After seeing a G5 unit for the 1st time last month, I knew I had to have one after seeing how it worked and how well it worked as a scanner.
I picked one up about 10 days ago and got it Monday of last week (11-20) I already had a code plug wrote out for it on the Unication software. I live in Columbus Ohio so the MARCS system with its Tier partners is slowly taking over. Which makes programming pretty easy. I have the following towers in Columbus area programmed
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Backend stuff
Columbus MARCS Sites:
City of Columbus MARCS Towers
Franklin County MARCS Sites w/Discovery and Darby sites:
Marysville MARCS
Pickaway County MARCS
Lancaster MARCS
Licking County MARCS
and a couple distance MARCS towers
Also towers from the COIRS system
Dublin Simulcast
Delaware Simulcast
pretty simple set up. (See photo 1)
Setting up the knob positions and zones was pretty simple but highly time consuming. But not nearly as time consuming as setting up the talkgroups. I am currently up to 400 talkgroups from all the counties in central Ohio.
I set it up as multiple zones with different knob positions within the zone. I ended up with 10 zones each with 7 or 8 knob positions (see photo 2 & 3)
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How it works as a scanner:
I have pretty extensive use of Uniden scanners I've owned several over the years. My current 436 and 536 are nice. But they miss lots of transmission due to not always receiving data from the towers. I live and work within site of multiple towers and I still have trouble receiving data. I have used different antenna in different location within my office and also seem to get one tower one time and a different tower the next. It has frustrated me to no end. Hence why I tossed down the $$$$ and have a G5.
The G5 is not for the faint of heart its kinda slow in changing zones and slow in changing knob positions to get to different area I want to listen to. Rumor has it they OS is some sort of Linux system. Anyway once it has "affiliated" on a system and that seems to happen pretty quickly it stays on it. I've not lost any signal once its up and running on that tower.
Issue with using it as a scanner are a few. Lots of people dont like how it does not lock on a channel, thats kinda an issue but if you set up your zones and knob spots you can work around it. You can set the unit up to record and play back audio on channels which is nice since the Uniden also has those features.
Does it scan from one zone to another or from one knob spot to another, NOPE. This is the biggest issue with the unit I have really found. I can only hope this would/could be resolved in future OS updates (hint, hint)
64 Talkgroups in a knob position, well that should be plenty, otherwise wow your listening to lots of stuff.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The unit its self.
The battery last pretty much all day, I listen to several dispatch agencies so its in use a lot. I get easily 10+ hours out of a battery with life to spare. Its nice it uses a micro USB to charge and program. Those are cheap and plentiful so if you lose one just grab another.
The size and weight is so freaking nice, I can toss it in my cup holder in my Frontier P/U and listen to it all day. (See photo 4)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Overall:
Yes is all I can say. This has replaced my 536 Uniden. I would buy another one, I don't need a G5 I can get by with a G4 so that is a way to save a little bit of $$ on them.
So if your pretty good with programming a scanner from the ground up, and understand Hex and Dec decoding and where to look to get the right info for it, then pick one up. You wont be disappointed.
I picked one up about 10 days ago and got it Monday of last week (11-20) I already had a code plug wrote out for it on the Unication software. I live in Columbus Ohio so the MARCS system with its Tier partners is slowly taking over. Which makes programming pretty easy. I have the following towers in Columbus area programmed
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Backend stuff
Columbus MARCS Sites:
City of Columbus MARCS Towers
Franklin County MARCS Sites w/Discovery and Darby sites:
Marysville MARCS
Pickaway County MARCS
Lancaster MARCS
Licking County MARCS
and a couple distance MARCS towers
Also towers from the COIRS system
Dublin Simulcast
Delaware Simulcast
pretty simple set up. (See photo 1)
Setting up the knob positions and zones was pretty simple but highly time consuming. But not nearly as time consuming as setting up the talkgroups. I am currently up to 400 talkgroups from all the counties in central Ohio.
I set it up as multiple zones with different knob positions within the zone. I ended up with 10 zones each with 7 or 8 knob positions (see photo 2 & 3)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
How it works as a scanner:
I have pretty extensive use of Uniden scanners I've owned several over the years. My current 436 and 536 are nice. But they miss lots of transmission due to not always receiving data from the towers. I live and work within site of multiple towers and I still have trouble receiving data. I have used different antenna in different location within my office and also seem to get one tower one time and a different tower the next. It has frustrated me to no end. Hence why I tossed down the $$$$ and have a G5.
The G5 is not for the faint of heart its kinda slow in changing zones and slow in changing knob positions to get to different area I want to listen to. Rumor has it they OS is some sort of Linux system. Anyway once it has "affiliated" on a system and that seems to happen pretty quickly it stays on it. I've not lost any signal once its up and running on that tower.
Issue with using it as a scanner are a few. Lots of people dont like how it does not lock on a channel, thats kinda an issue but if you set up your zones and knob spots you can work around it. You can set the unit up to record and play back audio on channels which is nice since the Uniden also has those features.
Does it scan from one zone to another or from one knob spot to another, NOPE. This is the biggest issue with the unit I have really found. I can only hope this would/could be resolved in future OS updates (hint, hint)
64 Talkgroups in a knob position, well that should be plenty, otherwise wow your listening to lots of stuff.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The unit its self.
The battery last pretty much all day, I listen to several dispatch agencies so its in use a lot. I get easily 10+ hours out of a battery with life to spare. Its nice it uses a micro USB to charge and program. Those are cheap and plentiful so if you lose one just grab another.
The size and weight is so freaking nice, I can toss it in my cup holder in my Frontier P/U and listen to it all day. (See photo 4)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Overall:
Yes is all I can say. This has replaced my 536 Uniden. I would buy another one, I don't need a G5 I can get by with a G4 so that is a way to save a little bit of $$ on them.
So if your pretty good with programming a scanner from the ground up, and understand Hex and Dec decoding and where to look to get the right info for it, then pick one up. You wont be disappointed.