RE: Narrowbanding & Radio Values

[drdog]

Well, I don't know if this question has been raised, but.... Once the narrow banding goes into effect, what will that do to prices on the older compliant equipment?? Like the HT1000 "D" version? or the Astro Sabers and XTS3000s ? Do you think people will pay more for these radios? or will there be a feeding frenzy/ Scam frenzy on ebay??? When I feel depressed I go on ebay and look at how the foolish public fights for silly items to the point where they could buy it cheaper retail.....whatever the item is.... just to say " I WON!!!"

[SteveC0625]

Well, I don't know if this question has been raised, but.... Once the narrow banding goes into effect, what will that do to prices on the older compliant equipment?? Like the HT1000 "D" version? or the Astro Sabers and XTS3000s ? Do you think people will pay more for these radios? or will there be a feeding frenzy/ Scam frenzy on ebay??? When I feel depressed I go on ebay and look at how the foolish public fights for silly items to the point where they could buy it cheaper retail.....whatever the item is.... just to say " I WON!!!"

I think that "supply and demand" will drive the prices. For example, the CDM750 has actually dropped $10 to $30 over the past year, but the CDM1250 is now well north of $250. HT1250's seem to be holding value on the used market very well; HT750's, too.

I see a lot of compliant gear coming on the market over the next 9 months and beyond as agencies get new systems installed and sell off their old stuff.

What is puzzling is the non-compliant gear. I see more and more of it hitting the market nearly every day, and people are still scooping them up at what I think are way too high prices. I think some of that is driven by the public safety market. Individuals who don't understand the narrowband situation are grabbing stuff left and right thinking that it will serve them well in the fire and ems arenas. That could get messy.

Hams, of course, are benefiting from this big time and will continue to do so.

[nrembis]

I think the prices will go up, not get cheaper and we will also see many radio dealers go out of business in the next few months, your starting to see in fire and ems an education process and they are finding out many of their radios are compliant when their local radio dealer said no its not in hopes of a large sale....when word gets around the fire and ems world of that going on locally the dealer is done for.

[drdog]

Well, if you think about it, the non compliant stuff is a great deal for international buyers, I have seen it selling dirt cheap. You have, South America, Mexico, Canada, Russia, Eastern Europe, all the countries where the stuff is still useable. (For legal purposes....or not...), Plus I don't think that the FCC is going into the woods during Deer or Turkey hunting season to check for compliance!!! A commercial talkie beats the hell out of a FRS childs toy, at the same price...

[Jim202]

As has been said for eons that there is a sucker born every minute. This hold very true to the world of used radio equipment. The old non compliant radio gear that is being taken out of service is being placed on various for sale sites. These radios are being offered bare bones. No mounting brackets, no speakers, no mics, no power cables and the seller is placing some rather high prices on the radios.

I questioned one seller of some Maxtrac radios that were pulled by a fire department. He said his prices were where they were because that was what people were paying on Ebay. Where these radios should be going from say $10 to $50, they were being sold for $125 or more. Guess people are stupid.

As we get closer to the end of the year, you should see more of this kind of radio on the used market. The prices can't stay that high much longer. If people would stop to think that they are purchasing a used radio, it can't be used on the public safety or commercial market any longer, most of it has long lost support from the company that made them. Explain to me how these radios can demand such high prices?

I also agree that there will be a big change in the radio shops that have tried to milk their customers into buying new radio equipment, when in many cases the radios they bought over the last 3 to 5 years are already compliant with the narrow banding rules. The honesty of these dealers will play big time into what their future holds. The good old boy network from years past will not be able to stand the changes in the future.

Jim

[nrembis]

Jim,the post was about older compliant equipment, not bashing me for my used equipment ads, I hope your other 2444 posts werent as bad, bashing and demeaning as the last 2 I have seen directed at me from you, if so I feel very sorry for all the folks on this forum that have had to put up with you.

Pretty Pathetic Really!

[sataraid1]

I've watched the prices on M1225s steadily increase over the last year or so. It's not surprising, they're decent radios, and even at inflated prices they're still cheaper than anything new.

What I don't understand is that you can regularly buy CDM750s for less than 4-channel M1225s. Nor do I understand who's buying all those VHF Maxtracs, but the do seem to sell well.

[KitN1MCC]

i went threw and boxed up a bunch of maratracs and mactracs i have no idea what to do with them. hams may want them

[Jim202]

Jim,the post was about older compliant equipment, not bashing me for my used equipment ads, I hope your other 2444 posts werent as bad, bashing and demeaning as the last 2 I have seen directed at me from you, if so I feel very sorry for all the folks on this forum that have had to put up with you.

Pretty Pathetic Really!

I can't understand why you feel I pointed you out or have been trying to bash your activities. I was just pointing out that the cost of used radios has been on the high side from where they should be. If you can sell them for that price, then by all means have at it. That is why Ebay is not always the best source of used radio equipment.

I do travel around the country and get to meet many of the radio shops while on my travels to see public safety agencies and many of the federal agencies. It is cheaper for the radio shops to give the radios away, rather than have to pay to dispose of them. All I can say is there will be a boat load of used radio equipment on the market shortly. My guess is the prices will fall out the bottom and more of it will end up in land fills before it all blows through.

Been in this field for many years and have seen several generations of radios get swapped out. The narrow banding will only lump the supply of these used radios into a huge surplus. The results are predictable.

Jim

[wkr518]

I've watched the prices on M1225s steadily increase over the last year or so. It's not surprising, they're decent radios, and even at inflated prices they're still cheaper than anything new.

What I don't understand is that you can regularly buy CDM750s for less than 4-channel M1225s. Nor do I understand who's buying all those VHF Maxtracs, but the do seem to sell well.

Had a call 2 weeks ago from a Tow Company who wanted to plan for the narrow band mandate for his company.He was told locally he needed to buy DMR radios for the switchover.I asked for his model of current radios and he has M1225LS M44DGC-----.I told him he was fine and he just needed to have them reprogrammed and to modify his license.He responded he does not have a license and pay to be on a system near him.Not our system! I said good luck and he said " you saved me $9800 so send me a bill for consulting fee and I will have my local dealer down here pay it for me for bad advice". Later I come to found out his local shop is switching him into Digital LTR on a Connect Plus system.I called him and gave him the bad news.He placed an order for his TRBO mobiles from my company with a trade in discount given for his M1225LS.

VHF Maxtracs? I moved 75+ units of Maxtrac/GM300 to a guy who exports them out of country.He also took all my 33mhz Radius Mobiles for export.
I call brokers for used UHF M1225LS all the time for customer switchover on our systems.Great radio! I try to only hang 40w mobiles on the system due to our area but ran into a company upgrading to TRBO nationally and have boxes of 25w PM400 UHF now from that deal.

Conventional LTR systems switching to DMR or DMR LTR could bring quite a bit of Conv LTR units on the used market also.