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Consumer radios are usually built for infrequent use: weekend, hunting, trips, multiple car caravans, skiing, camping, amusement parks, etc. They are usually lightweight with a thin plastic casing.

If your business plans to use radios for more than a few hours a day, battery life is something that you will not want to overlook. Most consumer radios include rechargeable batteries that are good for 6 hours or less of use, depending on how much it is used.  As is typical of batteries, this life will diminish over time. Business or professional radios typically can be used for 12 hours or more on a charge.

Business radios typically have a better selection of accessories than consumer radios. If accessories, such as headsets or earpieces, are important to your business, you should look at what accessories are available before you choose a radio. Things like rapid chargers and multi unit chargers are only available for business radios.

There are many situations where a business radio is always your best choice. For example, anytime you expect to use the radio frequently and for more than 6 hours with each use. If you purchase a consumer radio for this, there is a good chance you will be disappointed with the battery life. Low cost consumer radios are a short time solution with very little range in a normal environment. They will not hold up very long to any normal abuse.

Radio Two Way Talk Range

Radio two way talk range has many variables that will effect your talk range. Most of the consumer two-way radios advertise a range of up to 30 miles. Consumer FRS/GMRS radios will not even provide close to the advertised "maximum range". There are several reasons why we want to point out. Our goal is to provide the best possible radio's for your application.

The range that a two-way radio advertises is the range that the radio should get in "ideal" conditions. Ideal conditions are line of sight, such as from a mountaintop to a valley below, with no interference at all. Most likely, you will not be using the radios for this reason only. Most applications have a variety of areas of use like for  hunting, skiing, malls, car trips or vacations. Under these normal conditions, the range of the radio will be limited because of obstructions, such as trees, hills, or buildings. These obstructions block the signal and dramatically reduce the range of a two-way radio.

So what type of range can you expect from your radio? Usually half a mile up to two miles, depending upon your terrain and the power of your radio. In the same environment, a 2 watt radio with a long antenna would provide considerably more range than a half watt radio with a short antenna. When choosing a radio, it is very important to consider both the amount of range that you need and the environment in which you will be using the radios. Naturally, you wouldn't have as many obstructions in a football stadium as being in the middle of a heavily wooded area. For use in a stadium you would likely be fine with a small, one watt radio. In a wooded area, however, that same radio may not provide sufficient range. These are things that you need to take into consideration when choosing which two-way radio is right for you.

Maximum Range From My Two Way Radios

As we talked about in the above section the amount of range that is advertised for a two way radio is under perfect conditions and as we know we will probably not be using them in this manor. There are several things that you can do to be sure you are getting the most range possible from your radio.

If your radio supports GMRS and FRS channels this may help increase your two way radio talk range. Most consumer radios support 22 channels, some FRS and some GMRS. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) does not allow transmission on an exclusive FRS channel at more than half a watt of power. This means that if you are on an FRS-only channel, your radio will only transmit using "low power" mode. The FRS-only channels are 8 through 14. Channels 15 through 22 are exclusively for GMRS, and channels 1 through 7 are shared by both FRS and GMRS.

Most consumer radios support two or more power modes. To get the most range, be sure that you are using high power mode. Lower power modes will not use all of your radio's possible the output power and will reduce range.

Be sure to fully charge your battery. The transmission power of two way radios tends to weaken if the battery is low. Always be sure your batteries are fully charged before using your radios, especially if you will need maximum range.

Finally, if you still find yourself pushing the range limits of your radio you can try the "monitor channel" feature. Enabling this feature will cause the radio to open the channel, allowing you to hear static and transmissions too weak to be received by the radio in normal mode.

Model And Manufacturer Compatibility

Consumer radios: They operate on a standard set of frequencies, either the GMRS or FRS services or a combination of both. Most newer consumer radios are "dual service" radios that support both FRS and GMRS. These radios will typically have 22 channels. Older consumer radios may only have 14 channels, operating only on FRS.

Regardless, all of these radios that support FRS and/or GMRS use the same frequencies and are compatible with one another. Simply set all radios to the same channel number and privacy code, and you will be able to communicate. Some Manufacturers of consumer radios are Audiovox, Cobra, Garmin, Midland, Motorola (Talkabout series), and Uniden. Kenwood used to make GMRS models but have moved away from consumer radios and no longer produce them.

Business radios: Compatibility is not nearly as straight forward when it comes to business radios. There are several types of frequencies that business radios are made to support: VHF, UHF, and 800/900 Mhz frequencies, for example. The first step in finding a compatible radio is choosing a model that supports the same frequency type as your existing radios.

These frequency types refer to an entire range of actual frequencies, and just choosing the same frequency type does not guarantee compatibility. If you purchased your existing radios from a true two way radio dealer, there is a possibility that the dealer could have programmed special custom frequencies into the radio. If this were the case, your radios may not be compatible with a new radio even if you purchased the exact same model.

Usually most compatibility issues arise with 4 or 5 watt radios, which are much more likely to support custom programming. With one or two watt business radios, it is a little easier to ensure compatibility. The Motorola CLS series of radios and the two watt RDX series models will always be compatible, and two watt Kenwood radios that are marked with a ProTalk label will always be compatible, provided you purchase the same model.

Please contact us with questions regarding your business radios. We will be glad to assist you.