RobFrain Posted November 24, 2011 Posted November 24, 2011 Our new Exec headteacher has requested that we update our current walkie talkies to something much better. We currently have 12 "BORO" cheap nasty walkie talkies within the school. They dont hold their charge very long and the signal is dreadful. I have been told that Kenwood Protalks are the way forward. What do other schools do regarding their Walkie Talkies? We require them for Teachers On Call, PE staff on the field to communicate with the office and for Firedrills. We hope that soon SLT will each carry one to be able to contact them at all occasions. Rob
sdc Posted November 24, 2011 Posted November 24, 2011 We have a set of Motorola XTNiD units, very good range and excellent build quality. Useful for us too when testing long cable runs, etc!
localzuk Posted November 24, 2011 Posted November 24, 2011 What sort of range do you need on them? We replaced all our Motorola XTN442's at my last school, as they were just hitting the edge of their range from one end of the site to the other and this was causing issues. We ended up buying Entel HX482's and a radio license for them. The clarity on them is amazing, and range wasn't a problem, we could travel over a mile and they still worked fine. We went through Apex Radio, who advised us on a solution so it might be worth chatting to them to see what they recommend.
MYK-IT Posted November 24, 2011 Posted November 24, 2011 We use Kenwood NX-300S UHF here, don't think they are cheap though.
john Posted November 24, 2011 Posted November 24, 2011 What sort of range do you need on them? We replaced all our Motorola XTN442's at my last school, as they were just hitting the edge of their range from one end of the site to the other and this was causing issues. We ended up buying Entel HX482's and a radio license for them. The clarity on them is amazing, and range wasn't a problem, we could travel over a mile and they still worked fine. We went through Apex Radio, who advised us on a solution so it might be worth chatting to them to see what they recommend. What's the costs of the radio licenses and how hard was that to sort out? I am looking at a creating the new set of two way radios for our site and we are expanding across the road so more distance required on them so wondering about the aforementioned Motorola XTNiD or having to switch to a licensed band product instead.
RobFrain Posted November 24, 2011 Author Posted November 24, 2011 Not too much to be honest our sites 600m x 200m. The problem we have is that we are near a Industrial estate and do get lots of other people using walkie talkies. I'm getting a set of Kenwood TK3302's tomorrow to try on site - so we'll see what they are like.
sdc Posted November 24, 2011 Posted November 24, 2011 The XTNiDs we have easily seem to cover our entire site - which comprises 13 buildings, including the fields, horticultural area and gardens, etc. So no complaints on range from us - but we're also fairly rural, so I would imagine we have very little other radio traffic locally.
localzuk Posted November 24, 2011 Posted November 24, 2011 What's the costs of the radio licenses and how hard was that to sort out? I am looking at a creating the new set of two way radios for our site and we are expanding across the road so more distance required on them so wondering about the aforementioned Motorola XTNiD or having to switch to a licensed band product instead. I can't remember if it was £55 or £85 for a 5 year license, but it was around that figure.
Hightower Posted November 24, 2011 Posted November 24, 2011 Here's an idea - if you have site wide wifi why not buy a load of Skype phones. Then people can hold private conversations instead of broadcasting it to everyone, plus people could contact the people carrying the phones from the comfort of their office/classroom computer.
localzuk Posted November 24, 2011 Posted November 24, 2011 Here's an idea - if you have site wide wifi why not buy a load of Skype phones. Then people can hold private conversations instead of broadcasting it to everyone, plus people could contact the people carrying the phones from the comfort of their office/classroom computer. We looked at this, but Skype was blocked by our ISP and they wouldn't unblock it.
plexer Posted November 24, 2011 Posted November 24, 2011 Ofcom | How is my licence fee calculated? £75 for 5 years we also have one for our Kenwood TK-3170's Ben
Jamman960 Posted November 24, 2011 Posted November 24, 2011 Would going for DECT handsets attached to the schools phone system be feasible? here myself and the site manager have one and can be reached anywhere at either site by anyone
Oaktech Posted November 24, 2011 Posted November 24, 2011 kenwood, motorola, also look at alan pro site comms as i've used them before and they've been excellent!
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