Montgomery/Green County Public Safety P25 - G4/G5?

[kd8mkg]

Hey Gang,

New here and new-ish to scanning trunked digital systems, although not new to radio in general.

I'm considering a Unication G4 for mobile monitoring of public safety (Police, Fire, EMS) in Montgomery and Greene counties, although mostly Montgomery. I have no real need for monitoring outside of these counties. I'm pretty well setup at home with an RTL SDR setup and an 800MHz yagi.

I have a handful of questions:

1. Is there any reason I should consider a G5 over a G4 for these counties, and if so, which additional band would be relevant to the area?

2. I know MARCS-IP is *capable* of Phase II, but they're only using Phase I currently. The Unication site is a bit ambiguous about Phase II and if there's an upgrade cost. Some retailers seem to have it as an upcharge (Scanner Master) while some are selling the G4 with Phase I & II for the $565 price (Ray's Pager Sales). Should I care about Phase II, is it on the horizon? Is it just a firmware upgrade that I can do later if needed?

3. Do you guys have any recommendations about where to buy? Ray's Pager Sales seems to be the best price, but I'm a little skeptical.

Thanks!

 

[TailGator911]

From what I understand, the G4/G5 is not actually a scanner, but a pager, and you will be able to monitor a certain talkgroup but you won't be able to scan it all like a regular scanner. I don't know that much about them but from what I have read here and other places, the Unications are great on simulcast systems but very single-minded and limited in performance. Why not invest in the SDS100? Almost the same price as a Unication, and so much more versatile. I monitor Greene and Montgomery, Clark and Preble, Miami, and sometimes Darke (SkyWarn Nets) counties and the SDS100 is working great for me. At home I put it on an antenna feed from a directional yagi on my roof and I am hearing systems 45-50 miles away! Do your own research on it and don't let the naysayers influence you, try it for yourself. I don't think you'll be disappointed.

JD
kf4anc