Unication G4 for listening to BOEC P25 system.

[Otto]

So, I've been on the fence about buying a G4 for monitoring the new(ish) BOEC P25 system. My main concern is that the G4 does not do phase 2 currently, although there is supposed to some firmware upgrade that will handle that in the future. Is it worth getting one, even though BOEC will eventually go phase 2 in the future (if they haven't already, I can't tell with my Uniden HP2 what "phase" they are currently using) providing there will be phase 2 support in the supposed future? How many users here are monitoring with a Unication, and how's it working for you? Also, what other systems are you monitoring in the PDX area with your Unication, and how's that working?
Thanks for any and all input.

 

[OregonScanner]

I have a G4 and a G5. Portland/Multnomah County system is P25 Phase I. So is Clark County Washington's system. I listen to Portland's system everyday on my Unications. If you got a G4 now, you would be able to listen to both BOEC and the fire TGs on CRESA's system. These units are amazing on simulcast while the scanners are almost useless on simulcast. The Unications also pull in the signals really well. I am able to listen to the BOEC system driving around Sherwood with the unit in a RAM Mount suction cup holder with just the tiny rubber duck antenna on it. And Sherwood is well outside the intended coverage area. It also does great clipped to the sun visor.

I have programmed the state system into the pager in preparation for the Phase II release. I put all of the sites in Western Oregon in one system and all the sites in Central Oregon in another system with all the frequencies except duplicates. I've driven all the way to Cottage Grove with one of the pagers monitoring the state system. No Phase II audio but it switched sites as I drove. There are places where the state system system has very poor coverage on the scanner while the G4/G5 has full signal strength.

Just for kicks I tried to listen to CRESA while driving around Sherwood and with just the rubber duck antenna it came with I was able to pull that system in in a few places around town.

You can't use the menus while the radio is receiving traffic. I leave knob position 8 non-programmed so if I want to use the menus I just rotate the knob all the way clockwise, use the menus, then I select the position I want.

These pagers are rugged too. They are water resistant and tough. I accidentally dropped my G4 on pavement and there wasn't even a scratch. More than likely my 436HP would've been toast.

Also sounds great on the Linn-Benton 700 Simulcast and the G5 UHF sounds great on the Lane UHF simulcast non-enc TGs.

 

[verhoffj1]

I have a G4 and a G5. Portland/Multnomah County system is P25 Phase I. So is Clark County Washington's system. I listen to Portland's system everyday on my Unications. If you got a G4 now, you would be able to listen to both BOEC and the fire TGs on CRESA's system. These units are amazing on simulcast while the scanners are almost useless on simulcast. The Unications also pull in the signals really well. I am able to listen to the BOEC system driving around Sherwood with the unit in a RAM Mount suction cup holder with just the tiny rubber duck antenna on it. And Sherwood is well outside the intended coverage area. It also does great clipped to the sun visor.

I have programmed the state system into the pager in preparation for the Phase II release. I put all of the sites in Western Oregon in one system and all the sites in Central Oregon in another system with all the frequencies except duplicates. I've driven all the way to Cottage Grove with one of the pagers monitoring the state system. No Phase II audio but it switched sites as I drove. There are places where the state system system has very poor coverage on the scanner while the G4/G5 has full signal strength.

Just for kicks I tried to listen to CRESA while driving around Sherwood and with just the rubber duck antenna it came with I was able to pull that system in in a few places around town.

You can't use the menus while the radio is receiving traffic. I leave knob position 8 non-programmed so if I want to use the menus I just rotate the knob all the way clockwise, use the menus, then I select the position I want.

These pagers are rugged too. They are water resistant and tough. I accidentally dropped my G4 on pavement and there wasn't even a scratch. More than likely my 436HP would've been toast.

Also sounds great on the Linn-Benton 700 Simulcast and the G5 UHF sounds great on the Lane UHF simulcast non-enc TGs.

I've been on the fence about buying one myself but my area is strictly Phase 2 so I'm going to hold off until the phase 2 is actually released.

 

[troymail]

I've been on the fence about buying one myself but my area is strictly Phase 2 so I'm going to hold off until the phase 2 is actually released.

If you are fighting with simulcast reception issues, the lack of Phase 2 capability is about the only reason I can see to NOT purchase a G4 or G5 right now. Hopefully, that will change very soon with the release of Phase 2 firmware.

Having said that - if you are a scanner user and you don't have simulcast reception issues, you should stick with your favorite scanner.....

 

[goodmore]

As I have said in other posts.......My scanner distortion problems are heavily influenced by the weather.

 

[Otto]

Having said that - if you are a scanner user and you don't have simulcast reception issues, you should stick with your favorite scanner.....

I have terrible simulcast distortion when using my scanner to listen to BOEC when not connected to my yagi antenna, which is aimed at the Council Crest Tower. It's practically un-useable in any mobile or portable configuration, hence the desire to buy a Unication pager. Thanks for your reply.

 

[troymail]

I have terrible simulcast distortion when using my scanner to listen to BOEC when not connected to my yagi antenna, which is aimed at the Council Crest Tower. It's practically un-useable in any mobile or portable configuration, hence the desire to buy a Unication pager. Thanks for your reply.

Then you will LOVE a G4 or G5....

 

[troymail]

See: http://forums.radioreference.com/un...pping-out-mid-transmission-2.html#post2868751

 

[Otto]

I have a G4 and a G5. Portland/Multnomah County system is P25 Phase I. So is Clark County Washington's system. I listen to Portland's system everyday on my Unications. If you got a G4 now, you would be able to listen to both BOEC and the fire TGs on CRESA's system. These units are amazing on simulcast while the scanners are almost useless on simulcast. The Unications also pull in the signals really well. I am able to listen to the BOEC system driving around Sherwood with the unit in a RAM Mount suction cup holder with just the tiny rubber duck antenna on it. And Sherwood is well outside the intended coverage area. It also does great clipped to the sun visor.

I have programmed the state system into the pager in preparation for the Phase II release. I put all of the sites in Western Oregon in one system and all the sites in Central Oregon in another system with all the frequencies except duplicates. I've driven all the way to Cottage Grove with one of the pagers monitoring the state system. No Phase II audio but it switched sites as I drove. There are places where the state system system has very poor coverage on the scanner while the G4/G5 has full signal strength.

Just for kicks I tried to listen to CRESA while driving around Sherwood and with just the rubber duck antenna it came with I was able to pull that system in in a few places around town.

You can't use the menus while the radio is receiving traffic. I leave knob position 8 non-programmed so if I want to use the menus I just rotate the knob all the way clockwise, use the menus, then I select the position I want.

These pagers are rugged too. They are water resistant and tough. I accidentally dropped my G4 on pavement and there wasn't even a scratch. More than likely my 436HP would've been toast.

Also sounds great on the Linn-Benton 700 Simulcast and the G5 UHF sounds great on the Lane UHF simulcast non-enc TGs.

Ah, that's encouraging information. How does the pager fare with cell phone tower interference? My scanners would typically get overloaded anytime I would drive near a cell tower (a trip down I84 close in town would cause my scanners to be almost un- monitorable due to sheer amount of towers along that stretch of road) caused nearly all traffic to be garbled, even when monitoring the old analog TRS.

 

[JD21960]

G4/G5 travel

I can add to the comments about "travel" and cell towers. I live across the street from a LOW cell tower. It's about 300-400 yards away and barely 2 stories high, I thought they had to be a certain height? anyway, It destroys any 800mhz from my WS1080. I had to get a Yagi pointed the other way to fix that for home use. BUT It's unusable in the car, terrible. So I got the G5 pager. I tested it out on a trip through 3 or 4 counties, 7 different ILLINOIS P25 Starcom21 SITES and it never dropped the signal once. Perfect. THAT was just sitting in the cup holder too, no outside antenna. Here's a video from home.
It does very well with travel and the cell towers. It was worth the money for it and the charger/amp.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swRj_2rJlqk

 

[OregonScanner]

I haven't noticed any cell tower interference.

 

[sparklehorse]

A little late to the party here, but I can add that I have had some cell tower interference on my G5 on the BOEC system. It's not nearly as bad as my BCD436 or 325P2 though. And I think the spots where this happens (SW Naito Pkwy at Meade comes to mind), happen to also be a semi-dead spot for the P25 system. But this is a small quibble. As others have mentioned, the Unications are just in an entirely different league with P25 simulcast vs the Uniden-Whistler models. However, it's not all peaches and cream either. They aren't designed as scanners, so they lack some important features. Chief amongst these is no scan delay after a transmission, and no ability to hold on a talk group. These are pretty annoying, but you can mostly get around the talk group hold problem with some creative programming. You are just stuck with the lack of scan delay however. Unication has a rep who is active on the Unication forum here at RR, and we have been requesting these seemingly basic features for at least a year and a half now. Still no joy. But it's by far the best affordable P25 game in town, for now anyway.
Hope that helps.

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