Walkie-talkies for work: how to choose two-way radios for a business

Walkie-talkies for work: four kinds of business radio

Work radios come in four kinds. Two of them need no radio license. Two need a business license and give you more power and cleaner channels.

PMR446 and FRS are the license-free services of Europe and the US. "Licensed" means your company holds a license for its frequencies. DMR, short for Digital Mobile Radio, is an open digital standard written by ETSI, the European standards body.4

Pick two radio types below to see how they differ and whether they can talk to each other.

Business two-way radios by workplace

Start from the place, not the radio. The table gives a first pick for common workplaces. The sections below explain each choice.

License-free business radios

License-free radios are the quickest start. You buy them, charge them and talk. The trade-off is that everyone else may use the same channels.

In Europe and the UK the license-free service is PMR446. Radios must be hand-held, with a built-in antenna and at most 0.5 W. Base stations and repeaters are not allowed.1 A repeater is a radio on a high spot that resends calls to reach farther.

Motorola sells its XT420 as a business radio that runs on PMR446 with no subscription or call charges.12

Digital radios have a license-free band too. DMR Tier I is for license-free use at 446 MHz, with up to 0.5 W.4

In the US you have three license-free choices:

• FRS. The rules name business activities as a purpose of the service.2
• MURS. Five VHF channels at up to 2 W, for personal or business use.10
• 900 MHz digital radios. The Motorola DTR700 is license-free, with 50 channels.8

GMRS is not a company option. Only an individual aged 18 or older can get a new GMRS license.13

Licensed business radios: analog and DMR

A business license gives you frequencies chosen for your area and more power. Your channels are cleaner, and the radios reach farther.

Licensed hand-helds often run 4 or 5 W. The Motorola R2, for example, sends 5 W on VHF and 4 W on UHF and holds 64 channels.3 That is eight to ten times the 0.5 W of PMR446.1

Even small, simple radios can need a license. The Motorola CLS1410 sends only 1 W, yet Motorola's guide says you need an FCC license to transmit on its frequencies.1415 The same rule applies to Motorola's 2 W RMU2040.16

Analog radios are the simple, cheap choice. Digital DMR radios fit two calls into one 12.5 kHz channel.4 Motorola says its CP100d gives "twice the voice capacity" in one licensed channel and works in analog and digital modes.17

A dual-mode radio lets you mix old analog radios and new digital ones. The DMR vs analog guide explains the trade-offs.

Push-to-talk over cellular for teams across a city

Push-to-talk over cellular, or PoC, sends your voice over the mobile network. The device can be a phone or a radio-shaped handset with mobile data. Range is wherever the network reaches.

The Motorola TLK 110 is one example. It talks over LTE through Motorola's WAVE PTX service and can reach MOTOTRBO radios through that system.5 Zello Work is an app-based service that runs on Android and iOS phones over Wi-Fi or cellular data. Its Zello Bridge links existing two-way radios.18

PoC runs on a paid service instead of a radio license.18 It suits drivers, field staff and teams in several towns. Inside one building, radios still talk when the network is down.

How to choose walkie-talkies for work

Site size and floors

Makers state indoor coverage in square feet and floors. Treat these as best cases from the maker, not a promise.

Outdoors, two people at head height reach far less than the box says. The long range guide gives real figures for open land and towns.

Buildings, open land and band

Pick UHF or 900 MHz for buildings, and VHF for open land and farms. VHF and UHF radios cannot talk to each other. The VHF vs UHF guide explains the difference.

Noise on the job

In loud places, the speaker matters more than the range. US employers must run a hearing conservation program once noise reaches 85 dBA over an 8-hour day.19 At that level, a radio speaker alone is hard to hear.

Choose a loud radio with noise suppression, plus an earpiece or a headset. Motorola rates the R2 at up to 101 phons and the R7 at up to 107 phons, and both offer noise suppression.39

Team size and channels

Give each busy team its own channel. Count the teams, then add one or two spare channels.

The XT420 has a 16-position channel knob, the DTR700 has 50 channels and 200 contacts, and a full-keypad R7 holds 1,000 channels.2089 If many teams share a large site, the business radio systems guide covers repeaters and trunking.

Weather and hazards

Rain and dust call for an IP rating. IP67 or IP68 means the radio is sealed against dust and water. The R7, for example, is IP68 to 2 m for 2 hours.9

Fuel depots, mines and chemical plants need a radio certified for explosive air. The R7 has an intrinsically safe option to the US standard TIA-4950, and Motorola sells an R7Ex with ATEX approval for Europe.921

Business radios compared

The first three radios are license-free PMR446 radios for Europe and the UK. The DTR700 is license-free in the US, and the rest need a business license. The power, water rating, battery and price come from our database.

Business radio license costs: US, UK and Europe

Here is what a business radio license costs in three markets. The license guide covers other countries.

In the US, a certified frequency coordinator first recommends a frequency for your area, and the application goes to the FCC with that recommendation.24

In the UK, Ofcom's Simple Site Light license covers a base station on one site, also for £75 for five years.11 Ofcom's Suppliers Light license lets a dealer rent business radios out for up to a year, which suits events.11

Accessories for work radios

Accessories decide how well radios work on a shift. Buy these with the radios:

• Earpieces. A receive-only earpiece keeps talk private in a shop or hotel. A headset with a boom microphone fits loud sites. The earpiece guide explains the types.
• A multi-unit charger. One charger holds several radios, so the whole team starts each shift full.
• Spare batteries. Motorola lists four batteries for the R7, from 2,200 to 3,200 mAh.9 A spare covers a double shift.
• Smart chargers. Motorola's IMPRES batteries store their charge history, and the charger uses it to decide when to recondition each battery.25
• Programming software and a cable. Dealers use them to set channels and names. The XT420 software is a free download, and the cable is sold separately.12

Questions

Sources

1. ECC/DEC/(15)05: 446.0-446.2 MHz, analogue and digital PMR 446 · CEPT ECC
2. 47 CFR Part 95 Subpart B: Family Radio Service · eCFR
3. MOTOTRBO R2 data sheet (EMEA) · Motorola Solutions
4. The DMR standards, developed by ETSI · DMR Association
5. TLK 110 two-way radio · Motorola Solutions
6. 47 CFR 90.35: Industrial/Business Pool · eCFR
7. Curve Wi-Fi enhanced business radio data sheet · Motorola Solutions
8. DTR700 digital two-way radio · Motorola Solutions
9. MOTOTRBO R7 data sheet (EMEA) · Motorola Solutions
10. 47 CFR Part 95 Subpart J: Multi-Use Radio Service · eCFR