April 4, 2008

Subject: MCS2000 availability for Non-Rebanding RF-modem purposes.

Impacted: ALL Non-Rebanding 3600 GenWatch3 (GW3) permutations purchased through Genesis (GEnSAC, GenSPOut, GW3-SW, GW3-SL, GW3-GSP, etc.)

Not Impacted: Until further notice, there are a limited number of MCS2000s available for sale with GW3 orders placed through Motorola. Check with Motorola for availability.

We knew the day was coming when Motorola would run out of what they had on the shelf. The MCS2000 was canceled quite some time ago and it was the last radio Motorola manufactured that could be programmed to be a 3600 RF-modem for use with a RIM-II to supply Control Channel data to SystemWatch, Site Lens, SIMSII, SIP, and all GenWatch3 based products.  Motorola was gracious and allowed us to work through some remaining MCS2000s that they had in the warehouse. But alas, they are almost gone. As of April 4, 2008 the remaining MCS2000 radios are RESERVED for sale with the following Motorola sold products:

• Site Lens
• L3517 Commander Host
• L3518 Commander Client
• L3552 GW3-SW
• L3553 GW3-SL
• L3550 GW3-GSP

Solution
The EFJ 5300 and 53SL radios — which can work on Motorola 3600 systems — can be programmed to act like, and do almost the same job as a MCS2000 RF-modem & RIM-II, combined. Genesis has worked with this radio for the past 18 months mostly on P25 9600 systems. But we also know that it will work as an RF-modem/RIM-II combined for 3600 systems. We have been testing it for quite some time on our lab system and on a local SmartZone 3.1 system with good results. Here is a list of important things to know and some differences between the solutions:

1. MCS2000+RIM-II gives information about corrupt packet percentages. The EFJ solution does not.
   1. Genesis uses this information on our System Summary screen. We DO evaluate all of the packets internally in GW3 and will still show any packets that we determine as corrupt, but at this time, without the calculated information from the RIM-II, this number can appear lower than normal.
2. The customer must either be able to program EFJ radios already, or allow Genesis to program the radio for them. We are experts at programming the 5300 and 53SL radios to be RF-modem/RIM-II replacements.
   1. If Genesis is to program the EFJ radios for the customers, while there is no extra charge for this service, the customer must sign a form that allows Genesis to have a System Key from EFJ for the sole purpose of programming this radio. We now have quite a number of system keys and we keep them in a very secure place. Our Genesis reputation should tell you that we will do nothing with this key other than program this one radio.
3. The EFJ radio is both an RF-modem AND RIM-II all in one. With this, there is no need for a RIM-II.
4. The EFJ radio will work on Rebanded Channel Plans.
5. The EFJ radio comes standard when purchased from Genesis with both 3600 and P25 firmware in it.
   1. This allows relatively seamless upgrade from 3600 to P25 9600. There will be a programming change needed at that time.
6. Genesis is an EFJ dealer thus we can sell this radio.
   1. We are an EFJ dealer for the sole purpose of supplying this radio.
   2. We can easily quote the radio, firmware, power supply, and programming of the radio as a bundled package.
   3. The bundle price is similar to purchasing an MCS2000+RIM-II.
7. Even though you can find an RF-modem option on the Motorola XTL series radios, it is NOT related to this topic. None of the radios in the XTL series have the code in the firmware to operate as an RF-modem/RIM-II.
8. The EFJ radio comes with a one year warranty. It is depot repaired if it is necessary. We at Genesis will attempt to keep a supply of radios on hand that can be loaned during the repair, if the EFJ radio fails.
9. EFJ has a new model that has been announced at APCO 2007 called the ES. Genesis will acquire some of these and test them in our labs before we recommend these to replace the 53SL series radio.
   1. The ES series radio will allow for TCP/IP connectivity to the radio rather than the current RS232. This does open up additional possibilities.
   2. ES radio Announcement: http://mrtmag.com/iwce/news/efjohnson-mobile-radios-0227
   3. EFJ product page: http://www.efjohnson.com/products/53SLES.asp
10. Genesis has found that the 53SL radio CAN be used to transmit ISWs to Motorola 3600 systems! We have written all of the code to enable this and have done enough testing to say that it will work. We are in process, as of this writing, of doing complete regressive testing of all RCM functions in our GenLabs to certify its ability to work correctly.
    1. We will make an announcement when this is certified and available for RCM (ISW) use.
    2. As a sidebar, the 53SL cannot be used to transmit ISWs on P25 9600 systems. This is due to the nature of the P25 protocol security parameters.

Conclusion
All things must end at some time, and it was time for the MCS2000, a great radio. If you can find used MCS2000s, you might make a business out of refurbishing them and offering them for sale! Short of that, this is the way forward.