Base to mobile fleet radio
I own a moving company, and would like to keep in touch with my drivers without having to pay fees all the time for telephone calls to these guys cellphones.
What is the best two way radio on the market out there for town-wide coverage?
I need a 2 way radio system with the longest range… I’ve got to be able to rely upon this radio system for my business . I need a two way radio which lives up to its promises about being able to reach however many miles distant. It seems that many of them don’t match their hype.
you should just get nextel
Okay, seriously, a two way radio system for town-wide coverage (or city-wide coverage) isn’t going to be simple or cheap, unless you do all your work in a tiny town that has no hills or tall buildings. If your needs are small and simple, a MURS or a business radio setup may just work.
But for anything larger, you are going to need some sort of VHF or UHF base station transceiver putting out at least 40 or 50 Watts power, and you’d better have a base antenna on a tower or on top of a tall building or structure for maximum range to get out to (and receive from) the mobile radios in your trucks.
Depending on the distances involved and the terrain – especially hills and valleys where the radio signals may not reach – you are probably going to have to have a two-way radio system which works through radio repeaters. These can be hired through radio installation technicians or radio service providers.
Putting up your own repeater is an expensive project and needs trained experts to get it right. What’s more you may need to use several repeaters to get the coverage you need all around a city.
You need a consultant or radio engineer to look at your needs and do a cost/benefit report. And in the end, it will probably be far cheaper to stick with the telephone at base and the cellphones carried by your drivers.
It will only be likely to save you money if you have a big operation with lots of trucks, and then only in the long run. The up front costs will be big.