SDS100 vs.G5 Distance Test On P25 Phase 1 Simulcast System

On my Counties system in Niagara County NY which is a P25 Phase 1 trunking Simulcast system. Every previous digital scanner started to lose transmission entirely once i hit the southern border of the county. So I purchased a Unication g5 pager 6 months ago and instantly the problem was fixed i could even drive as far as 35 plus miles outside of the County border and it still worked perfectly.

Today i programmed a new sds100 for a friend and then i took the sds100 & the G5 on a road trip. I got to the county line (same spot where by bcd436 died) and the sds100 was loud and clear but once i got about 3 to 4 miles south of the county line I started to set garbled transmissions and when i got about 5 to 6 miles south of the county line i lost everything entirely on the sds100 and the G5 was still working perfectly.

I will say the sds100 beats any previous scanner as long as i was within county lines as it works perfectly so i would give the scanner 10 out of 10 to use inside my county & inside of my house. For traveling i would only give it a 2 of 10 and i would not purchase the sds100 to use as a portable as it just doesn't match the distance that my G5 gives me once i leave the county lines. Maybe it will later change with firmware updates and i will update it again after i program another one.

Just my 2 cents

Nice review. Glad to see the SDS100 worked well within your simulcast. I would say it usually does that here as well, unless in an area where it has interference. It seems like the results of your range test (Unication vs. SDS100) were similar to mine. The Unications can lock onto a simulcast at about twice the range that a SDS100 can lock onto the same system in my testing as well. You make six other people that I've heard the same thing from.

SDS100 Vs.G5 Distance Test On P25 Phase 1 Simulcast System

That is good to know.

I think your results are similar to mine. I was scanning GCRCN (Greater Cleveland Radio Communication Network) inside my work building (steel structure) which is about 6 miles, as the crow flies, from the closest tower. The SDS 100 was having difficulty locking onto the control channel even with a Remtronix 800 MHz antenna while the Unication G4 worked with no issue.

At this point, both the G4 and the SDS 100 each have enough detractors that neither is a clear winner in my book for scanning simulcast systems.

The only clear winner would be a system radio


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BigWonton said:

I think your results are similar to mine. I was scanning GCRCN (Greater Cleveland Radio Communication Network) inside my work building (steel structure) which is about 6 miles, as the crow flies, from the closest tower. The SDS 100 was having difficulty locking onto the control channel even with a Remtronix 800 MHz antenna while the Unication G4 worked with no issue.

At this point, both the G4 and the SDS 100 each have enough detractors that neither is a clear winner in my book for scanning simulcast systems.

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I know the fact that the G4 and G5 are pagers and not scanners bothers some, but I have not seen a substantial number of people claiming they have problems getting reception on a G4/5. Unication "detractors" are usually people who can't accept the fact that they are pagers, not scanners, that they don't have TG hold, or multi-system scan, or nuisance lockout. I haven't seen many detractors who say they have a lot of reception problems, but I'm eager to see this information. Please share a few links so that we can review these reports.

Weak signal reception has nothing to do with whether the system is simulcast or not. Seems Gx has very good weak signal performance (better than APX, even, where APX and SDS100 were neck and neck).

KR7CQ said:

I know the fact that the G4 and G5 are pagers and not scanners bothers some, but I have not seen a substantial number of people claiming they have problems getting reception on a G4/5. Unication "detractors" are usually people who can't accept the fact that they are pagers, not scanners, that they don't have TG hold, or multi-system scan, or nuisance lockout. I haven't seen many detractors who say they have a lot of reception problems, but I'm eager to see this information. Please share a few links so that we can review these reports.

Click to expand...

I apologize that I didn't define the term detractors in my original statement, but I did mean the whole usability experience which includes not only RF performance but also those "I'm-not-a-scanner-but-a-pager" realities of the G4/G5.

Looking back, this was a distance/weak signal thread and my last statement had a broader scope to it and probably should have been reserved for another thread.

Within reception/RF performance, my personal experience has been that the G4/G5 seems to "go digital" during a transmission more often than my XTS5000 and (albeit limited) experience with the SDS100. YMMV (and probably does) but I'm just reporting my observations.

One other reception annoyance with my G4 and G5 is that you can't force it to rescan sites and/or lockout or hold a site. When I was initially programming my G4, I set up a system with a few sites. As I moved around, the G4 switched to a different site that our TG had not affiliated with and there was no way to force it off the site and back to another site.

UPMan said:

Weak signal reception has nothing to do with whether the system is simulcast or not. Seems Gx has very good weak signal performance (better than APX, even, where APX and SDS100 were neck and neck).

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When I tested (haven’t tested the APX subscribers as I’ve never had the time to test 7/800 units) G5 in comparison to XTS SUs on GATRRS, the sensitivity for trunking on the G5 was too good. On average, he G5 would hold a control channel until about -124 dBm where an XTS would hold until about -108 dBm. That lead to some major issues with the pager not roaming until it was too late to be used practically for paging (which is why we never deployed any). We also couldn’t reliably steer it to a specific site when it was turned on but that was another issue.


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And it's comparing apples and oranges, how much is an APX?


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Jason WX4JCW
Unication G4, BCD536HP

WX4JCW said:

And it's comparing apples and oranges, how much is an APX?


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Jason WX4JCW
Unication G4, BCD536HP

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About $1200 for an APX900. Optioning it for 9600 bps trunking is $1000 IIRC (haven’t looked since they came out) and TDMA is $500.

Then again, you can find revision A APX6000’s for less than $1000 with trunking and TDMA if you look in the right places.


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SDS100 $649 G5 $660 lol

davidzimmerman said:

SDS100 $649 G5 $660 lol

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G4 $565.

radio3353 said:

G4 $565.

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right lol i want a good working BASE scanner i hope someone makes one soon and it WORKS if its Uniden or Whistler don't care i sold my Pro-197 to buy the TRX-2 it works 25% better NOT 100% better. i was hoping it was better than the 197 i was wrong.

I sold my G4, will be buying the SDS100, I travel so I need a scanner that performs better than my 536 yet has the same convenience and GPS, the G4 worked well, but it’s scope is limited, does not have DMR or NXDN, and I don’t have to stop and program a new code plug every time, or pay $100+ for phase 2, whistler is clunky to program and no GPS.


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