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Unication pager vs motorola

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W4ZMJ

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I have be seriously thinking bout getting the g4 pager but my question is comparing it agents a Motorola's xts radios I wandering how the audio from the pager is vs the Motorola sure the radio is louder? any input would be grateful
 

sefrischling

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As a daily user of the XTS3000 and XTS2500 for work my take away is this, the Unication pager is a pager. You clip it to your belt and wear it all day. It is small, inconspicuous, can be tucked under a shirt. It has tone and vibrate alert. The XTS radios are large, very conspicuous, you're not walking into the grocery store with an XTS3000 on your belt or in your back pocket. The XTS does not alert you to calls. They are not interchangeable. I have used the G1 and it is loud, but not nearly as loud as my XTS 3000 or XTS 2500. But I rarely if ever to I keep them cranked up.
 
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wa8pyr

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As a daily user of the XTS3000 and XTS2500 for work my take away is this, the Unication pager is a pager. You clip it to your belt and wear it all day. It is small, inconspicuous, can be tucked under a shirt. It has tone and vibrate alert. The XTS radios are large, very conspicuous, you're not walking into the grocery store with an XTS3000 on your belt or in your back pocket. The XTS does not alert you to calls. They are not interchangeable.

I completely agree, except I would qualify the statement to say that the XTS can be used as a pager if your agency is using conventional paging. Apart from that, it's too dang big to be toting around everywhere.

It also depends on what the OP wants to do with it; if it's to be used for actual alerting purposes then the Unication is the way to go. They're amazingly sensitive, and as noted, vibrate and make a very loud noise (your choice of several different tones) when they receive the proper tones.

Also keep in mind that the G4 does not do conventional analog paging; only the G5 does that.
 

TFrank615

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As a daily user of the XTS3000 and XTS2500 for work my take away is this, the Unication pager is a pager. You clip it to your belt and wear it all day. It is small, inconspicuous, can be tucked under a shirt. It has tone and vibrate alert. The XTS radios are large, very conspicuous, you're not walking into the grocery store with an XTS3000 on your belt or in your back pocket. The XTS does not alert you to calls. They are not interchangeable. I have used the G1 and it is loud, but not nearly as loud as my XTS 3000 or XTS 2500. But I rarely if ever to I keep them cranked up.

Small is an understatement rn [emoji23]


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KR7CQ

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I completely agree, except I would qualify the statement to say that the XTS can be used as a pager if your agency is using conventional paging. Apart from that, it's too dang big to be toting around everywhere.

It also depends on what the OP wants to do with it; if it's to be used for actual alerting purposes then the Unication is the way to go. They're amazingly sensitive....

I would be curious to hear from people who own both the Motorola radios and the Unication G4/5, as to which is more sensitive and which does better at receiving distant simulcast systems. I haven't owned a Motorola, but the G4 has an astonishing ability to pick up distant simulcasts that are at or near the radio horizon, in an urban environment. It's almost magical in that respect. How does a Motorola radio stack up in that department?
 

sefrischling

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I completely agree, except I would qualify the statement to say that the XTS can be used as a pager if your agency is using conventional paging..

The XTS2500 can alert, not the XTS3000 . Also the alert on the XTS2500 is nothing like a Minitor or Unication. It couldn't even wake a lightly sleeping baby if placed next to the baby's head.
 

Astrak

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I would be curious to hear from people who own both the Motorola radios and the Unication G4/5, as to which is more sensitive and which does better at receiving distant simulcast systems. I haven't owned a Motorola, but the G4 has an astonishing ability to pick up distant simulcasts that are at or near the radio horizon, in an urban environment. It's almost magical in that respect. How does a Motorola radio stack up in that department?
They are about the same on RWC as far as sensitivity goes, Motorola's are not effected by cell phone towers though.
 

KR7CQ

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They are about the same on RWC as far as sensitivity goes, Motorola's are not effected by cell phone towers though.
Thanks. And I was wondering about cell tower question. I'm glad to hear that our professionals don't have to deal with those issues (radios wiped out within a few hundred feet of a cell tower).
 

dcr_inc

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Own Both and havent experienced any cell tower issues on the Unication G5.. Unlike a scanner, the G5 is a professional grade unit.
 

IAmSixNine

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Ill second that the Unication G4 reception is on par with the APX and KNG radios.
There is not much of a difference in audio quality between the units but the APX/XTS would win with just a slight difference. However the G4 is still on par with quality. Its for sure better then my BCD436.
As far as cell interference ive only had it happen in two spots. One is a whataburger parking lot with an adjacent low thin cell tower. Otherwise its not an issue.
 

KR7CQ

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Ill second that the Unication G4 reception is on par with the APX and KNG radios.
There is not much of a difference in audio quality between the units but the APX/XTS would win with just a slight difference. However the G4 is still on par with quality. Its for sure better then my BCD436.
As far as cell interference ive only had it happen in two spots. One is a whataburger parking lot with an adjacent low thin cell tower. Otherwise its not an issue.

Interesting. I know that within a few hundred of feet Verizon & Sprint towers in my area (700 MHz), 700 MHz simulcasts on the G4 are wiped out, without exception. I can literally hear things "go digital" and then I get the "out of range" beep, at which point I can look around and always see one of these offending towers close by. I know which towers are Sprint and Verizon by doing my own testing on my Sprint and Verizon devices. I get full bars and internet at over 100 Mbps near these towers so it's easy to verify which one is which. Plus all the 700 MHz towers here are pretty easily identified by their large antenna boxes that are spaced farther apart than on other cell towers operating at much higher frequencies (ATT , Tmobile in my area). All of my digital scanners suffer from the same issue.
 

APX8000

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My G5 on 7/800 is on par with my APX radios, both using their OEM stubby antennas. The UHF on the G5 will suffer a bit due to using an internal loop antenna. I monitor numerous P25 systems with both on a daily basis. The G5 definitely edges out with its small size when I’m in my POV and not working and don’t have a need to TX. Plus I don’t want to write the damn memo for losing a $7,000 APX8000 when I walk into the grocery store off-duty as the G5 lock up nicely in a small gun safe bolted to the floorboard.


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KR7CQ

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Own Both and havent experienced any cell tower issues on the Unication G5.. Unlike a scanner, the G5 is a professional grade unit.
It all depends on what frequencies your local carriers are using...it varies by location. You may have lucked out in that regard. As far as being professional grade, and I love my G4, I don't think it's in the same world as the $7,000 APX mentioned by signal zero. I know that I've talked to many who see the same issues with the Unications being wiped out by 700 MHz cell towers, so I'm by no means alone there.

I will say that it's an amazing device for the money, and that the hardware is obviously on a higher level than any scanner, and I've pretty much owned and tested every scanner made since the late 70s. I would say that Unications seem to fall somewhere between toys and Motorola public safety radio equipment, just based on all that I've gathered.
 

crashandrew

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I completely agree, except I would qualify the statement to say that the XTS can be used as a pager if your agency is using conventional paging. Apart from that, it's too dang big to be toting around everywhere.

It also depends on what the OP wants to do with it; if it's to be used for actual alerting purposes then the Unication is the way to go. They're amazingly sensitive, and as noted, vibrate and make a very loud noise (your choice of several different tones) when they receive the proper tones.

Also keep in mind that the G4 does not do conventional analog paging; only the G5 does that.

I would LOVE a G5 but ...DAMN the price tag on those ...just a bit out of my price rage to monitor fire calls for a hobby.
 

phillydjdan

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I have a G5 and an APX-7000 and also have owned XTS-3000's, 5000's. Here's what I tell people when comparing the pager to the radio:

The building I work in is cinder block with a steal truss roof located roughly 3 miles outside the city of Philadelphia. There are some spots in the building where I lose signal on the radio and some places it comes in very well. One particular spot is a filing cabinet. I can sit my radio on the top of that filing cabinet and get perfect reception with an XTS or APX portable. One day I sat my G5 in the same spot and it also had perfect reception! No discernible difference!

As for audio, the pager is not quite as loud as the Motorola BUT, it is much louder than any scanner I have ever owned. Food for thought.
 
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