Recommend some Walkie Talkies / Radios

[Sonic007]

Hi,

 

We are needing a couple of Walkie Talkies. Our site covers Infants and Junior schools next to each other and the premises team need some ASAP.

 

Buildings are quite old, solid brick walls, so something that transmits well.

 

What do you recommend?

Thanks all.

[Cat_Jam148]

They're a bit on the expensive side but we use Motorola XT420 radios here. Solid and reliable, they can take quite the beating. Some of our older models are reaching 8 years in service.

 

Pretty customisable as well if you buy the cable to configure them. Scramble codes are useful to prevent other users on the same channel from listening in.

[sister_annex]

We have a stack of these dotted in use around our building which is like a giant faraday cage and they work great: https://www.onedirect.co.uk/mitex-general-uhf-two-way-radio-twin-pack

 

you will need a license from Ofcom, however it's something pitiful like £140 for 5 years iirc

[howartp]

We started with 25 and how have nearly 60, all within 12 months, of Opus D10 from Nationwide Radio Supplies

 

We pay ~£180 each

 

Nationwide are the UK brand owner for Opus so you shouldn't find anywhere cheaper.

Edited May 4, 2023 by howartp

[speakercon]

I can also recommend OneDirect, we use the xtreme mitex ones - Mitex General Xtreme Two-way radios | Onedirect.co.uk

[Sonic007]

Thankyou everyone. Will check those out.

[OldTimeIT]

Whatever you buy, make sure they are digital. Whilst not absolutely encrypted, they cannot be easily listened into like an analogue radio.

We have used Crystal Radio Systems Ltd. (http://www.twoway-radio.co.uk) for years and have always had good service. At present we have Vitai VDG-360 digital radios which work far better than the analogue ones we had before.

[steveg]

Resurrecting an old thread, but a couple of questions for those that have radios already:

 

Licencing - We have been advised by Onedirect that we need to purchase a licence per radio, I thought this would be for the site? Which is correct?

 

Licenced analogue radios - what is the chance of interference? How many channels etc do you have available? Security isn't a major issue - they will be used to request assistance to a specific area rather than discussing any individuals, but we don't want them to keep going off with other peoples broadcasts, which is the problem with the brief trial we had with unlicensed ones.

 

Digital radios - I assume these add basic encryption / additional channels to further reduce the chance of interference? They are a bit beyond out budget but I will recommend if the benefits are worth the extra costs - around double the price.

[howartp]

Resurrecting an old thread, but a couple of questions for those that have radios already:

 

Licencing - We have been advised by Onedirect that we need to purchase a licence per radio, I thought this would be for the site? Which is correct?

 

Licenced analogue radios - what is the chance of interference? How many channels etc do you have available? Security isn't a major issue - they will be used to request assistance to a specific area rather than discussing any individuals, but we don't want them to keep going off with other peoples broadcasts, which is the problem with the brief trial we had with unlicensed ones.

 

Digital radios - I assume these add basic encryption / additional channels to further reduce the chance of interference? They are a bit beyond out budget but I will recommend if the benefits are worth the extra costs - around double the price.

 

Licensing - We have a site-wide license; i've added probably 20 radios since we bought it without having to touch the license.

 

Analogue radios - I can't talk about these in walkie talkie terms but I can regards Radio Mics - we are licensed for some "shared" frequencies and some "assigned" frequencies. We live with the fact that someone may put on a performance in our car park using their own shared radio mics and potentially interrupt our show in the theatre, as the shared frequencies allow this. The assigned frequencies are assigned by physical location and nobody else is allowed to be assigned those frequencies in nearby proximity to our location. I don't know how analogue radios are allocated - shared or assigned.

 

Digital - we can use ours up in the village as well as in school (and the area between) with no interference over 18 months from non-school users.

[Sephiroth]

Security isn't a major issue - they will be used to request assistance to a specific area rather than discussing any individuals

 

This is great in theory, until you have someone that doesn't adhere to the policies; " to , has done ", for example. Then that person did it so it must be ok, then everyone is doing it.

 

We have ~70 radios, mostly now digital, using Motorola DP1400. They are solid as a rock, which I can attest to, having dropped mine down a flight of stairs with no damage. Perfect for teachers! The older analogue radios we have are a mix of iComm models, mostly F25. They have been in service for over 15 years now and are only being retired as we transitioned to digital. The only things we've had to replace on them were batteries (obvious reasons) and antennae when they got snapped/chewed on/frayed/etc.

 

With our licence we have 4 frequencies which include a digital repeater at our main campus. We have a technically assigned licence for those frequencies which allows us a slightly higher power level. I would imagine that most schools would get away with a simple site licence, which will cover you for a short list of frequencies at a reasonable power level (I believe... I am not an expert, but this is what I was advised by the engineer when they serviced the repeater).

[steveg]

Thanks all for the input. I will complete a DPIA before we go ahead so we can asses the risk of analogue vs digital.

 

Am I right in saying that the licence you get gives you a specific frequency assigned to you (and your location) and then the radios you buy are setup to work with this, so in theory no one locally has the same frequency assigned to them? (I know this doesn't make it more secure as anyone can scan all frequencies but should stop others broadcasting and us picking it up by mistake?)