/\/\ Sold their Infrastructure, Subscriber Depots & A.A.

Dan562 · Post by **Dan562** » Fri Sep 30, 2005 11:27 am

Hello Everyone,

On Thursday September 29, 2005, MOTOROLA, Inc. announced that their Infrastructure and Subscriber Depot Operations and AAD located in Elgin, IL has been SOLD to CTDI out of Pennsylvainia and only a select few management personnel will be transferred back to the Schaumburg's facility. The remaining employees will lose their job positions with MOTOROLA, Inc at the end of December 31, 2005.

The Subscriber Depot for Mobiles & Portables is being moved to Guadalajara. Mexico with CTDI administration offices in El Paso, Texas. The Infrastructure Depot Operations will remain in Elgin, IL but anyone wanting to continue their employment with the new company CTDI must apply as a new employee at greatly reduced hourly pay scale and/or salary and greatly reduced benefits.

Look out for # 1 but Don't step in # 2 while looking out for # 1!

kb0nly · Post by **kb0nly** » Fri Sep 30, 2005 11:41 am

That's fine thank you to the employees getting left out in the cold. What a Christmas present for them.

nmfire10 · Post by **nmfire10** » Fri Sep 30, 2005 12:02 pm

Well, I can add this to my growing list of reasons you will never find a Motorola branded piece of RF equipment any of our fire apparatus.

Dan562 · Post by **Dan562** » Fri Sep 30, 2005 12:47 pm

Here's some interesting replys I've received via email:

Ah yes, American outsourcing at its best!

"Isn't thrilling to see Motorola blazing new frontiers in unemployment? They should have been in the threaded fastener business because they seem to be screwing everyone sooner or later."

I am concerned with M and the whole Corporate Greed of that company. They can’t keep sales people. Only the big wigs seem to stay. We have had about four M sales rep in the past three years. Years ago we had one, he went up the Corporate ladder and now he is back down on a lower rung.
There is nothing wrong with profits.Profits make people invest, but when they sell off assets like M is doing, it spells disaster.

I know you don’t believe me, but looking at the local (Public Safety) departments, there are more and more Kenwood radios in EMS and Police vehicles than M. Kenwood is Quality stuff at half the price. NOW with this news, M is getting rid of its own service people.

Years ago there was ‘High Tech” that was the quick response repair out of Schaumburg. When we bid our last console, M would not even bid their own company service dept. They contracted it to Chicago Comm which is a reseller and M service shop. Now "High Tech" is for the most part gone, along with the jobs. IT gets worse ,,,, one of the primary salesmen at Chicago Comm jumped ship, sells for the competition because M was treating them and the sales force so bad. They were having serious quality problems. The salesman showed me the radio equipment that the State Police Of Illinois are using for the StarCom 800 MHz Digital APCO P25 Type II Trunking Network. He pointed out that it was all built overseas. They just drop it off and then they install it. SO MUCH FOR BUY AMERICAN!!!

Yep! We heard this first, as usual, from the outside. Wonder who I'll be working for in a year or two?

Wow I just informed a co worker of this info and he knows people in Elgin facility. Have not seen anything from Corporate about this yet.

You just never know what will happen from day to day. Living on the edge.

I suppose Ed Zander the Pirate (CEO) will be raising the Jolly Roger Flag today as a salute to this venture. You know /\/\ is going to go down in history as a U.S. company that ruined more American lives to improve the third world than any other company I know.

And you watch Ed "The Chain-Saw" Zander (nick name stolen from Al Dunlop of the 1980s) will get his $3M Bonus this Christmas

Yep, doing more and more with less and less ..... pretty soon /\/\ will be doing everything with nothing.

What does Hoover Vacuum Cleaners have in common with /\/\ the company? They both SUCK!

I wonder how this will affect the Independent Service Shops since AAD was Sold at the same time to the CTDI company out in Pennsylvainia ... Will the Repair Component Prices increase?

Look out for # 1 but Don't step in # 2 while looking out for # 1!

Post by **xmo** » Fri Sep 30, 2005 12:59 pm

You have to wonder about all those big projects where Motorola won the bid award. Now, if the contract says replacement parts must be provided by the manufacturer for some period of time, how can they not own their own parts department?

MTS2000des · Post by **MTS2000des** » Fri Sep 30, 2005 4:58 pm

Once again, Motorola screws over their hard working employees and sells out to the Mexicans and other cheap labor. The selling out of America continues, brought to you by the elite corporate criminal scumbags.

And Kenwood moved their US LMR operations and depot right here to Gwinnett county, GA. Sad how the Japanese companies like Toyota, Honda, Nissan, Matsushita Electric, JVC and countless others invest more in this country than our own US Corporations.

and some complain that "the Japs are buying us out"...

well who is SELLING us out? there's your answer....

My heart goes out to those of you who are fixing to get rammed by Ma M for Christmas 05. Take your hard work and skills and go to work for Kenwood, Icom or Vertex's US operations.

Post by **/\/\y 2 cents** » Fri Sep 30, 2005 5:50 pm

Sounds like we should call Lou Dobbs

Dosen't he try to expose these outsourcing atrocities? All I know is I just remember hearing about the emloyee days in Ft. Lauderdale LMPS where Bill Cosby and other notables would come by and do routines and such for employee's and families. I guess Moto is not the warm fand fuzzy corp. they used to be. Sometimes I wonder what this world is coming to. Anyone want to link (via VoiP )their repeaters/simplex bases with the internet for a private batlabs system? Please PM me if you want to.

Later
Steve

mr.syntrx · Post by **mr.syntrx** » Fri Sep 30, 2005 7:30 pm

Well, I'm just proud to say that my rescue squad is a TAIT customer.

MTS2000des · Post by **MTS2000des** » Sat Oct 01, 2005 12:38 am

I think the Motorola we all know and loved left the company back when the last Galvin got out, along with the first batch of layoffs. I really see them heading for the toilet.

There is a reason why we bought a Vertex-Standard repeater instead of the MTR2000. This further affirms that decision. Another American company goes turd, exporting more jobs to Mexico, laying off more of our citizens.

What made Motorola great is falling apart as they sellout. Not just the overpriced, made in Mexico/China/Malaysia whatever .50/hour sweatshop LMPG crap, but take a look at how pisspoor their cellular/PCS phones are. Recall the days of the UltraClassic and the MicroTac? Man, you could hammer nails through boards with those phones, they were crafted (IN THE USA) like HT600's and Sabers. I still have one 15 years later it still works. Now, in contrast, my V710 is a typical made in CHINA piece of plastic schit. I baby this thing, keep it in a leather case, and still the camera lens falls off, the hinge on the flip is loose (won't stay closed), and the infamous "UNABLE TO CHARGE" message shows up more and more.

What a sorry excuse for a product. Wonder what the Moto Cheerleading Squad has to say? "Jap crap...rice radios"...yeah...can we say "TACO RADIO" or how about "BAMBOO HT".

you gotta laugh at this, cuz otherwise it will make you cry.

Goodbye to the Motorola we all grew up with, knew and loved.

Motrash 2.0 is here to stay.

stay-con · Post by **stay-con** » Sat Oct 01, 2005 2:14 am

Dan562 wrote: The Subscriber Depot for Mobiles & Portables is being moved to Guadalajara. Mexico with CTDI administration offices in El Paso, Texas.

Frightening, I just had this image of Kinky Freidman and the Texas Jewboys singing, "I'm just an [idiot] from El Paso."

Jeff

jim · Post by **jim** » Sat Oct 01, 2005 7:29 am

"Well, I can add this to my growing list of reasons you will never find a Motorola branded piece of RF equipment any of our fire apparatus."

You got it!

The 90 Series Kennys never lat anyone down.

apco25 · Post by **apco25** » Sat Oct 01, 2005 8:07 am

Yet another move towards throw away non repairable radios just like the cell-phone market.

Another vote for Kenwood 90 series.

kc7gr · Post by **kc7gr** » Sat Oct 01, 2005 8:57 am

This is scary...

I spent five years at a COSC when I first joined Moto. Spent another two years at two different COSC's in Olympia and Tacoma, WA.

A couple of months before I left the first shop (Emeryville, CA), I kept getting this bizarre feeling that the whole thing was about to collapse, and that I needed to move on.

I did so. Less than a year later, the Emeryville shop was sold off by Moto and taken over by another chain of CA-based service shops.

Later, within a couple of months of my leaving the WA shops, I had the same urge, and I followed through with it. Again, within one year, the entire set of WA-based COSC's had been sold off to Day Wireless (and Day's reputation in this area is a bit less than stellar, based on what I've gotten from the grapevine).

The last departure ended my employment relationship with Motorola. I didn't have a lot of regrets at the time, and now I'm even more grateful than ever that I got out when I did!

I will pass this news on to our engineering and purchasing staff, and urge that we make no further attempts to invest in any form of Motorola hardware, software, or similar systems. I don't know how much weight it'll carry, but I can at least try.

God bless and keep the many fine techies, engineers, and support staff who will no doubt be misplaced by this insanity.

kc7gr · Post by **kc7gr** » Sat Oct 01, 2005 9:25 am

Folks, one thing I would add to my earlier comments: Moto's insanity is going to make this board, and the Batlounge, even more valuable as a techie and parts-location resource than ever before.

I would urge all to contribute (I certainly plan to), no matter if it's in dollars or helpful tech information.

Keep the peace(es).

kc7gr · Post by **kc7gr** » Sat Oct 01, 2005 9:43 am

/\/\y 2 cents wrote:Sounds like we should call Lou Dobbs Dosen't he try to expose these outsourcing atrocities? All I know is I just remember hearing about the emloyee days in Ft. Lauderdale LMPS where Bill Cosby and other notables would come by and do routines and such for employee's and families. I guess Moto is not the warm fand fuzzy corp. they used to be. Sometimes I wonder what this world is coming to. Anyone want to link (via VoiP )their repeaters/simplex bases with the internet for a private batlabs system? Please PM me if you want to.

Later
Steve

I dropped a note to Mr. Dobbs via his web site, and provided a link to this thread. Lord knows if it'll have any impact, but you know the old saying about a butterfly flapping its wings in Argentina (or wherever)...

Put more simply: You never know when one little E-mail may set off an electronic and media landslide. It may get ignored -- or it may get covered in gruesome detail. It's the chance that the latter may happen that prompted me to at least try.

Keep the peace(es).

jim · Post by **jim** » Sat Oct 01, 2005 10:38 am

They don't give a piss. They just want to put the largest amount of money in their stockholders' pockets....which by the way IS the purpose of a business and investing in that business. They don't need to care about the employees. As long as they make more money, they will do it. If they knew that cutting 1500 jobs would put more $$$ in their pockets, they will cut them. If I owned a majority of "M"s stock that allowed me to vote in the decision to do this knowing I would increase my bank account by 40%, I'd be in favor of what they did too. It's the American way.

I DO NOT agree with what these numbnuts are doing to the company, however. They are producing a lousy product anymore that is almost in some ways as bad as some other manufacturers' products.

If they lose money (or see the potential to make more), they will make the necessary changes whether for the good or bad of the product just so as long as they make the buck and to hell with everyone else.

The TKx90 series is better than any current mobile from Motorola.
There are P25/800 trunked radios on the way- cheaper.
The TKx60 series is superior to the CM line mobiles.
The TK190 portable is currently the best lowband on the planet.
The 90s will do dual head, dual band. What does "M" have?
You can purchase RSS for all of the above whenever you want to.
None of the above will "brick" if programmed improperly.
Add a Cimmaron MDC board and you're good to go.

I'm not saying that "M" is junk, but many people sit here and :o about "M" radios and corporate policies, but still buy their product and won't even look at a Kenwood. Both are good radios, but what direction is Motorola heading here?

giguchan · Post by **giguchan** » Sat Oct 01, 2005 2:01 pm

My company Long ago used CTDI to repair lucent equipment....that we maintain because lucent was too expensive......
We no longer use them becuase the tech's they had employed were just imcompetent...We had more equipment coming back as "repaired" but the fact was that they were not repaired...
we have since gone back to having lucent repair their own equipment and have been better off since doing so.... Yes i know the point was about the outsourcing... but i thought i'd mention it any how..
Gig

PRR · Post by **PRR** » Sat Oct 01, 2005 2:27 pm

WC4RAV wrote:I think the Motorola we all know and loved left the company back when the last Galvin got out . . .

I would make the argument that the last Galvin (Chris) was a major contibutor to Motorola's current business philosophy as well as troubles. It was his father Robert who led the company through the days of great technical innovation and product quality; the equipment we all know and love . . .

Henry

007 · Post by **007** » Sat Oct 01, 2005 4:50 pm

Well, isn't this just super-duper

Lemme see if I got this: Corporate greed was first more important than a quality product, since the stuff is made oversea's now, and now the depot service center isn't even located in this country or owned by Moto? What a crock of crap.

I can't believe /\/\ has gotten to the point of selling it's own service depot.

nmfire10 · Post by **nmfire10** » Sat Oct 01, 2005 5:50 pm

No wonder I feel dizzy. I thought it was all the booze last night. It's because Jim and I agree and it threw the earth's rotation off it's axis!!!

I want to make a bumper sticker...
MY 90 SERIES KICKED YOUR MOTOROLA'S ASS

What is AAD anyway?

Splat · Post by **Splat** » Sat Oct 01, 2005 6:48 pm

Yet again I feel happy with my Kenwood purchases over the last two years. Out of the 50 Kennies we have, only 2 radios ever needed repair, but being dropped 5 stories will do that.

The Motorolas are staying on the walls while the Kenwoods are being used in the field. I just wish the TK-3180 portables allowed the zone/channel selector to work with the keyboard lock on, but hey... it's a great portable still. Anyone see Kenwood's new TK-8180H 45W 450-512Mhz mobiles? Niiiiice.

OX · Post by OX » Sat Oct 01, 2005 8:14 pm

One question: Where's the actual press release and/or link to this information? Too many times I've seen people post Motorola notices that weren't accurate. (ie discontinued parts)

Thanks

jim · Post by **jim** » Sat Oct 01, 2005 8:51 pm

If it throws the Earth off axis, I just hope it makes Pa. the freakin Equator so it warms up around here.

tvsjr · Post by **tvsjr** » Sat Oct 01, 2005 8:52 pm

Splat wrote:Anyone see Kenwood's new TK-8180H 45W 450-512Mhz mobiles? Niiiiice.

Yeah, I've got four on order... one VHF, two UHF low cut, one UHF high cut. Already installed two in apparatus... remote mount, 13 watts of audio, all the bells and whistles for about $600. An XTL2500 costs what again?

Have you seen the KMC-32? A real, bona-fide 16-key DTMF mic for a commercial radio. We have some control codes that use fourth-column... this is very cool.

commtek · Post by **commtek** » Sat Oct 01, 2005 10:05 pm

nmfire10 wrote:No wonder I feel dizzy. I thought it was all the booze last night. It's because Jim and I agree and it through the earth's rotation off it's axis!!!

I want to make a bumper sticker...
MY 90 SERIES KICKED YOUR MOTOROLA'S ASS

What is AAD anyway?

Kenwood 90 series and Kenwood in general kicks ass. Now that Cimarron came out with their new encode/decode board to be able to disable a portable, there is NO reason to sell anything with batwings.

AAD is the aftermarket accessory division.

AEC · Post by **AEC** » Sat Oct 01, 2005 10:18 pm

Well, if this latest story holds water, and I think it does, I damn sure don't want any more Motorollover radios.

I'm going to pass on all circle-M Astro radios as well from this moment on.

I'm NOT supporting central america's paychecks above our own here.

I always loved Kenwood radios, and you can bet your A$$ I am going to buy the brand explicitly from now on, they are easily as well built or better, and they are easier on the folding money as well.

What I have of Motorollover radios is all I want or will waste money on.

Sell off the excess, replace with Kenwood and be a happy camper to boot!

If someone should start a Kenwood board, it would take a long time before the 'parts wanted' section would see high poster numbers, they rarely need service.

Glad I kept my Kenwood service manuals, I knew they would be worth their weight in gold in a few years.

I wonder if E.F. Johnson will see a rise in sales over this deal as well, it will open the door to circle-M's territories, and they'll have nothing left to fight about while the competition chews the butt out of Motorollover's sales and service(or what's left of it).

Maybe we should stand out in front of the company and offer XTS portables for sale to the unemployed workers and see what responses we get...Naaa, I can't be THAT cruel.

How long will two weeks of severance pay last in the Chicago area anyhow?

Sad to see a very horrible christmas and new years for those that will be unemployed, what a rotten deal!

KG6EAQ · Post by **KG6EAQ** » Sat Oct 01, 2005 11:32 pm

Bad Christmas? This really may be on the of the best Christmas gifts they ever got. If I was in their position, I'd take the three month notice over what most previously laid off employees got, a locked door on Monday morning.

n7maq · Post by **n7maq** » Sun Oct 02, 2005 12:23 am

I just wish the TK-3180 portables allowed the zone/channel selector to work with the keyboard lock on, but hey... it's a great portable still.

If you contact Kenwood's R&D dept, they will write custom firmware for your needs. Talk to your dealer, they should be able to have this done. Most of the time, it is done at no cost.

They have some neat firmware for the TK272G's that are in fire service. It gives you beter two-tone decode, a better alert tone, and auto backlight. A great pager for under $300.00.

Jim

Post by **wavetar** » Sun Oct 02, 2005 6:35 am

I've always found Kenwood to be a pain in the ass, at least here in Canada. You can't even buy parts from them...you have to go through the 'Globalsemi' website...basically an online electronics component warehouse. Same place you'd go to buy parts for your home stereo & stuff. What kind of crap is that? It takes weeks to get anything from them, with ZERO customer support. If they don't list the part in their database, good luck getting them to add it...it takes months!

They have no repair depot here in Canada, for units which might require it. There is a single radio dealer who is designated the 'Kenwood Repair Center' in Ontario. They have a minimum 2-hour service charge as an estimate fee, at $80/hr (Motorola Canada charges a $35 estimate fee)!! If they actually manage to fix something, it's extra on top of that. They also have to order their parts through Globalsemi, so needless to say the turn-around time sucks.

I might be jaded on the portables, because I've only worked on the TK-360 and TK-3102 series...which are both crap. We have one customer with an equal number of TK360/3102 and GP300 units. I did a spreadsheet for them recently, and in the past 18 months the Kenwood repairs outnumber the Motorola repairs by more than 4 to 1. The build quality & water resistance suck compared to their 14-year old GP300s.

The mobiles I can't say much about, as I haven't worked with any.

As long as I can continue to order parts directly from Motorola Canada, and get them in a timely fashion, I'll continue to far prefer them over Kenwood from a servicing perspective.

Todd

nmfire10 · Post by **nmfire10** » Sun Oct 02, 2005 7:14 am

That's unfortunate your experience with Kenwood in Canadia isn't good. I can tell we have no such problem here in the states.

Who do I need to contact about the 70 series firmware? I have a TK-370G that I would love to have the 'enhanced pager' firmware in. Does it allow you to have more than one pair of tones per channel?

spectragod · Post by **spectragod** » Sun Oct 02, 2005 7:34 am

I think the whole "Nick DeLuca" thing led them to this point. M needed the money to further prosecute such evil people.

SG

Dan562 · Post by **Dan562** » Sun Oct 02, 2005 11:15 am

Americas After-market Department formerly known as the National Parts Department. Maybe some of you might recall this Toll Free Telephone # 1-800-422-4210!?!? I as see these /\/\ groups changing on Jamuary 1, 2006 to CTDI. Heaven knows what they are going to call these groups but I've got a thought "Pure Bedlam!"

Only the employees at the Elgin. IL Depots and AAD which are colocated in the same building have seen the official Corporate documents. I understand the Chicago Tribune has an article dated September 30, 2005, written about this subject but it has defining errors in the text.

Bob · Post by **Bob** » Sun Oct 02, 2005 8:00 pm

I'm in the process of specing out replacements for ALL of our mobile and portable radio equipment. Until this afternoon, we were pretty well set on Astro Spectras or XTLS, as we currently have all analog Spectras.

Let's see... $5500 for a dual head Astro Spectra or XTL
-OR-
$3500 for a dual-band, dual head x90 series.

Support is what was keeping us with Motorola. Right now, I don't care what Kenwood's support is like. I can keep three complete units as spares with what I'm saving.

We WERE a faithful /\/\ agency. Eff 'em now. Our tax dollars go to support enough people from Mexico. I don't want to send more of our tax dollares down there.

tvsjr · Post by **tvsjr** » Sun Oct 02, 2005 8:27 pm

Bob wrote:$3500 for a dual-band, dual head x90 series.

Yeah, and that's essentially list price (assuming you're getting VHF and UHF high-power decks). If you're not getting high-power decks, or if that's not a quoted price including installation or something, you're getting hosed.

I love the x90 series. They're absolutely killer radios.

JAYMZ · Post by **JAYMZ** » Sun Oct 02, 2005 9:09 pm

tvsjr wrote:
Bob wrote:$3500 for a dual-band, dual head x90 series.
Yeah, and that's essentially list price (assuming you're getting VHF and UHF high-power decks). If you're not getting high-power decks, or if that's not a quoted price including installation or something, you're getting hosed.

I love the x90 series. They're absolutely killer radios.

The last dual band single head x90 series I got a quote for was $1935 with a DTMF microphone. So based on that you could probably buy a primary and backup radio for each unit of Astro Spectra you buy.

Psst.. Bob That came from Kenny (not the company) about 3 months ago when I needed the quote for our new ambulance.

LAC-OPS · Post by **LAC-OPS** » Sun Oct 02, 2005 9:37 pm

http://www.dailyherald.com/business/bus ... ?id=100757

Bob · Post by **Bob** » Sun Oct 02, 2005 11:03 pm

tvsjr wrote:
Bob wrote:$3500 for a dual-band, dual head x90 series.
Yeah, and that's essentially list price (assuming you're getting VHF and UHF high-power decks). If you're not getting high-power decks, or if that's not a quoted price including installation or something, you're getting hosed.

I love the x90 series. They're absolutely killer radios.

I pulled that pricing off the web, from a (nearly) 2-year old PDF that I found. I was just looking for ballpark pricing. That was with two 100-watt drawers (VHF and LB), full-featured control heads, dual DTMF mics, the MDC1200 boards, and a bunch of other options.

Same price sheet listed the software at $65.

I started talking with a guy at the NYS Fire Chief's show who claimed he was the Kenwood rep for the region. I asked about software for maintaining the radios ourselves. His response was "We can sell it, but we don't. We've seen too many people program radios with frequencies that thay're not supposed to have." My response was "we maintain all of our current Motorola equipment and have the appropriate titles for each of our radios. If you want our business, you'll sell us the software too." I then handed him my business card. He looked at it, picked up his briefcase, and handed me a small stack of floppies from it.

You don't see a hell of a lot of Kenwood software being pirated now, do you? Sure, it's out there. But there's not nearly as much demand for it as Motorola software. I wonder why...

Then I walked over to our local full-line Motorola dealer's booth. The sales guy (whom I've known for a while) introduced me to someone from Motorola corporate. I picked up a PR1500 and asked him if there are any plans to support signalling features other than MDC1200. He told me that two-tone paging was dead. "And this is the replacement for the HT1000, right?" "Yep, it sure is" "and who is the biggest user of the HT1000 now?" "Public Safety" "I know of at least a dozen 911 centers in this region that still have the old mechanical pushbutton Plectron encoders in service." "Oh really? We'll have to get them upgraded to something PC-based" "You guys OBVIOUSLY dont know your market very well." I handed him the PR1500 and walked away.

Christ, I don't need P25 digital. Analog is already interoperable. I don't need to be able to send a stun command to an ambulance radio. If the ambulance gets hijacked, it's not too easy to miss. I don't need Smartzone Omni-freaking-link on a lowband radio - because lowband already IS wide area coverage. Ambulance drivers, fire truck drivers, and cops shouldn't need a fricken BS in Computer Programming to know how to work a damned radio. They should only need to know how to change the channel and how to talk into the mic... and maybe to press the orange button when the feces hits the rotating blades.

Give me an affordable WORKHORSE radio with a basic feature set that a 10-year-old can operate. TEST IT in the lab and PROVE IT in the field, so it doesn't hiccup when I have guys trapped in the basement of a burning building. THIS is what public safety needs in a radio. Let the politicians figure out how to make everyone play nicely in the sandbox.

When I'm getting shot at, I don't want to have to pull out my XTL5000 and try and put in "up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B, A, select, start*" on the keypad just so I can get my 30 extra guys.

The Peter Principle hard at work. Lay everyone off so you have fewer hands to participate in technical masturbation. Ship everything overseas so we can build it cheaper, so we can pack more unusable features into a POS that we haven't tested. Sounds like a solid business plan to me.

Someone needs to go back to their "essentials of program management" class, and then their 'cross-functional team management' class, right after they finish their proctology concentration and get their heads out of each others asses.

*bonus points for those who know the significance of that sequence

JAYMZ · Post by **JAYMZ** » Sun Oct 02, 2005 11:23 pm

That's the problem though. Motorola doesn't care about the small town users at all. They like their huge city contracts where they can sell a $10 million system and outfit every Tom, Dick and Harry PO that's on the job with the biggest fancy gadgets they've got. That is why you're seeing the other manufacturers begining to start taking a foothold in the market. Decent products at 1/3 the price. 90% of my county is Kenwood because of exactly that reason. We'll never be able to afford the $10 million dollar Smartzone Omnilink trunking system that 3/4 of the people around here would never understand or be able to use.

They refuse to keep it simple anymore.

*IIRC and this is really reaching... but wasn't that the invincibility code for the Nintendo game "Contra"?

tvsjr · Post by **tvsjr** » Sun Oct 02, 2005 11:51 pm

Bob wrote:I pulled that pricing off the web, from a (nearly) 2-year old PDF that I found. I was just looking for ballpark pricing. That was with two 100-watt drawers (VHF and LB), full-featured control heads, dual DTMF mics, the MDC1200 boards, and a bunch of other options.

With options, that's not quite as bad. Still a little high.

Same price sheet listed the software at $65.

<grumble> The P25 stuff is almost $400. </grumble> I wonder if there's some licensing issues with DVSI or others that require such an expense (the programming software also does DES/AES keyfill).

He looked at it, picked up his briefcase, and handed me a small stack of floppies from it.

I've even heard of people calling them and having them just email a copy of the software over for "emergency" use or amateur stuff.

"You guys OBVIOUSLY dont know your market very well." I handed him the PR1500 and walked away.

You haven't been drinking enough of the Motorola Koolaid, apparently. Off to User Reeducation for you!

Give me an affordable WORKHORSE radio with a basic feature set that a 10-year-old can operate.

Good idea... because that's the person who's going to be operating the radio in the field! <duck>

"up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B, A, select, start*"

Ahh, the Konami Code. FYI, the Select wasn't necessary... it toggled between 1-player and 2-player mode and didn't have any effect in the code actually working. Jaymz has it right, Contra was one of the games, but it applied to dozens of NES/Super NES games manufactured by Konami.

For true obscurity, The Ataris actually recorded a so-entitled song on their "End is Forever" album. Pretty good song/album, actually.

mr.syntrx · Post by **mr.syntrx** » Mon Oct 03, 2005 12:00 am

tvsjr wrote:
Same price sheet listed the software at $65.
<grumble> The P25 stuff is almost $400. </grumble> I wonder if there's some licensing issues with DVSI or others that require such an expense (the programming software also does DES/AES keyfill).

I don't think so. I've been quoted $58.00 for Icom's CS-F1700 programming software for their P25 radios.

DVSI licensing issues apply only to the vocoder itself. License fees would be payable only if the programming software contained their code.

tvsjr · Post by **tvsjr** » Mon Oct 03, 2005 12:02 am

JAYMZ wrote:That's the problem though. Motorola doesn't care about the small town users at all. They like their huge city contracts where they can sell a $10 million system and outfit every Tom, Dick and Harry PO that's on the job with the biggest fancy gadgets they've got.

Yep, but there's only so many places where you can sell some 700MHz ASTRO 25 Omnilink Fascinator DES FPP Cowtipper-special systems. And I doubt Motorola can maintain LMPS on the ongoing expenses of a handful of big systems.

I can't remember the latest numbers, but approximately 80% of all firefighters in the US are volunteers. These are departments and individuals that will likely NEVER be able to afford an XTS. I'm lucky to be able to afford to purchase my own gear and carry an XTS around. However, I wouldn't feel any less confident in my radio if I were carrying a TK-290 or a TK-2180 instead, and the cost would be about 25%.

The tide is starting to turn in big cities, as well. Dallas Fire Rescue just ordered hundreds of Vertex-Standard portables, after being strictly Motorola since the MX days. The radios are currently in use by the inspectors, but are being phased into day-to-day fire operations (starting with command staff) as the current Saber 2Rs fail. And, the city can buy roughly 6 Vertex portables for the price of one XTS5000R... maybe the Vertexs don't last as long, but so what? When an FF breaks one, you toss it in the box and hand him a brand new unit. They're almost to the point of being disposable.

Mother M needs to figure some things out rather quickly... they're doing an excellent job of managing themselves right into the ground.

nmfire10 · Post by **nmfire10** » Tue Oct 04, 2005 7:54 am

Are there any more news articles about this? The one linked here really doesn't get into the whole "fire everyone and make them re-apply in Mexico" thing and I really need that kind of article.

Dan562 · Post by **Dan562** » Tue Oct 04, 2005 4:27 pm

/\/\ is being very "tight lipped" about their decisions but I've been watching the YAHOO Stock Market Price Page carefully http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=mot since September 30, 2005 and noticed the Edgar On-Line SEC Filing for MOT Form 8-K on 4-Oct-2005 that appeared today.

The /\/\ Corporation must file this information with the SEC signaling to the investment community that they are taking another one-time charge during Q305 through Q206. You can read more information about this at: http://biz.yahoo.com/e/051004/mot8-k.html and all you neeed to do is know how to decipher or read between the lines with the provided information.

The total approximately $70 million of Severance Charges and $20 million of Asset Impairments. All four of Motorola's business segments, Mobile Devices, Networks, Government & Enterprise Mobility Solutions, and Connected Home Solutions. I've bolded the information where the Infrastructure & Subscriber Depots and AAD (Formerly NPD) are under the /\/\ Chain of Command Group.

Dan562 · Post by **Dan562** » Wed Oct 05, 2005 1:20 pm

Here's another Press Release on the YAHOO MOTOROLA, Inc. Finance Page:

http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=mot

Under HEADLINES

Motorola Will Cut 1,900 Jobs Worldwide Reported by the Associated Press (Wed 3:51 PM)

The Infrastructure, Subscribe Depots & AAD are listed in the 6th paragraph and who they are being SOLD too!

The 1,900 /\/\ Manufacturing and Service Personnel will be replaced with Design Engineers and more (MBA) Marketing Personnel that will not have a Clue in Hell what Two-Way Radios are. To those Marketing Personnel it's just a Wireless Modem. You mean, you can talk and listen on those modems?

DJP126 · Post by **DJP126** » Thu Oct 06, 2005 5:25 am

nmfire10 wrote:

Are there any more news articles about this? The one linked here really doesn't get into the whole "fire everyone and make them re-apply in Mexico" thing and I really need that kind of article.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ ... siness-hed

winchester · Post by **winchester** » Thu Oct 06, 2005 9:08 am

Now they will be contracting out how long do you think it will be before all the new lab software they will need get's leaked and all the new nick type radios coming out of mexico?
Also sorry to all the Moto employees that got fired it really is shame the way corporations are today.

Splat · Post by **Splat** » Thu Oct 06, 2005 9:11 am

No more Motorola for us. I'm selling off everything we have and Kenwood, here we come baby!

SoonFormerMotorolaEmploye · Thu Oct 06, 2005 4:54 pm

Well as an Employee of the Elgin, IL repair depot. I would like to thank you all for the comments that I have read on here.

I was directed to this site by a letter that was submitted with a case support ticket submitted by Bruce Lane, KC7GR. This rant of his has been circulating the facility and we love it. Thanks Bruce

Please all of you, let your voice be heard. There is nothing we can do here that will prevent this sale from happening. The only thing that can stop it is you the customer.

Thanks again,
Elgin Motorola Support Team

P.S. We also don't like the fact that our products are built in Mexico and we recognize the quality isn't what it used to be, and we are sorry about that but it was out of our hands.

Bob · Post by **Bob** » Thu Oct 06, 2005 5:18 pm

Heh...
For those who weren't aware, New York State awarded a $2 BILLION contract to M/A COM for a statewide wireless network.

There's no doubt in my mind that this network will end up being a kluge, and they'll end up dumping good money after bad into the system. As a taxpayer in NY who has a clue about his stuff, it pisses me off to no end.

However, I now find a great deal of pleasure in the fact that the contract didn't go to Motorola!

http://mrtmag.com/news/macom_new_york_092305/

Post by **xmo** » Thu Oct 06, 2005 7:36 pm

Just in case anybody is interested in a customer's perspective.

The insane thing about Motorola selling their depot operations is that there is no real reason for it. You can understand some appliance maker trying to cut costs with cheap foreign operations but this is a captive market. There is no other depot to choose - no competition at all. This sale is driven by pure corporate GREED.

The sad thing is that the effect of poor quality service on Motorola's market position will take years to accrue and by that time the perpetrators - the fat cats who are currently polishing the seat cushions of the corporate swivel chairs with their useless posteriors - will have taken their outrageous bonus checks and be long gone.

Pathetic....

/\/\ Sold their Infrastructure, Subscriber Depots & A.A.

/\/\ Sold their Infrastructure, Subscriber Depots & A.A.

Re: /\/\ Sold their Infrastructure, Subscriber Depots &

Good Lord above...

Keep up the Batlabs presence!

Rancho Del Moto does it again and again and again...