Unication Products - LAPD, LASO, LACF

[ScanFanEd]

Just wondering if anyone has tried a Unication product, such as the G1, on LAPD, LA Sheriff's Dept or LA County Fire? If so, how do you feel about its performance?

Thanks!

 

[tsalmrsystemtech]

This is what I can tell you about the Unication radios. They are the best commercial grade radio out there right now with the sensitive of these great radios. The G1 is an old radio. Does not decode P25 so don't even think about buying one of those radios.

Only think about the dual band G5 radio. They come in all flavors for what you might be looking for. Keep in mind with this radio you would need the 450-512mhz /700/800 mhz radio for these agencies. Moving forward LASO will be going to LA-RICS and they use trunked 450-512mhz/700mhz for this new system. More than likely alot of encryption will be happening down the road on this new system. As to P25 for LAPD for the time being these radios are very sensitive and they work wonderful.

I have the VHF/700/800 radio and performance is amazing for simulcasting with no issues. I really want the 450-512mhz /700/800 radio but just can't afford it right now.

 

[KG6GTH]

I have the U2/7-800 and use it for LA Area... Works Great.... I have (2) of them....
Sean

 

[ChrisE_STB]

I use a G1 for LACoFD and it preforms very well, no issues or complaints.

 

[tsalmrsystemtech]

I use a G1 for LACoFD and it preforms very well, no issues or complaints.

Yes, all of these radios work great but at this point to buy and invest in a radio I would not suggest to buy a G1 moving forward since analog is going to pretty much obsolete in the near future. Probably not a good idea to almost spend 400 bucks on a G1 when you can invest a few more bucks and get the dual bands and have P25 and trunking as well as simulcasting receiving with no issues moving forward with all of the new TRS systems. I bought the G5 VHF/700/800 and if I was in the LA more often I would most likely buy the UHF2/700/800 radio too. I would love to have two of them for the price considering an APX 8000 is big bucks. These Unication radios work just as good as the Motorola radios

 

[ScanFanEd]

Thanks to all for the great info. It sounds like the Unication products work very well in LA County. I have a G5 model on order (the VHF-hi/700/800 model) that I will be using quite a bit in San Diego County and for conventional stuff in Riverside County. Although I am still trying to figure out how to get another Unication in the door without the Mrs. going crazy. If I do, I am thinking about the G5 UHF2/700/800 model, as
tsalmrsystemtech mentioned/suggested.

To confirm, it sounds like the G5 UHF works well on LAPD? To the best of our knowledge, will LAPD be staying put on P25 UHF conventional for at least a few more years?

Thanks again!

 

[tsalmrsystemtech]

To everyone's knowledge LAPD will be staying on their UHF P25 Conventional system for a while. As in the time frame from moving from UHF to 700 mhz its all a matter of time once their whole new system is built out. This could take several years as we have seen with LA-RICS so far with their build out.

As to the Unication radios they are very sensitive and the receive on them are pretty amazing. As for the VHF/700/800 you bought the right radio for your usage. This radio will work very well in Riverside Co for VHF and for Trunking for San Diego. These radio's handle simulcasting very well. You won't have any issues with them. Keep in mind that when you get the radio there is a bit of a learning curve. There is a lot of YouTube videos out there on programming. Make sure you follow them very careful.

Also, Unication is working on a firmware upgrade to be able to have the ability for multi-site trunking

 

[ScanFanEd]

To everyone's knowledge LAPD will be staying on their UHF P25 Conventional system for a while. As in the time frame from moving from UHF to 700 mhz its all a matter of time once their whole new system is built out. This could take several years as we have seen with LA-RICS so far with their build out.

As to the Unication radios they are very sensitive and the receive on them are pretty amazing. As for the VHF/700/800 you bought the right radio for your usage. This radio will work very well in Riverside Co for VHF and for Trunking for San Diego. These radio's handle simulcasting very well. You won't have any issues with them. Keep in mind that when you get the radio there is a bit of a learning curve. There is a lot of YouTube videos out there on programming. Make sure you follow them very careful.

Also, Unication is working on a firmware upgrade to be able to have the ability for multi-site trunking

Thanks! I have heard from a few sources that the new Unication firmware really takes these pagers/receivers to the next level, with multi-site/zone trunking (as you mentioned), ability to hold and lockout talkgroups and more. Looking forward to the release!

 

[Eng74]

Is there anywhere in the LA area that sells Unication pagers to pick up a VHF/800 G5?

 

[ScanFanEd]

Is there anywhere in the LA area that sells Unication pagers to pick up a VHF/800 G5?

I am not personally aware of any. I thought perhaps Ham Radio Outlet, however I do not see them listed on their web page.

 

[ScanFanEd]

Has anyone tried a Unication G5 on LA City Fire? I assume there is no reason that it would not work well on their 800 conventional frequencies?

 

[tsalmrsystemtech]

Is there anywhere in the LA area that sells Unication pagers to pick up a VHF/800 G5?

I just P/M you so you can get the information on a place to buy online for a great deal.

 

[JP-Hollywood]

I run a G5 with LA City Fire channels 4 (rescue) and 7 (south of Mulholland) and it receives just fine.

 

[ScanFanEd]

I run a G5 with LA City Fire channels 4 (rescue) and 7 (south of Mulholland) and it receives just fine.

Thanks, JP!

 

[ScanFanEd]

I have the VHF/700/800 radio and performance is amazing for simulcasting with no issues. I really want the 450-512mhz /700/800 radio but just can't afford it right now.

tsalmrsystemtech, with your VHF/700/800 G5, have you monitored LA Fire's 800Mhz conventional freqs? If so, does the G5 do well at monitoring them?

Thanks again!

 

[tsalmrsystemtech]

So overall the Unication radios work really really well with sensitivity. Keep in mind that the VHF side of this radio the antenna is internal only.

The 700/800 mhz side of the radio the antenna is the stub antenna on it only. So anything to do with 800 mhz either in P25 Digital or Conventional will work really well as long as you are in range of receiving LA City. I am 45 miles away from Glendale and I am able to pickup ICIS Glendale and Montebello sites for the internal UHF-2 side of the radio with the internal antenna.

I finally pulled the trigger and now have my second Unication radio. VHF/700/800 and the UHF-2/700/800. Love them. I thought I would buy an SDS-100 radio but the Unication radio is really sensitive for distance signals and work beautiful on Simulcasting with no issues at all.

Hopefully this helps when deciding.

 

[ScanFanEd]

A bit of an update. I received the second Unication, a UHF-D model, and was able to spend a couple of hours in the LA area with it. As expected, it did a very good job with LAPD, LAFD and LA County Fire. I did not try much with LASO, however would imagine it would do great. I did take the VHF model with me as well and programmed Monterey Park's VHF P25 Conventional dispatch channel. It did very well there as well.

 

[tsalmrsystemtech]

A bit of an update. I received the second Unication, a UHF-D model, and was able to spend a couple of hours in the LA area with it. As expected, it did a very good job with LAPD, LAFD and LA County Fire. I did not try much with LASO, however would imagine it would do great. I did take the VHF model with me as well and programmed Monterey Park's VHF P25 Conventional dispatch channel. It did very well there as well.

Not sure if you bought the Unication Amplified Charger or not but its not a good unit so far. You hear a popping noise out of the speaker every time you hear a conversation as well as I am not having any good luck with the rear antenna port for reception. I think its poorly designed and cheaply made. Getting mine warrantied to see if its a bad one or not.

 

[tsalmrsystemtech]

FYI. The latest Unication G series Firmware update V 1.30 will be released this week.