Non Moto/MaCom P25 portable...what are the options?

[007]

Mods- move this to the lounge if you feel it appropriate.

I've been perusing various public safety publications here at work, and seeing quite a few P25 portable radios from vendors such as Thales, BK, EF Johnson, Icom ( ) etc.

I know some of you have used these other "non-mainstream" radios, so what are your opinions of them? I'm looking for real performance and usage info such as likes/dislikes operating them, technical pro's/con's, etc.

[apco25]

THe 7100P from MACOM is really nice. I've played with one and was quite impressed.

I do agree with our tech at the county the rx audio has a unique sound to it and is distinctly different than the analog or digital rx from say an XTS.

The Thales unit is highly regarded as well.

[515]

Most of my experience is with VHF/UHF conventional P25 equipment, so hopefully others will share their what they've seen with the 800 MHz trunking stuff...

Thales (aka Racal) only make a VHF portable at this time... It's a solid radio that works pretty well as long as you order it with the Motorola wideband antenna. Their early radios came with their own antenna that pretty much sucked. These portables are submersible, and use lithium ion batteries. The receiver sensitivity is very good, and scanning works pretty well as long as the radio has newer software in it. Every one of these radios supports 12 kpbs DES encryption (not -XL), and DES-OFB and P25 OTAR are optional. All channels can be setup as completely front panel programmable, and it will scan more than 16 channels...

Thales has changed the accessory connector from a latch-on to a screw-on type. They don't support the latch-on one anymore, but changing to the screw-on type is a cheap upgrade that can be easily done in the field. They have been really good about always providing new firmware free of charge, no matter how old the radio is...

The Thales/Racal 25 implemented DES-OFB encryption correctly-- strapping it channel instead of the P25 conventional talkgroup like Motorola did... The talkgroup is a per-channel parameter of the radio, so you can front panel program any talkgroup you want. The XTS5000 and EFJ radios require you to select the TG from the pre-programmed list when front panel programming, which sucks...

My biggest gripe about the Thales/Racal 25 is the small speaker and lower volume when compared to other radios. The transmitted audio quality isn't the best, but it's acceptable.



The BK/Relm DPH portable is also only available in VHF conventional. This radio pretty much looks and acts like the older BK portables, which is a good thing. The transmitted and received audio sounds great, and the scanning works well. It can be front panel programmed like the old ones using the same "key".

Wish they'd get with the times and put a real coaxial antenna connector on it, though.




The EF Johnson makes VHF, UHF, and 800 radios that support conventional and trunking. The radios are built pretty well hardware wise, but they definitely have more software bugs than anything else out there. The 5300 mobile has many different hardware and software versions, and even though it has been out several years, it still won't allow you to edit the channel name in the front panel programming mode, among other things. The EFJ customer support people are always as helpful as they can be, but often their answer is "That feature isn't implemented yet in that firmware version..." Problem is when they finally do implement it, the logic board version has often changed, and the newest firmware won't work in the older radios.

At least the 5100 portable doesn't have as many hardware revisions that I'm aware of, so it's more likely the newest firmware will work in an existing radio. Sometimes firmware updates can be done in the field, and sometimes not, depending on hardware and software versions.

Don't touch the older out of production EFJ 5000 / Stealth25 portables with a 10 foot pole--nothing but software bugs...

On the plus side, it looks like you can order a 5300 or 5100 radio with P25 (9600 control channel) trunking without having to pay for the stupid Motorola proprietary SmartZone trunking. (Motorola makes you buy SmartZone even if you are using the radio on a P25 (9600 CC) trunked system)

The 5300 mobile uses Astro Spectra / Astro Saber encryption modules. As far as I can tell, all EFJ P25 equipment is capable of 16 encryption keys (multi-key). All 5300's at least have the socket for the secure module (secure capable).

I believe there are at least two versions of the 5100 portable hardware. One uses the Motorola encryption modules, and the other has encryption built in (factory enabled software option).

All current EFJ radios are keyloaded by a Motorola KVL3000.

The transmit and receive audio is good on all EFJ radios.

If you order a 100 watt VHF 5300, make sure you get the remote mount kit. If you don't, you'll be stuck with dash mount radio that is over a foot deep.




Datron makes VHF mobiles and portables. They use the Thales/Racal software, so the controls and display function exactly like a Racal 25. The portable case is similar to the XTS series, and uses XTS batteries. The speaker is bigger than the Racal 25, so the audio is improved. The transmitted audio is also better sounding than the Racal 25. The portable would be real nice, except as far as I know, they still have no low battery warning indication at all.

The Datron mobile is really just the portable guts hooked to an RF and audio PA.



MA/COM still has a way to go on their P25 equipment. The 7100 portable I tested didn't reliably receive P25 transmissions. The conventional P25 talkgroup was tied to the channel name, which is stupid--it may make sense in trunking, but not conventional...

The P25 MASTR III repeater seemed to work ok, and has the IMBE vocoder built in...




I believe Kenwood has an 800 MHz trunked P25 portable, but I have never seen one. Kenwood is working on a VHF P25 portable, but it's not available yet.

Icom is working on a VHF P25 mobile and portable, but they are not available yet either.



So if you are using VHF conventional, there are several options out there. I still prefer the Motorola equipment in terms of reliability and performance. The BK DPH is my second choice, and the Racal 25 is a close third.

[USPSS]

Kenwood has the VHF portable & Mobile in testing at many of the Fed. agencies right now, I has P25, 9600 trunking, DES-OFB . AES and most of the options as the XTS5000 does. It looks good.