2-way radio suggestions.

[X-13]

Our ARP needs some as one staff member could reasonably be anywhere across the school and sometimes NEEDS to be reached because of an emergency.

 

I've had a quick look around, but I'm not sure what would be considered good. I want to get something licenced, but the ones I've looked at seem to be getting more and more expensive.

 

 

I've also been looking at WiFi phones, but I'd rather they weren't reliant on Skype. [if you know how to use a WiFi phone without Skype... teach me your ways.]

 

Any suggestions for some good [not super expensive] 2-way radios?

[plexer]

WIFI IP phones would normally use SIP I'd think than skype?

 

We use kenwood TK-3170 with an lcd display so that you can pick another radio to call from the various groups setup.

 

Ben

[glennda]

used to use these at my last place - worked a treat across a rather large site - could walk about half a mile away from the school and they still picked it up.

 

Motorola XTNiD two way radio

[paul]

Providing site coverage can be obtained by utilising radios working in simplex mode (back to back on the same frequency) a Simple UK (formally a UK General license) will suffice, this will allow operation at up to 5W ERP VHF or 4W on UHF, this will cost £75 for 5 years and will allow use just about anywhere within the UK and will give you a dozen or so different frequencies in both VHF high band and UHF band II. These however are shared frequencies so if you are in a heavily populated area you may run into channel sharing issues. A potentially more expensive licensing route would to be to gain a Simple Site license, this will give you your own frequency for use within a designated geographical area pricing will depend on RF density within your locale, these are payable annually.

Handportable wise if price is a major consideration I would recommend either the Icom IC-F3002/4002 which can be obtained for around £130 or the Motorola CP040 about £150, if you have a bit more to play with the Motorola GP330 @ £230.

 

If you have any queries or questions please feel free to PM me, I can also give you info on suppliers who can help you through the licensing process.

Edited September 3, 2012 by paul

[plexer]

The licence is actually for 5 years not 3.

 

Ben

[laserblazer]

See if you can borrow some PMR446, here's an example G7 - MIDLAND - MIDLAND G7 PMR446 RADIO | CPC From This Range&MER=e-bb45-00001003 and see if you get site coverage. I bet there are schools near you that already use them. There's no licence and the radios range from cheap to reasonable, depending on the manufacturer. You will pay more for Kenwood, Motorola or ICOM and the radios are better made but there will be little to no difference in range regardless of price.

 

If you don't quite get the range you need (some areas are scratchy), then it might be worth trying radios with a higher output power but if you have areas that are totally dead, then chances are you will need a base station and a decent aerial to get the range.

 

As an alternative, you could look at a paging system. Scope DataPage Lite UHF desktop paging transmitter and use simple numeric codes to alert staff.

[plexer]

Eurgh those radios linked to are just horrible almost as bad as the motorola tut we used to use, batteries that don't last etc...

 

Ben

[laserblazer]

Eurgh those radios linked to are just horrible almost as bad as the motorola tut we used to use, batteries that don't last etc...

 

Ben

 

I just picked them as an example. We have some Cobra radios with chargers and they last a good school day on a single charge.