Unication Voice-Pager receivers...?

[Mike Alpha]

I'm not sure what these things are designed to do http://www.scannermaster.com/Unication_G5_Dual_Band_400_470_700_800MHz_p/60-501954.htm

The Unication G5 and it’s related radios originally were designed as pagers that can be used on digital or analog, trunked or conventional systems. Since many agencies rely on alerting personnel to respond but don’t want to burden them with a large 2-way radio or pay the high cost to do so Unication came up with a device to handle that. In a package roughly the same size as common “fire pagers” like the Minitor series, the Unication allows the same paging methods but on digital or trunked systems. The scanner community quickly figured out that these could be used to monitor digital trunked systems.

Mike

[Bigfella237]

Looks pretty but seems expensive, and I notice they skillfully avoided mentioning P25 Phase 2 so I assume it would be soon redundant (or already useless on say the QLDGWN)?

And would you buy something without at least DMR as well these days?

This is obviously aimed at people such as volunteer firefighters who traditionally purchased their own radios but now can't get them put onto a trunk system, but considering that price is (?) in USD you could buy an actual P25 trunking radio cheaper, you just have to be more careful when programming it not to affiliate.

Andrew

[pks]

Has anyone tried monitoring GRN with this? Just wondering how well it perform compared to Uniden.

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[rustynswrail]

Has anyone tried monitoring GRN with this? Just wondering how well it perform compared to Uniden.
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Not so much the GRN but the MMR in Melbourne. This wasn't me so I am relying on 'information received." This info is about 6 months ago.

Side by side with a USDS100 reception was generally the same. On the odd occasion the Uniden out performed the Unication particularly when mobile. The Uniden was also more adaptable, because a TG or frequency could be entered in the VFO for quick monitoring. Something the Unication does not appear to have. The only advantage the Unication had over the Uniden was size. The general cost is about the same, except the Unication is limited in band coverage. There is a number of option, VHF/800, UHF/800 as well as a VHF/UHF eventually. Nominated bands were also limited, UHF for example is 400-470 MHz, that may change in the future. Obviously no airband or AM.

It is afterall a pager and not a scanner.

R

[pks]

Thanks for that, very insightful. The small size is what I'm after - but definitely not cheap...

[Scotty]

Has anyone tried monitoring GRN with this? Just wondering how well it perform compared to Uniden.

Having compared my USDS100 to a G5 of an acquaintance in early December 2019, I would say the following of the G5 when used on the NSW GRN:

Pros:
- GRN RX is easily on par, most likely better, than the USDS. It will RX without an attached antenna as the UHF antenna is built in.
- the audio quality is also on par, if not better (clearer) than the USDS when set to a loud volume. The audio on the G5 was probably closer to that of a commercial handheld radio.
- you can scan preprogrammed TG’s and frequencies, as you would with a USDS.
- battery life is impressive, and it will easily last 3 times longer than the USDS on a single charge.
- smaller size (around the size of a 396), and it works with the antenna removed, making it smaller.
- has Bluetooth connectivity for using wireless headphone/speakers/in car etc (but no audio jack!).
- has a drop in charger.

Cons:
- it is limited to a set section of the UHF band and 700/800.
- no programming from the keypad.

I prefer ‘scanning’ and being able monitor multiple systems, bands and frequencies at once. I also make changes to programming on the fly, so for me the USDS is a better option.

However, the person who owned the G5 I used is in the RFS (and has more money than sense - I am certain he is not a member here!) and used it solely for scanning local RFS and FRNSW TG’s in the GRN. In that respect and for that usage, the G5 worked flawlessly. if you only wanted to listen to set GRN TG’s then it’s probably fair to say the G5 hands down beats a USDS.

[pks]

I also prefer to be searching talkgroups instead scanning. I haven't played around with the software but does anyone know if you can use a wildcard talkgroup?

Also, would the G2/G3 make more sense, since there's really not much use of 700/800 here. The external antenna would also allow improvement on VHF/UHF.

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[astro_boy]

I’ve bitten the (tax time) bullet and purchased myself a G2 to have a fiddle with and add to the collection.

Wow what can i say but what a solid unit this device is,
I went for the G2 due to the stubby uhf external antenna and it works surprisingly well, it can literally sniff signals out of the air that my uniden can’t even hear, this has really surprised me how well it will pull in signals from towers many kms away that i cant even hear on the uniden with the squelch open.
Sometimes you do have loss of signal while driving but its generally fairly good, you can set an out of range alarm just like a commercial radio.
Also tested against my ubcd536 with a 3dbi antenna in my vehicle and the G2 just pulls in control channels.

The speaker in these units are fairly small sized but are of the quality of a commercial unit, good quality decoding and clear audio in comparison to other units.
Battery time lasts me around 18-20 hrs so far, its had a few discharge and recharge and is still going strong.

The programming software is fairly complex but as with everything it takes a bit of getting your head around.
They’ve recently released new firmware for the G Series to allow you to hold or block on TGs,
you can set trunking search mode to scan all TGs, and wildcard the control channel frequencies. Essentially allowing you to scan without any real programming at all.
There are also features to decode encrypted traffic if you have the encryption key of course.

Personally i have setup multiple zones for GRN site areas and then have 8 (knob positions) for each department, one being a wildcard search.
Unfortunately here in Australia the pager side of the radio is practically useless.

Overall i've fairly happy with the purchase, though a bit costly its a quality (and pocket sized) radio.