Unication or KNG-P800 for Texas GATRRS RX only P25 II

[tcarro15]

I've held just about every kind of commercial, and consumer grade radio and scanner on the market, except a Unication pager, and a BK KNG-P800. I'm here in Austin, TX / Central Texas and 90% of society operates on the GATRRS system. I would really like to get into a commercial radio that can effectively monitor this system with the specific talkgroups I want, true RX only Non-Affiliate type setup, and these two seem to be the very upper echelon of suggestions I'm finding. I'm not terribly interested in dealing with motorola NAS, risky and not as effective, so that lands me here; Has anyone had experience with either of these devices in the central Texas area, and what do you suggest? I'm willing to pull together the $750+/- for a used P800 and get the software and cable for it, if it's a worthwhile investment.

OR, If anyone in anyone in the area already has the software and cable for the P800 and can help me get one loaded up so I can decide if I want to invest in the software and more rigs.....

Thanks

 

[IAmSixNine]

I have a KNG2 P800 and while im not in your area i can tell you the main limiting factor for me is the 16 talk group limit for scan lists.
The G4 will allow up to 64 talk groups per zone. So if you want to monitor a lot of stuff the Unication may be better. Both are good devices with pros and cons for each. I have both and use the Unication for more wide spread multi agency scanning then use the KNG P2 when i want to focus in on a specific group or groups.

 

[brndnstffrd]

Im not from Texas, but I have both a Harris XG-100P and a Unication G5.

If you are looking for a radio, I would say that the Harris is a better choice than the KNG due to the talkgroup limit. A Harris can have up to 127 talkgroups in a scanlist, versus the KNG's 16 talkgroups. The Harris is also very close to your price range. They typically tend to hover slightly higher, however you can frequently find them right in line with that depending on condition and accessories.

The G5 will definitely fit your budget, since they have been running around $650-700 new, depending on current promtions, etc. The Unications are very nice in that they are very user friendly to program. Probably the best feature of the Unication is that they have a scan option called Trunking Monitor, where it will unmute for any talkgroup coming across the site. In that mode you are limited to only 63 named talkgroups, however it will still hear everything and just display the talkgroup number instead of an alphatag.

As far as portability goes, the winner is definitely the Unication: small form factor and light, but with just enough heft to make it feel solid. The Harris on the other hand, is a brick in every sense of the word: large, bulky, and heavy. The Harris is also triband if properly optioned, while the Unication is only dual band. This may or may-not be a deciding factor for you. The Harris can also monitor a trunking system and conventional channels in the same scanlist, although it doesnt do this particularly well. The Unication on the other hand is trunking or conventional at one time only, with trunking only being able to monitor 1 system at a time. Performance-wise, they are very similar, so I wouldn't give one the edge over the other.

I really cant choose which I prefer since they each offer different things. That being said, I do tend to grab the Unication more frequently than the Harris, just because of its size.

 

[tcarro15]

Im not from Texas, but I have both a Harris XG-100P and a Unication G5.

If you are looking for a radio, I would say that the Harris is a better choice than the KNG due to the talkgroup limit. A Harris can have up to 127 talkgroups in a scanlist, versus the KNG's 16 talkgroups. The Harris is also very close to your price range. They typically tend to hover slightly higher, however you can frequently find them right in line with that depending on condition and accessories.

The G5 will definitely fit your budget, since they have been running around $650-700 new, depending on current promtions, etc. The Unications are very nice in that they are very user friendly to program. Probably the best feature of the Unication is that they have a scan option called Trunking Monitor, where it will unmute for any talkgroup coming across the site. In that mode you are limited to only 63 named talkgroups, however it will still hear everything and just display the talkgroup number instead of an alphatag.

As far as portability goes, the winner is definitely the Unication: small form factor and light, but with just enough heft to make it feel solid. The Harris on the other hand, is a brick in every sense of the word: large, bulky, and heavy. The Harris is also triband if properly optioned, while the Unication is only dual band. This may or may-not be a deciding factor for you. The Harris can also monitor a trunking system and conventional channels in the same scanlist, although it doesnt do this particularly well. The Unication on the other hand is trunking or conventional at one time only, with trunking only being able to monitor 1 system at a time. Performance-wise, they are very similar, so I wouldn't give one the edge over the other.

I really cant choose which I prefer since they each offer different things. That being said, I do tend to grab the Unication more frequently than the Harris, just because of its size.

Well, the Harris is what I'd really like, I'm looking for bulk, a solid commercial rig that operates as if I was on the TRS. Having triband would be great too. My biggest issue is that I've been made to understand that the Harris software and cables are prohibitively expensive, and the Harris doesn't have a 'true' recieve only NAS programming option, the KNG does, and the factory is loose with the software for a couple hundred bucks. If I can get into both harris and BK programming capability, I'd be feel like I won the special olympics lol.

 

[brndnstffrd]

Well, the Harris is what I'd really like, I'm looking for bulk, a solid commercial rig that operates as if I was on the TRS. Having triband would be great too. My biggest issue is that I've been made to understand that the Harris software and cables are prohibitively expensive, and the Harris doesn't have a 'true' recieve only NAS programming option, the KNG does, and the factory is loose with the software for a couple hundred bucks. If I can get into both harris and BK programming capability, I'd be feel like I won the special olympics lol.

The Harris has bluetooth programming if correctly optioned, (most are). The Harris is actually easier to program than a Moto, since you just program the trunking system and uncheck Unit Registration and Transmit for each talkgroup. No need for conventional channels with special scanlists or hidden talkgroups needed.

That being said, the Unication is even easier than that, since you can import a download from the database here directly into the software.

 

[tcarro15]

The Harris has bluetooth programming if correctly optioned, (most are). The Harris is actually easier to program than a Moto, since you just program the trunking system and uncheck Unit Registration and Transmit for each talkgroup. No need for conventional channels with special scanlists or hidden talkgroups needed.

That being said, the Unication is even easier than that, since you can import a download from the database here directly into the software.

Nice, well, the harris tri-band is the gold-standard for what I'm looking for, having 7/800 and VHF P25 on one rig would be beautiful. The software I am to understand is prohibitively expensive, and hard to come by unless you know someone. I do not. I wouldn't mind building out a codeplug from scratch on harris, just to learn the software, but a direct download to the unication would be awesome. Does the unication antenna come off to replace with another portable, or external antenna?

 

[KevinC]

Keep in mind a Harris radio will more than likely require pirated and hacked software to program trunking into it. Some people fail to mention that. And some people don’t care about using such SW.

 

[tcarro15]

Keep in mind a Harris radio will more than likely require pirated and hacked software to program trunking into it. Some people fail to mention that. And some people don’t care about using such SW.

Yeah, I have more than 20 radios / scanners in my apt right now, absolutely no need to be skirting the law or normal procedure to make it happen. May just have to start with the unication and then give the P800 a chance at some point