 industrial pool. My understanding is that the FCC will not license GMRS for business use any longer.

Right now it consists of a Kenwood TKR-850 V2 repeater, TX-RX duplexer, and a second hand DB Products UHF antenna. The mobiles are all Kenwood TK-862G radios programmed for two channels. Channel 1 is programmed to operate through the repeater and channel 2 is programmed for direct or "talk around" on the repeater output frequency. All radios are programmed to transmit a CTCSS tone and the receivers require the same tone when the microphones are seated in the mic clips. The repeater requires the same tone to activate the receiver to transmitter link and always transmits the tone. All of this is done in the programming of the repeaters and radios via the Kenwood software.

Most of the mobiles use quarter wave antennas with the trucks having gain antennas since they can wind up in line at one of the grain elevators which is in a valley with a high ridge between it and the repeater location.

The good thing is that it is more immediate than cell phones and perfect for multiple operators to hear the same message at once. The system has proven to be an asset to our operation.