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Reviews For: Thales/Racal T25 VHF Portable

Category: Transmitters: non-amateur adaptable for ham use

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Review Summary For : Thales/Racal T25 VHF Portable
Reviews: 3MSRP: 2650
Description:
The Thales 25 is the most rugged Project 25-compliant portable digital radio available for law enforcement agents, wildland firefighters, and first responders:

Full Project 25 digital capability including OFB DES/AES encryption (NIST certified), OTAR
11+ hr. lithium-ion smart battery with fuel-gauge display
Programming via PC, keypad, and cloning in the field
Digital: GPS tracking, unit-to-unit calls, talk-group calls, emergency calls
Full analog capability including CTCSS, DCS, DTMF encode and adjustable Carrier Squelch
Shadow channels allow a single channel to be both analog and digital at the same time
Mil Spec housing is machined from a solid block of aircraft grade aluminum
Sealed case is submersible in water to 2 meters
Lightweight 16.7 oz slim-line package
Environmental MIL STD 810E
136-174 MHz
304 channels
RF Power 0.1 watt to 5.0 watts programmable per channel
Analog 25 kHz/12.5 kHz channel spacing
Software programmable controls
Software Upgrades can be distributed via the Internet or disk without the requirement for special interface boxes or software
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.thalescomminc.com
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
0034.7
N1IG Rating: 2020-10-05
excellent radio that didn't get the attention it deserved Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
in the mid-1990s I ran the nationwide land mobile radio program for my agency, and got to evaluate this radio for 3-4 months. from my point of view, this radio was absolutely amazing, and extremely capable. personally I preferred the profile/shape/size of the radio compared to what we were using at the time; the programming was extremely easy compared to the CPS we had to use with the radios in our inventory; and the ability to program the radio on the fly from the keypad, was a tech-geeks dream. personally I think that this radio was much better built than their competitors, but would have required a wholesale change in thousands of accessories, and in how our radios would be configured and used. If it were just me, I would have chosen this radio.

I did get to use this radio on several 2m repeaters during the time that I had it for evaluation. It worked very well, and I always got very good audio reports from others.

N8PMG Rating: 2017-06-13
Unique design Time Owned: more than 12 months.
The FPP of this radio is easier to use than any other radio I have owned (over 65), both commercial and ham. It also avoids the problem of finding the proper cable and software.

The body design is different, and although taller than an XTS3000, it is much thinner and easy to handle. Batteries are pricey, but still available. The receive sensitivity is amazing, but it is more sensitive to intermod than newer radios. I have a collection of older handhelds, and this was a prize find, although a new battery was almost as much as the radio.
K7NG Rating: 2011-08-31
Fine choice for first responder Hams Time Owned: more than 12 months.
The Thales T25 portable used to be the Racal P25 portable. Has 256 possible channels in the 'main' bank and an additional 3 zones/48 channels in the 'event' bank for a possible total of 304 channels.
Has a nice big alphanumeric display, and can be front panel programmed almost as quickly as you can change banks! As a ham and a first responder, I like to have ham radio in one bank and emergency response & agency channels in another. The 'main' bank can be divided into lots of 'zones' of 16 or fewer channels, as long as the total channels doesn't go over 256. (You can re-use channels, in other words.
The radio runs 5W with the rechargeable battery ($150 from Thales) or 2W using the AA battery case accessory. The radio is marvelously sensitive and has good quality transmit audio. FM-wide (5 KHz deviation), FM narrow (2.5 KHz) and P25 digital are the modulation choices. All is not perfect, however: The receive audio output may not be loud enough for some people, it has a reputation as a battery hog (partially alleviated by an antenna/antenna feed change, believe it or not), and the battery cost. It is one rugged unit, body is machined from a single aluminum billet so if it is run over by a vehicle, maybe only scratches and a broken display will be the result. I own 2 and am looking for more!