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I found this in the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) news on the web tonight. I thought some of you might be interested. I know the Yukon is a large area with much of it remote but $10,000,000 seems like a lot of money for the size of the population and of the government in the Territory. I would appreciate reading your comments and thoughts. Here it is:

Yukon government keeping quiet about $10M deal with U.S. company
Last Updated: Tuesday, June 10, 2008 | 3:31 PM CT Comments0Recommend5CBC News
The Yukon government says it will not talk about a $10-million contract it signed with a U.S.-based company until the end of next month at the earliest, even though the company is already boasting about the deal.

EF Johnson Technologies Inc. of Irving, Texas, issued a news release Monday announcing that it will be supplying a mobile radio communications system to the Yukon government.

But Phil Wintemute, the territorial government's telecommunications manager, said he doesn't want to comment on the $10-million contract with EF Johnson yet.

"There's a number of partners and stakeholders involved in the project and we're working towards concluding our negotiations with those partners. We expect to have that work completed by the end of July," Wintemute told CBC News on Tuesday.

"At that point in time, when all of the details are known and finalized, we would be more than pleased to make an announcement. We absolutely will make an announcement and let the public know what this very exciting project is about."

All Wintemute was willing to say was that the contract is "for a public safety mobile radio system for police, fire, ambulance and government workers throughout the Yukon."

EF Johnson's release states that the company will provide the territorial government with its own communications infrastructure, which will work with 43 radio sites throughout the Yukon.

"Using industry-standard Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology, our Conventional IP25 system provides a secure, reliable and scalable infrastructure," company chairman and CEO Michael Jalbert stated in the release.

The government's latest budget, which was passed last month, has $850,000 allotted for mobile radio communications. It does not make mention of a $10-million system. Opposition politicians said they are also in the dark about the $10-million EF Johnson deal, saying they first heard of it from Monday's release from the company.

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Wayne
KF7FYL

It's half the size of BC, 43 radio sites is still a lot of land to cover along with replacement of all the mobile and portable equipment, so it really doesn't sound like a lot of money. I don't think they could build out a province-wide system for any less.

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"I was installing un-programmed radios"

I wonder how much of that figure is material transport costs as well. When I lived in the arctic, you could figure on doubling the price of ANYTHING for transport.

Can of soda- 50-75 cents here, $1.50-$2.00 there.

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President-in-Exile, Seattle Area Radio Communications And Scanner Traffic Intercept Crew (SARCASTIC)
Don't feel bad if you can't use your STD100/200; there are still people using Digital Frequency Search!
Bunnery definition for the under-fives

$10 million USD or CAD? Because that's a big difference

No there isn't. $1 USD = $0.98 CAD

So 10,000,000.00 CAD = 9,804,170.25 USD Or 10,000,000.00 USD = 10,194,949.65 CAD.

What a joke. High-power low-band analog gets you the most bang for your buck for covering an area that big. Not to mention your mobiles have enough power to communicate should your digital mishmash of repeaters/controllers puke.

Especially if you like talking to other agencies far away... :mrgreen:

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"A well regulated breakfast, being necessary to the healthy start of the day, the right of the people to keep and eat food shall not be infringed."

Seems like a bit of an overboard system for a province with a population of 30,000. I'm assuming the technology would be much cheaper if it was done in analogue

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Cory C.
Vancouver Island Scanner Reference
http://www.members.shaw.ca/bcscanner/

Although I am not the radio expert that many of you are, my thoughts echoed those presented by Rich and Cory. Having grown up in Oregon I remember Oregon State Police using low band for many years and one of the main reasons as I understand it was because of the large areas covered by the low band dispatch centers. Likewise, I was last in California two years ago. It seems that I saw many of the CHP cruisers with low band antennas on them. Rich, are they still using low band down there?
I remember quite a few years ago while still a deputy in Central Washington having dead spots in the county using VHF radio let alone any of the higher bands.
I don't know this for a fact, but like Cory I feel it would be less expensive for analog technology and to re-equip vehicles and dispatch centers.

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Wayne
KF7FYL

CHP still uses 42Mhz pairs for their communications in most areas. Many Metro areas have recently (past couple of years or so) even begun to repeat their traffic abandoning the semi-duplex base and mobile scheme of old. Very nice for the scanner listener.

They use VHF portables as mobile extenders (many MT2000's). 154.9050 in many areas, PL changes by division.

The exception to the low band use may be San Diego Area CHP. I believe they were playing on the SD County Regional Trunked System with everyone else in the county.

There is a published plan floating around for a statewide trunked system, but, last I heard was not destined for funding anytime soon (couple years ago) and that was before the economic downturn we are apparently in the midst of now...

I love lowband myself... Problems that happen can include the ability to hear an agency across the nation stronger than you can hear your own people... High power mobiles or not.

So many agencies go to VHF. The perfered method for getting audio to the remote sites seems to be going VOIP. Im not real up with that idea but if you need a microwave backbone and your starting from scratch...

Id rather use digital microwave over ip based equipment any day. The timing is easier to keep constant if your simulcasting.

Then into analogue base stations. Im far from being sold on digital radio.

About time it warmed up!!! :mrgreen:

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"A well regulated breakfast, being necessary to the healthy start of the day, the right of the people to keep and eat food shall not be infringed."