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Viking VP6000
- Thread starter Colton25
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The VP6000 is Kenwood's high end single band portable, mainly aiming for the mission critical police and fire markets. It identical to the VP5000 but features a more rugged construction and a small top display. It's compatible with analog FM, Motorola Smartnet and Smartzone, and P25 phase 1 and 2. Programming is done using Armada.
The NX5000 is also single band but is marketed more for commercial applications. It's compatible with analog FM, NXDN, DMR, and P25 phase 1 and 2. Programming is done using KPG-D1.
For the protocols these radios have in common you more or less have the same set of features available with a few exceptions. As of now P25 two tone encode is only possible on the NX, but discounting that I'd consider the VP to be the better P25 radio. If you're only interested in analog the NX would probably be sufficient. Now as for programming softwares the two are entirely different beasts. Armada is fantastic if you're programming a lot of radios at once since it lets you move between multiple radios' codeplugs quickly and apply changes to multiple radios at once. It's also less finicky when it comes to radio firmwares; as long as Armada is newer than the radio's firmware, it will be able to read and write codeplugs to that radio. KPG-D1 works fine and is on par with other manufacturer's programming software, but it's nothing special.
The NX5000 is also single band but is marketed more for commercial applications. It's compatible with analog FM, NXDN, DMR, and P25 phase 1 and 2. Programming is done using KPG-D1.
For the protocols these radios have in common you more or less have the same set of features available with a few exceptions. As of now P25 two tone encode is only possible on the NX, but discounting that I'd consider the VP to be the better P25 radio. If you're only interested in analog the NX would probably be sufficient. Now as for programming softwares the two are entirely different beasts. Armada is fantastic if you're programming a lot of radios at once since it lets you move between multiple radios' codeplugs quickly and apply changes to multiple radios at once. It's also less finicky when it comes to radio firmwares; as long as Armada is newer than the radio's firmware, it will be able to read and write codeplugs to that radio. KPG-D1 works fine and is on par with other manufacturer's programming software, but it's nothing special.
mmckenna
I ♥ Ø
Haven't put one to use yet.
Did take a close look at them at various trade shows.
It -is- an NX-5000 in a different case. They also run Viking specific firmware.
Specs will be the same as the NX-5000, however they won't do NXDN or DMR. On the flip side, they do run SmartNet/SmartZone.
I haven't touched EFJ software in quite a while, but when I did, it was pretty easy to use.
That's all I can offer.
Did take a close look at them at various trade shows.
It -is- an NX-5000 in a different case. They also run Viking specific firmware.
Specs will be the same as the NX-5000, however they won't do NXDN or DMR. On the flip side, they do run SmartNet/SmartZone.
I haven't touched EFJ software in quite a while, but when I did, it was pretty easy to use.
That's all I can offer.
The last time I looked at the VP600/VP900 software and cable it was north of $500.00
I've got several VP900, VP5430, and VP6430 demos, as well as VM5930 and VM6930 demos (same software). And a few VP5430's in service. I like them all. Armada is pretty neat. Still not proficient with it, and it took me a while to warm up to it, but I like it a ton better than the NX-5000 software.
The VP6430 specifically (since you asked about that series).......I love it. Good competitor to the APX XE series, and a far superior display. Seems like a real solid radio.
Good luck.
The VP6430 specifically (since you asked about that series).......I love it. Good competitor to the APX XE series, and a far superior display. Seems like a real solid radio.
Good luck.
MTS2000des
5B2_BEE00 Czar
The VP6000 is more akin to a VP600 on a VP5400/NX5000 chassis. The top display is a plus, and the RX audio is quite louder. I have a VP5430 demo on long term loan and I love the radio, but one thing I notice is on ARC-4 talk groups, it loses cypher sync with weaker signals whereas Motorola and Harris (XG-75s) do not. Running R8.20.5.27 ENC version is A3.0.3 for radio O/S. Not sure if this has been addressed in a newer firmware. Doesn't seem to have a problem with AES-256.
It is designed to compete with the APX6000. It does well. For quite a bit less money, and Armada is one of the best programming/RM suites around. MSI should hire whoever wrote it and fire the 5er.com team that wrote APX CPS.
It is designed to compete with the APX6000. It does well. For quite a bit less money, and Armada is one of the best programming/RM suites around. MSI should hire whoever wrote it and fire the 5er.com team that wrote APX CPS.
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