Two Way Radios and Opportunities Within The Education Sector

Walkie Talkie Radios, also known as Two Way Radios, help to solve a number of problems within Schools, Colleges and Universities. Typically there is a large number of staff that move around a site, and it can be difficult and frustrating to track them down and communicate with them.

Given that very few classrooms have telephones, and teachers and lecturers tend to move between classrooms on a frequent basis, having a convenient and license free communication channel increases efficiency and security. It will allows rapid and effective communication with support staff, such as technicians, caretakers, first aid and security staff.

A starter pack of six radios is typically enough for a small school, however some larger colleges and universities may need substantially more than this. We do also stock a comprehensive range of accessories, including additional chargers, batteries and headsets.

License free two way radios are free to use once they have been purchased. There are no line rentals to pay, or license fees, and have a realistic range of up to 3Km in ideal conditions.

So Whats PMR446?

PMR446 is the European standard for short range license free radios that can be bought and used by anyone. PMR446 compliant two way radios are made by a wide variety of manufacturers, including Cobra, Entel, Oregon Scientific, HYT, Xtreme, Motorola, Kenwood, Binatone etc. PMR446 is a standard and not a model type, and all PMR446 radios use the same channels, so PMR446 radios of one brand can "talk" to any other PMR446 brand of radio.

Two way radios are very simple to operate. Each radio needs to be on the same channel, and when they are, you can communicate via the PTT (Push to talk) buttons. There's no fees or line rental to pay - that’s why they are known as license free and offer a huge saving over the price of mobile phone calls.

In addition, PMR446 radios are not anything like mobile phones as they do not require an outside signal or network to operate. When you transmit, the signal is directly picked up (like peer to peer) by another radio in range, and hence you do not need to pay for calls.

The maximum theoretical range is around 5 kilometres, however in real life 1km - 3km is achievable. All PMR446 radios are legally restricted to 0.5w of power, which means that all brands will have around the same range. The range is however reduced when the radio signal has  to pass through solid objects. Indoors the range may drop to as little as 400 metres, depending on the materials used to construct the building.

All PMR446 radios have at least 8 channels. Almost all models also have 38 CTCSS codes as well. These are sometimes known as "sub channels" although what they really do is screen out other radio messages on the same channel from radios not set to the same CTCSS code.

So in theory, there are 304 unique "channels" that you can communicate on.

So What Is CTCSS?

CTCSS stands for "Continuous Tone Coded Squelch System". If a CTCSS tone is selected, a CTCSS sub-audible tone is transmitted along with the regular voice audio by the transmitting radio.

The receiving radio, set to the same CTCSS tone, will only receive audio if it contains that sub-tone. Interference from other users on the same frequency is therefore rejected (unless they are also on the same CTCSS code).

This is a way of allowing groups of users of walkie-talkies on the same channel to avoid hearing messages from other nearby users. It is useful if you find that another company or organisation next door to yours are also using PMR446 walkie-talkies.

Which Radios Do We Recommend?

We recommend radios from Oregon Scientific and Cobra for both features, reliability and price. Our best selling radios are the Oregon Scientific TP380, and TP329 radios, and from Cobra, the MT725 and MT525 radios.