Identify Type and Frequency?

[PaulMac]

Hi everyone

We need walkie-talkies at work, but there are never enough to go round and the boss is too stingy to buy more. Rather than join in the morning stampede for them, I've decided to buy my own walkie-talkie.

How do I figure out which one to get? Obviously I don't want to buy a type that isn't compatible with the existing ones at work. Is the operating frequency inscribed somewhere on the devices? Even though we work in the middle of the city, there's never any cross-chatter from other operators, so I know that our frequencies aren't used much (or at all). Might they be special reserved frequencies?

Thanks for any help you can offer.

Paul

 

[W8RMH]

You're going to have to ask your boss. You will need his permission from him to operate on his frequency and license.

 

[nd5y]

You can't just blindly buy a radio and expect it to work. It's not that simple and depending on what type of system it might not be possible.

You need to find out what type of system is being used. It could be analog, digital, simplex, a repeater or a trunked system.

The easiest way to find the information is contact whoever in the company is responsible for the radios and aks them about getting your own radio. If there isn't anybody then you need to find out where the radios came from and contact the vendor for programming information.

The company could have an FCC license for a certain number of radios on certain frequencies at certain locations or they could be leasing radios and air time from a service provider. Only the licensee can give permission for personal radios to be used under their license. You can't legally provide your own equipment unless the licensee approves it.

Most likely the frequencies are not shown on the radio. You can look up the FCC ID number on the radios but that will only tell you the frequency range the radios are made for, not the frequencies used at your location.

If the company has their own FCC license you can look that up on the FCC database and find the frequencies the company is licensed to use but you would probably need more information than that to program radios.

Just because you don't hear other users doesn't mean anything. The radios could have tone squelch to keep from hearing other users on the frequency or if it's a trunked system it would not be possbile to hear other users.

 

[KB7MIB]

The reasons that you never hear any "cross chatter", or other users on your radios, may be for a couple of reasons:
1) Your company may have lucked out and gotten licensed (your company is properly licensed to use that frequency, correct?) on a frequency that actually doesn't have any other users within range. However, this is highly unlikely.

2) It is more likely, that the radios are programmed with a CTCSS tone, DCS code, P25 NAC code, or something similar, that prevents you from hearing all of the other users that share the frequency. If you were to use a scanner to listen to the frequency (and a scanner can be used to determine the frequency, as well, by using the Close Call/Spectrum Sweeper feature, or just searching the correct band of frequencies), you would be able to determine who else may be using the frequency. Scanner hobbyists in the area can also listen in on your conversations, because a CTCSS, et al, do not make your conversations private, contrary to popular belief. Only actual encryption can do that.

Before buying a radio of your own, not only do you have to determine the frequency, you have to determine the CTCSS/DCS, et al; whether it is regular narrow FM or if it is P25, DMR/MotoTRBO, or NXDN; whether or not some form of encryption is being used; whether or not the frequency is simplex (using a single frequency directly between the radios) or if it is operating through a repeater, which is an automatic relay station that is usually located atop a tall tower, building, hill or mountain, and allows the radios to have a much greater transmit and receive range than what can be achieved at ground level.
If it uses a repeater, you need to determine whether it is owned by your company, or if your company leases time on that repeater which would actually be owned by a radio shop in the area. And that radio shop may limit the number of radios your company is allowed to use, unless your company pays more money to allow more radios to be used.

I'm not saying that it can't be done, but it isn't always just as simple as finding the frequency and programming it into your own radio. There are many other factors that must be figured out.

If you know the make and model of the radio, that will be a big help in narrowing down some of those factors. It may be on a nameplate on the front of the radio, it may be on an informational sticker on the back of the radio or inside the battery cover or compartment, or it may show momentarily on the screen, if the radios have one, upon start up.

John
Peoria, AZ

 

[mmckenna]

Hi everyone

We need walkie-talkies at work, but there are never enough to go round and the boss is too stingy to buy more. Rather than join in the morning stampede for them, I've decided to buy my own walkie-talkie.

How do I figure out which one to get? Obviously I don't want to buy a type that isn't compatible with the existing ones at work. Is the operating frequency inscribed somewhere on the devices? Even though we work in the middle of the city, there's never any cross-chatter from other operators, so I know that our frequencies aren't used much (or at all). Might they be special reserved frequencies?

Thanks for any help you can offer.

Paul

Sort of echoing what the others have said.

The FCC rules are very specific about things like this. ONLY the license holder can authorize adding radios to a radio system. You, as an employee, are not automatically authorized to do that unless specifically given that duty by the person/company with their name on the FCC license.
While unlikely, you can get in some deep doo doo for doing things like this.
I run a number of radio systems, and I very specifically do not allow people to add radios to my system.

The proper way to approach this would be to talk to your supervisor and explain the need for more radios. If they agree with you, they may buy more, but you cannot add your own unless you have something in writing from the licensee.

Most commercial radios are not something you can just buy off the shelf, turn on and they work. They require programming to work with the other radios. That requires information that will be difficult to come by, and if your boss won't buy more radios, it's likely he doesn't know the specifics, either.
This isn't like buying a TV set.

Don't blow a bunch of money trying to guess what you need. It will lead to disappointment.

 

[PaulMac]

Wow - never realised it was complex!

Thanks so much for taking the time to respond to my newbie query. There's no way the boss will fork out for more radios; he'd have us using hand signals and carrier pigeons if he could.

Ah well. Look like I'll have to keep making do with what we have.

 

[majoco]

Had the same problem a few years ago - the four radios were kept in the charging rack in the ops room and whenever anyone went out on to the tarmac, they took a radio out of the rack - hey, no radio, oh well. The Ops girl of the day called and called me to go to another job urgently, but of course - no reply. An aircraft was delayed, passengers annoyed, pilots annoyed, management annoyed - stingy Ops manager got a ticking off and - hey - a radio each suddenly appeared.

Play the game by the rules, don't get rid of the problem by fixing it yourself at your expense.

Didn't Winston Churchill say "Give us the tools and we'll finish the job"?

 

[paulears]

If the boss is a skinflint, and you are willing to spend your own wages on a radio, I'd expect him to jump at the chance, and quickly give you the info you need!

 

[W8RMH]

If the boss is a skinflint, and you are willing to spend your own wages on a radio, I'd expect him to jump at the chance, and quickly give you the info you need!

The OP has to ask. The boss has a limited budget I'm sure. If the OP asks to buy his own the boss may approve it, but communication is the key.

 

[Golay]

Chit Chat

Deleted post. What I suggested was covered already.

 

[majoco]

If the boss is a skinflint, and you are willing to spend your own wages on a radio, I'd expect him to jump at the chance, and quickly give you the info you need!

Then the boss will expect everyone to buy their own radios, using you as an example. Do you think you will be top of the 'most popular' list?