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Looking at purchasing a G5 but had a question.....

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cpro48609

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Hello all,

I'm in Saginaw county Michigan which uses P25 phase 1 simulcast. I picked up a TRX-1 but it's pretty horrible so far with this. I heard the 436HP might be a little better but I hear the G5 is the way to go for this by far.

The downside I read is it can only monitor one 'system' at a time vs a regular scanner. So my question is what constitutes a 'system'? The whole P25 system in our area, would that be considered one system?
Or one meaning only Police and if you wanted to hear Fire or EMS you would have to re-program?

I'm hoping its the first and you can hear the the whole P25 system for the county as that would mean basically everything would be available, PD, FD and EMS as most things are on this system.

Are there any other downsides to the G5 besides not being able to scan regular frequencies? With all the issues people have with simulcast systems and regular scanners it seems like this would be the only way to go.

Thanks,
 

cpetraglia

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Messages
868
Location
Fairfax, VA
You can scan the "Whole System" . It also does conventional frequencies within the pager band. There are numerous ways to set up all your talk groups with zones and channel selector switch. Read all about it at Unication.com
 

BenScan

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882
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I'm not familiar with the particular trunked system that you are talking about. However, the system I monitor has several sites for different geographic areas. The G4/5s will only monitor one site of a trunked system at a time. You can have it pick the best/strongest signal, but that may not necessarily be helpful, depending on how the trunked system's sites are used. I hope that makes sense. If not, let me know, and I'll try to elaborate.

Happy Scanning,
Ben

Hello all,

I'm in Saginaw county Michigan which uses P25 phase 1 simulcast. I picked up a TRX-1 but it's pretty horrible so far with this. I heard the 436HP might be a little better but I hear the G5 is the way to go for this by far.

The downside I read is it can only monitor one 'system' at a time vs a regular scanner. So my question is what constitutes a 'system'? The whole P25 system in our area, would that be considered one system?
Or one meaning only Police and if you wanted to hear Fire or EMS you would have to re-program?

I'm hoping its the first and you can hear the the whole P25 system for the county as that would mean basically everything would be available, PD, FD and EMS as most things are on this system.

Are there any other downsides to the G5 besides not being able to scan regular frequencies? With all the issues people have with simulcast systems and regular scanners it seems like this would be the only way to go.

Thanks,
 

b1100mac

Premium Member
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CPRO,,, in answer to your first question, without a doubt I would buy the G5. I have two and I love them both. I just mailed back my desk charger external speaker combination for replacement as it does not seem to work with one of my radios. Having it to do over again I would've never bought it, As for the Whistler and Uniden scanners, I am sure that most all of us G5'ers have a butt load of them for sale cheap.
Now for the system question, I went to the database and you are one of the lucky ones as it appears that everything that you want to listen to in your county, and state wide for that matter, is on one system. I would start by downloading that system using the Saginaw County simulcast channels and then load up all of the talk groups you would want to listen to (pd,fire, State police, EMS, even the federal law-enforcement channels ) then I would set up the number one position on the rotator switch with just the dispatch channels. This is what I would listen to until I heard a hot call then switch to one of the other positions (2 thru 8) which I would narrow down to specific working channels for specific agencies.
Let's face it, if we want a radio that works like and receives as well as the radio the cops and firefighters carry, we are going to have to learn to operate them on our end the way they operate them on their end, which is precisely what I have described above.
As you get comfortable with operating the radio listening to Saginaw County, then you can branch out and add new zones for different counties on that system (basically the whole state) for when you travel, but remember you can't expect to drive five counties away and hear their talk-groups on the Saginaw simulcast channels.
What I did was duplicate my system in the radio several times, and then adding the corresponding county simulcast frequencies and talk groups and deleting the origional county data, and then label that zone for that county, then when I travel out of my county to the next one, all I need to do is a simple zone change and I'm off and running, ( again pretty much the way the cops and firefighters have to do it ). You in essence would be setting up that one large state wide system as a bunch of little subsystems, using the appropriate area simulcast site. I am also anal about what goes in what knob positions i.e. My position 2 in all of my zones is law enforcement, position 3 and all of my zones is fire, position 4 in all of my zones is EMS and so on, knowing that position one are the appropriate dispatch channels. I chose to do it this way so I can operate the radio basically by feel while I'm driving down the road,once I've made the zone change. Also, if you're going to buy one, I recommend you read the thread about adding an external or upgraded whip antenna as it makes a hell of a difference, especially in the car.
As a sidenote, I was able to buy my second G5 for $650 shipped, so it pays to shop dealers. Good luck, mac
 
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cpro48609

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Thanks for the info! It looks like i'm gonna go in the direction of that G5 the more I read.

One thing though, people always say it isn't really a 'scanner' per se, but it does scan thru the diff groups right? I mean will it scan through what you tell it to and then just lock on or play when it finds an active conversation?

Also as far as sales etc... do you recommend a good place to purchase one? Looks like they aren't on Amazon which stinks because I have a gift card with them.
Any online dealers known to have either better service, better prices etc? You can PM me if you would rather not name companies openly too no prob.

Thanks again for the info. I'm starting to feel like a kid with a new toy every time I see the G5 online lol.
 

APX8000

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To help clarify I'll use NJ ICS system as an example. I have it programmed as two separate "systems" in my G5 even though both have the same system ID and WACN. The first one is "NJICS WIDE". This system has every individual Site ID, RFSS and control channels programmed in for the entire state. For my talkgroups I have NJSP TPK N, C and S and NJSP GSP N, C, S. In knob position one, I have it labeled TPKE SCAN and it has the 3 Turnpike talkgroups in its scan list. In knob position two, I have it labeled as GSP SCAN and I have the 3 Garden State Parkway talkgroups in the scan list. Now if I want to listen to any of the 6 individual talkgroups alone because I hear an accident come over, I have each individual talkgroup in knob positions 3,4,5,6,7 and 8 only scanning that talkgroup. The radio will automatically select the best Site as a drive north to south or vice versa.

That makes up my one ZONE of 8 selector knob positions. You can put 64 talkgroups in each knob position.

The second "system" is the same NJ ICS system (same system ID and WACN). But I only program in the control channels for ONE site ID and RFSS and it's 4 control channels. This one is labeled "NJICS W ORANGE" which is one simulcast site of several towers in the northeast part of the State. This way I can force the scanner to only monitor that site because if I'm not traveling, I don't want to listen to Central or South talkgroups and those talkgroups may not even come over that site unless a radio affiliates. That system is another ZONE and that zone can have 8 knob positions and each position scanning up to 64 talkgroups.

I can get even more specific if you need but that's a basic set up.


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b1100mac

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This may also be getting a bit technical for the new guys, but if what you're scanning is up on the screen, (not talking or black standby)and you have in the PC program settings to show the current locked control channel checked to on, you can verify by pushing the toggle button down and then scrolling down through what is on that knob position and what talk groups are on that knob position, and then by further scrolling down it will tell you the control channel that the radio is actually locked in on currently
 
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cpro48609

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Saginaw Michigan
One last question before I pull the trigger on a G5, which would usually be more handy the one with UHF or VHF. I see a lot of my area hospital stuff on 400+ (I'm assuming that's UHF) and local small airports on VHF. Other than that are there other reasons to choose one over the other?

Thanks.
 

BenScan

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I bought the G5 with VHF first, to hear simulcast, 700/800Mhz trunked systems in my area. I have enough other scanners that when I bought my 2nd and 3rd, ones, I just went with the G4 to keep the cost down, since I found myself not using the G5 for VHF. If you already have other scanners to cover conventional stuff, and want to keep the cost down, then just get the G4. If there are some VHF or UHF trunked systems that you want to monitor, then go that route.

For me, the main reason to get a G4/5 is to have a commercial quality radio to hear simulcast P25, Phase 1 systems, and hopefully Phase 2 down the road.

One last question before I pull the trigger on a G5, which would usually be more handy the one with UHF or VHF. I see a lot of my area hospital stuff on 400+ (I'm assuming that's UHF) and local small airports on VHF. Other than that are there other reasons to choose one over the other?

Thanks.
 

diskmonger

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I monitor MPSCS Simulcast with my G5, if you are fed up with the consumer scanner simulcast garbage then I think you will like it. You can scan up to 64 talkgroups per channel selector, or you can put it into monitor mode and hear everything.

As you already stated and understand, it's not a scanner, so it does lack some features such as "holding on a talkgroup". But, if you really want to just listen to that one talkgroup you just program a channel position with ONLY that talkgroup in it.

BTW, Uniden does no better with Simulcast than Whistler does despite all the claims people try and make. Whatever technology Unication is using for Simulcast reception the scanner makers need to pay attention.
 
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going to buy a G4 or G5 in a few months got the free software and i hope i can do this been building up the programs for the G4 and G5 so when i get it all i have to do is program the pager.
 

cpro48609

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Right now I'm deciding between the G4 and G5. Not sure if I really need the other frequencies of the G5.
On a side note, what would someone charge to do the initial programming for me? I downloaded the software and I kind of sort of get it but I want to make sure it's done right initially. After that I can add things and make changes I'm sure. I can provide all the frequencies, talk groups in a nice spreadsheet of how I want them broken down. It's for Saginaw County MI, police, fire, EMS. I already have them broken down into separate knob channels etc.

Even if I have somebody program it for me I would still like to know at least this: There are roughly 10 or so frequencies for Saginaw with one primary control and one secondary control. The Whistler support tech had me only enter in the primary and secondary in my TRX-1, saying it might help with the simulcast issues. I know the G5 handles simulcast very, very well but is it still a good idea to only put in the primary and secondary? Or with this unit is it better to just enter all of them as listed?

I would also like to thank everyone for all the responses and the help.
 
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i'm sure i'm going to get the G5V Pager been working on a code plug for when i get it.i got the free software on Monday.Been working on the code plug for days so i hope all i have to do is program the pager when i get it.
 

b1100mac

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Cpro: one of the great things about this software is if someone has the system you want to use already loaded in their software, they can save it to their documents, and then email it to you as an attachment, and then all you need to do is import the attachment to the software program from your documents.
 

ResQguy

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Signal-Zero :
I don't suppose you'd be willing to share that NJICS profile?
 

APX8000

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It may not suit your needs because I have systems up and down the east coast programmed in. And I have systems that are Phase II programmed for the day the firmware update is released.


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APX8000

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I really believe you have to use the software based upon YOUR needs and really plan it out in advance. One thing I learned for example is what is in the radioreference database is sometimes incorrect and can really throw you a wrench, especially when you program a talkgroup that you thought was clear but is actually encrypted. Makes that entire knob position unable to monitor.


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b1100mac

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If you were to send him your file, all he has to do is copy it in the programming, save the original, and go to the copy, and with a click of the mouse he can delete any zones he doesn't want,,,, pretty simple.
I would recommened the first thing a guy does when someone sends you a file is to save it to your documents, as I have 2 or three in there and they come in very handy as a reference. Mac
 

ResQguy

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Just a thought. Since these radios are still in their infancy all needs more eyes and ears on. I'll probably be putting LV SNACC in for next week's travel.
 
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