G4 or G5 what to purchase

[JRush311]

I've finally gotten tired of the p25 garble my uniden gets
I'm looking at these 2 pagers to set up as scanners

I understand the difference between G4 and G5 is dual band
How do I know if I need to spend the extra money or if I even need that option?

I mainly want to monitor p25 phase1 trunked 853 MHz

 

[cpetraglia]

The G4 is 700/800 only. Should work for your purposes.

 

[JRush311]

So what would be a scenario you would need the dual band

 

[JASII]

G4 Or G5 What To Purchase

I bought a Unication G5 lat year. There was a time when they were the same price, so it was a "no-brainer" for me. I live in Minnesota, but I am not far from Wisconsin. Wisconsin does have a VHF high band trunked system. I could use the G5 for that when I am over there. If I were you, based on what you have stated, I would probably simply get the G4. I would encourage you to see what the current price difference is, though. If they aren't that far apart in price, it might be handy to have VHF in a one device.

 

[sparklehorse]

So what would be a scenario you would need the dual band

I have a VHF flavor G5, but for me the VHF hardly gets used. I primarily use the G5 for P25 mobile monitoring, for which it is a great option. I rarely use it at home because truthfully it is not that great as a scanner. It can only monitor one system at a time, plus there is no scan delay function for talkgroups, or a proper way to hold on a talkgroup of interest. And the sound quality from the tiny speaker is not super in my opinion. It's not really stellar on VHF conventional either, as it only uses its internal antenna for that band unless apparently it's in the optional charging stand. There have been a couple times where I've needed to drive into a neighboring county that still uses VHF and was glad I could switch the radio over to monitor them. But if I had it to do over I would probably save a little cash and just get a G4.

.

 

[owenbricker]

700/800 would be used to monitor your system, VHF/UHF would be used to monitor conventional frequencies or trunk or use a conventional frequency for paging.

 

[JRush311]

Would I also be able to pick up Motorola smart net 2
System ?
853mhz ish

Myrtle beach public safety system RRDB says it was rebranded and possibly not compatible

 

[BenScan]

No, as far as trunking goes, it only receives P25 Phase 1 trunked systems. It will also receive P25 and analog conventional frequencies.

I bought the G5 initially, and realized I wasn't using VHF at all in my area, so when I purchased two more, I went with the G4 to keep the cost down.

I did a review a while back that you may find interesting.

Unication G5 Voice Pager as a Scanner - Review

Would I also be able to pick up Motorola smart net 2
System ?
853mhz ish

Myrtle beach public safety system RRDB says it was rebranded and possibly not compatible

 

[JRush311]

Great information and sorry I'm rather new to this hobby
It seems I should keep my uniden 396xt for when I travel to places like myrtle beach
That use other systems and purchase a G4 to monitor my hometown
It would seem ,for me, there would be no reason to purchase the G5 and spend extra

 

[JRush311]

I'm still curious why you would need the dual band tho
What would be a scenario that would make the G5 more applicable

 

[KO4RJX]

I'm still curious why you would need the dual band tho
What would be a scenario that would make the G5 more applicable

I use the G5 for vhf paging for my fire department. Then I can switch to another knob and listen to our 800 p25 system. It eliminates me having to find the ops channel on my department issued radio while driving.

Or when we respond to the next county over I can minitor their operations channel (nc viper) on either the G5 or handheld radio while keeping the other on our county system.

Sent from my P008 using Tapatalk

 

[BenScan]

I have the national VHF interop channels programmed, along with weather, ham radio, and other things that might be interesting. With all of the other scanners that I have, I haven't needed to use the G5 for VHF, but it's there, if it's the only radio I have with me.

I'm still curious why you would need the dual band tho
What would be a scenario that would make the G5 more applicable

 

[KevinC]

A system such as the one linked below would be a good reason to get a V/7/800 G5...

Parker County (Project 25) Trunking System, Parker County, Texas - Scanner Frequencies

 

[phirephoto]

I'm still curious why you would need the dual band tho
What would be a scenario that would make the G5 more applicable

Well, is there anything you'd want to listen to on the pager that's VHF? There's your answer For me, a county is 800 P25 trunked, and a county south of me is mainly VHF, so no brainer for me.

 

[troymail]

My county (and many around) "simulcast" the page/alert on VHF (154) but operate on 700/800 Mhz. Some do the same but page/alert on a UHF frequency.

So my assumption is that you could put the pager in stand-by/alert mode on the VHF paging frequency and then when responding, switch to the P25 response system talkgroup/channel.