2-way radio use

[micaelb]

I know 2-way radios are pretty much standard in news cars. I don't remember the last time I used mine and I'm not sure I want them installed as we move to smaller vehicles.

We use cell phones for what we used the radios for and there just aren't very many places cell phones don't work.

Is this typical? Do you still use your radio or is it just taking up space? Is the reporter in the passenger seat giving up legroom to a relic from the past?

Our new cars are Escapes. Not tiny but why go to the trouble to install it if the radio isn't gonna be used?

 

[canuckcam]

I love the two-way. It's a different communication for a different purpose, like handycams and fancycams.

Radios are for short bursts of communication. I use it to coordinate with a couple shooters and my assignment desk when I'm at breaking news. A quick "I'm at the fire." saves a good 15-30 seconds dialling and waiting... waiting... "hello? .. yeahhhh I'm at the fire now." and especially at larger scenes, "Jeremy, I'm on the north side, can't get in. Try another route." This is especially important when driving - I don't want to be fumbling trying to dial a phone or using the damned voice-activated dialing that never works when it's quiet, even less when I have scanners going. With a radio I just push one button and it connects me.

My previous station had an analog two-way that we all loved but it wasn't secure (though playing with the other stations listening in by sending mock breaking news was fun admittingly. ) I assume most stations use Nextel/Mike which is at best a bastard mashup of a phone and two-way unless you use the r750/r765 radios which are the closest experience to a real LMR system.

But installing/maintaining a radio system is prohibitively expensive and slightly cheaper when you lease or join a commercial trunked system that gives you good coverage short of just a single repeater. In places like Toronto, you can't even get a city-wide commercial frequency anymore.


FWIW for the scannerheads, Havis Shields makes a great drop-in radio console for the Escapes: http://www.havis.com/products/CON_VS_18TMS_0DG_HC_ESC_08_11-37098-793.html with fittings to mount a laptop.

 

[SeattleShooter]

I use my two-way everyday. When I get to the station, when I am on arrive to a location, and to keep them updated on where I am.

Our heli has one and is the only way to talk to them.

But most of our photogs use them. In an earthquake and it's aftermath, cellphones will be useless. Two-ways have a better chance of working.

 

[adam]

2 ways are critical. We don't use them much but, as Phil said, they're great for car to car communication at big scenes and talking to the helicopter (the only way for that). But they're absolutely necessary for the kind of events that will define your organization. Take 9/11, for the first 24-36 hours after the event began it was impossible to reliably call into or out of NYC on a cell network. I think Phil is in BC (sorry if I'm wrong) and I'm in Seattle where we can expect a very big earthquake in the next 100 years... we think/hope not. If that occurs we'll need our 2 ways for days on end.
Imagine if a F5 tornado hit Des Moines head on or if there was some kind of OKC event. Your station would want a reliable form a communication as everyone and their brother tried calling in or out to check on each other. Additionally, your station's lines would be jammed, you need a way to get the desk and or control room immediately.

 

[1911A1]

Other than the 2-way that's used to talk to our helicopter crew, my station hasn't used old-style 2-way radios since 1998 when we got Nextels.

 

[canuckcam]

I'm from BC but in Toronto.

Nextels are still based off cellular towers so in an earthquake if their trunk lines are severed you're still left high and dry. However, two-way conversations inherently use less bandwidth and can be assigned a slightly higher priority for a timeslot - like 911 calls take precedence over normal phone calls or emergency calls on a trunked radio system.

Only concern I have now is that with Sprint slowly killing off Nextel the service may cease soon. A nearby police force uses iDEN for their radios and they're going to Motorola P25 because official documents say Telus will not be supporting them past 2013.

No one's putting an HF antenna on my truck though.

 

[Rad]

No two-way in most of our cars... as they died. Not replaced due to budget concerns.

 

[Cornelio78]

Man, at my last station i wished we used it or had it. When towers went digital it was all talk about being able to get 2-ways in the live trucks back to the desk. Never happened. It is still sitting attached to the assignment desk, never turned on, new!

I know the desk would use it if they could, he is a old school Vietnam chopper pilot and he loves old school stuff. He kept his pager longer then anyone else.

But, i would love to have and use a 2-way. Even if it just stayed in the vehicle. I would think easier to use when en-route to a scene. Desk can tell you what they are hearing and what police officials might have advised them to do, ect. Especially if you do not have a reporter, who usually is useless in getting directions anyways.

 

[mainstreetmarshall]

We had the two way removed a few years ago to save money. It will come back to bite us on the back side someday when the next big 9/11 type event hits. Cellphones were pretty much useless that day. We also had a relatively minor earthquake a few years back that caused the cell system here to be completely overloaded and unusable. Everyone and their brothers calling their buddies to ask "did ya feel it?".

 

[zac love]

I'm guessing if you're not using them on a regular or irregular basis, invest in more portable hand held radios.

Now sure if they all work as well as the ones installed in vehicles, but I've used them before & didn't have any problems with them.

If you're really worried about a 9/11 type event, why tie your communications into something that needs gas & intact roads to run?

 

[The Thing on The Sticks]

I'm guessing if you're not using them on a regular or irregular basis, invest in more portable hand held radios.

Now sure if they all work as well as the ones installed in vehicles, but I've used them before & didn't have any problems with them.

If you're really worried about a 9/11 type event, why tie your communications into something that needs gas & intact roads to run?

If I recall the portables have a max range of a few miles where as a base station like you usually see installed in a car or station is much farther. Which is why if you are ever in a situation where both are being used Ie forrest fire the hand held may come through garbled and take a couple of tries but the base station can say what they want loud and clear.

 

[David R. Busse]

Just got a brand-new system

We just got a brand-new digital 2-way system...mobiles and hand-helds. Combined with our cell phones, it makes field communications much more efficient.

Long experience in the field tells me both systems are essential.

 

[FTOJRLST]

Only concern I have now is that with Sprint slowly killing off Nextel the service may cease soon.

With our Droid Phones we're using the TiKL - Touch to Talk app that lets us use the phones like two ways, including group talk sessions.

It hasn't been tested under real breaking news circumstances yet but it's great to be able to just chat back and forth without having to make a real call.

And the ability to have multiple users on one line is super.

 

[canuckcam]

I'm guessing if you're not using them on a regular or irregular basis, invest in more portable hand held radios.

Now sure if they all work as well as the ones installed in vehicles, but I've used them before & didn't have any problems with them.

If you're really worried about a 9/11 type event, why tie your communications into something that needs gas & intact roads to run?

A standard 5w handheld radio on UHF will go a few miles before completely crapping out, even less in urban areas. But every system should have a repeater - in Toronto most are on the CN tower or the highest office skyscraper in the city. That way, there's always clear line-of-sight to the antenna. Public safety systems have additional transmitters and receivers all throughout the city to make sure coverage is good. However, to maintain that system costs millions of dollars. So it becomes a business that some two-way radio outfits run - a trunking system. But it's only as good as its maintenance and coverage. But something is always better than nothing - you can always go simplex (radio-to-radio directly) at scenes to communicate with each other a short distance away.

 

[canuckcam]

If I recall the portables have a max range of a few miles where as a base station like you usually see installed in a car or station is much farther. Which is why if you are ever in a situation where both are being used Ie forrest fire the hand held may come through garbled and take a couple of tries but the base station can say what they want loud and clear.

Other than line-of-sight, lower frequencies are much better cutting through vegetation like trees and brush. Higher frequencies that a lot of urban public safety system uses (700/800mhz) are heavily attenuated by the leaves, but cut through building concrete/bricks/etc better.

Its effect is quite dramatic. When I go camping/canoeing, conversing on 450MHz UHF on a 5watt two-way radio gives you about a mile in the forest. On 140MHz VHF, you'll go a good 3 miles.

 

[livedownunder]

In the last 30 years, I've had three occassions where my local cellphone networks have totally died for most of the day (fiber cable cut, and twice main control computer crash). We still operate 2-ways in all news vehicles, as well as handhelds in link trucks. The 2-ways don't get used as much as they use to, but they're handy for those quick messages, and our lifeline when the cellphone network is unavailable or overloaded (ie New Years Eve and during disasters).

 

[Terry E. Toller]

I use a motorola handy talkie to talk to the desk at KXTV. As I understand it, I am the only shooter (staff included) who has a working radio. When they got new vehicles, they installed radios but no antennas... go figure...

 

[satop]

the 2 way saved me a few months ago. at like 4:45, when I went to feed my pkg for the top of the five, all the cells went dead.....one of those all circuts are busy messages....well pulled out the 2 way, called the control room and fed in. made slot no problem. a truck a few blocks from me missed slot.....he appearntly forgot he could use the 2 way........

at my shop its like me and 2 other guys who use the 2 ways any more.

my 2 cents......keep the 2 way. they will save you some day.