Getting started with two-way radio

Radios can help anyone who needs co-ordination and instant communication within their team. We cover some of the basics to help you understand whether radio can improve productivity in your business.

Instant communication

These days we are used to having our mobiles with us almost all of the time. With email, social media and messaging notifications filling the screen sometimes the important stuff gets left behind.

A radio is used solely for the purpose of contacting a person or group at the point you need to give or receive information. There's no waiting for the other person to answer or reply to you - your message will be heard loud and clear prompting the response you need instantly.

No ongoing subscription costs

Breathe a sigh of relief…there's no pre-paid, pay monthly, units, expirations or rates per minute to take in. Once you've purchased your radios you will not need to pay out for the usage. If you have a requirement which requires a spectrum licence from Ofcom you will pay anything from £75 to £10,000 for a year.

For most basic business applications the cost will be minimal and certainly less than the cost of running mobile or satellite phones.

What's the range like?

Radio to radio communication without any additional infrastructure will provide communication at a range of up to 10 km although this is dependent on conditions. So if you require a range of 10 km + you will need to install additional equipment such as repeaters and antennas.

Alternatively you could consider satellite phones as a quick, out of the box solution.

Our top two-way radio picks

What can we do for you?

We stock a wide range of business and leisure radios both licensed and unlicensed. If you think two-way radio could be helpful our recommendation is to consider the following points:

• What environment will the radios be used in?
• Is there anything that could interfere with the signal?
• Do the radios need to be compatible with any existing system?
• What additional features do you require? e.g. messaging, tracking
• Do you require extra batteries or chargers?

This list is a starting point to help us build a quote tailored to your requirements. The information provided in this post really is an overview of what two-way radio can offer, we'd love to hear about your specific situation to see how it can improve your comms setup.