kg4uad said:
The 5210/5310's are as good or better than the Motorola equivalent. Certainly more cost effective initally and a much easier to navigate the Zone/Channel menu. I haven't heard of any failures i would say the Battery would be the weak link in my opinion (or who knows maybe its a P25 thing) the 5210 uses the KNB-32N which is a 2500mah Ni-MH battery, by all rights a beefy sucker that should get the job done... well it doesnt. youll be lucky to get 10hrs from the pack with a very light duty cycle(aka scanner mode). I would say closer to 4-5hrs of moderate use.
Hi,
Thanks for the info. I'm already *painfully* aware of how P25 portables tend to be battery hogs. I have a pair of ICOM IC-F70DT portables and it's a similar story with battery life...substandard but manageable (plan ahead and keep a spare pack handy). My P25 use is for Amateur Radio as I've been bitten by the P25 bug.
I recall reading somewhere (batlabs maybe?) that the Motorola P25 portables (XTS2500, XTS5000) now have an optional 4000mAh (4 Ah) battery pack. I think the increased appetite for batteries is a P25 thing due to all the DSP horsepower required plus "creeping elegance" in the design. I would expect battery consumption to get worse with P25 portables used on a trunked system....they can't take advantage of any battery saver features because they have to remain "awake" at all times while on the network.
Motorola appears to be responding to the short battery life issue by coming out with a 4Ah pack. ICOM's F70DT/F80DT portables come standard with a 1600mAh pack (sucks!) and a 2100 or 2500 mAh is the optional hi-capacity pack. ICOM recently increased the hi-cap pack to 3000mAh. Battery chemistries are constantly being improved and the radio manufacturers appear to be responding to the need, so I hope KENWOOD gets a higher capacity pack out soon.
As for KENWOOD audio, how is the P25 receive audio? KENWOOD's recent line of commercial radios (TK-2140/3140, TK-2160/3160, TK-2170/3170, etc.) all have excellent transmit and receive analog audio and KENWOOD clearly advertises them as having superior audio. I would expect a TK-5210 or TK-5310 to have similar audio.
Also, a feature I'm looking for with P25 audio is automatic gain control (AGC) for the receive audio to smooth out wild variations in P25 volume levels. My ICOM F70DT portables don't have it and the P25 receive volume is often all over the place. When I listen to NHSP (programmed as Rx-only), troopers often have very low volume (maybe talking softly or away from the mic) and dispatch is often loud enough to blast you out of the car. My RadioShack PRO-96 scanner has an AGC function feature for the P25 audio and it works excellent. On my scanner I hear all P25 audio at roughly the same volume and it compensates pretty well for somebody talking softly or away from the mic. No blasting and fading of P25 audio levels on the Pro-96. It also responds quickly to sudden changes in volume levels. I've found I actually like listening to P25 audio on my Pro-96 better than on the ICOM F70. I'm wondering if the KENWOODs have a similar feature. I don't know if the Motorolas have something like this or not. I suspect Icom didn't implement any AGC function for the receive audio because it's not part of the P25 standard and if KENWOOD and Motorola have such a feature, it's an enhancement they did on their own.
As for the 5210/5310's ruggeness, I recently held one in my hand and it has the usual KENWOOD rugged feel. Hopefully they are as rugged as they feel. My ICOM F70 portables feel cheap and chintzy by comparison but the F70 is still plenty rugged.
As for failures, I've got 2 ICOM F70DT portables and I've had two failures already. One of them totally lost all P25 capability (analog still worked fine) and it was replaced under warranty. Now here it is about a year or so later and the replacement recently died with the same P25 failure plus a PLL lock failure in the receiver. It will transmit analog fine but any receive frequency in the 151-154MHz range is totally dead. The PLL is unlocked for any receive freq in this range and the channel display flashes on this channels to indicate the lock failure. Both of my F70 portables have the same firmware and are programmed the same from the same file. The older portable is working fine and the newer one (the replacement for the first P25 failure) is dead. It's been sent back to ICOM by my dealer for repair (or replacement...AGAIN!). ARRGGHHH!!!!! I don't know whether it will be covered under warranty or not. I think I'm all done with ICOM. There's also enough little things I haven't liked about the radio to make me look at other P25 portables. KENWOOD and Motorola are on my list.
I have a growing need for P25 on UHF and I've been looking at the KENWOOD TK-5310 as a possibility. Whatever I eventually go with will definitely NOT be an ICOM!! I already have some Kenwood TK-3170 portables which I love and use them on GMRS (I am licensed), so I'm already familiar with KENWOOD stuff. I'm also looking at the TK-5310 because I've been gradually getting away from Motorola and ICOM and going with KENWOOD radios.
Again thanks for the info!