Choosing a Radio

There are a wide choice of radios available, ask yourself the following questions to help you decide.

Q:Will you be using you radio for daily use or occasional leisure use?.

Daily users:
Daily users will need charging systems to avoid the costs of disposable batteries and rugged construction to cope with frequent use.

Infrequent users:
Occasional users may be able to rely on disposable batteries. Alkaline batteries have a long shelf life so are ready to go when you are.
Rechargeable batteries will self-discharge over a couple of months so you will have to remember to charge them before use.
Also consider how many disposable batteries you can buy for the cost of charger and batteries. Is a charger necessary?. You could always buy a charger later when you have had time to evaluate your radio usage.

Q:If you need a charger which type is best for your application?.

Trickle chargers
Trickle chargers take about 16 hours (overnight) to charge a battery. Partially charged batteries should be charged for shorter periods. They are very gentle on batteries but rely on you to remove the radio after the appropriate time. Leaving batteries charging for several days can damage the battery.

Trickle chargers are best suited for radios used in predictable 8/16 hour work/rest patterns.

Rapid chargers
Rapid intelligent chargers will bring a battery up to 90% charge in about 1 to 4 hrs depending on the charger. The remaining 10% is charged over the following few hours after which time the charger keeps the battery in a ready-to-go condition. If the battery is only partially discharged when put into the charger the intelligent charger will top up the battery without harm.
Leaving a battery in the charger for many days or frequently recharging a fully charged battery may overcharge the battery. Charging systems cannot always detect and protect against these situations.
Care is also needed if rapid charging occasional-use radios. They should only be recharged after having had some use or after several weeks storage. See the manufactures instructions for more information.

Rapid chargers are great for unpredictable work patterns, very heavy radio use and where rapid charging is required.

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Batteries
Rechargeable batteries normally last at least 18 months of daily use. If using disposable batteries then Alkaline is batteries give best value.
More details are here:

Q: How will you be using your radio?

Accessory Connector
If you intend to use plug in accessories then choose the radio carefully. The professional quality radios have accessory connectors which accept a huge range of plug-ins.
Radios such as the Motorola Tseries have a limited range of plug-ins available. Most other brands of cheap radios (those we do not sell) have proprietary connectors with a severely limited range of accessories available.

Other radio features.
Other features to consider are:
Battery life and auto-power-off if you are an occasional user.
VOX where handsfree is necessary
Scramble facility where privacy may be important.
Size and Weight when on self-propelled journeys.
Build Quality and reparability (see below)

Q: There are much cheaper radios available so why does the price vary so much?.

The main difference in price is due to the build quality. Better charging systems and batteries also increase cost .
We only sell radios from manufacturers who have already established themselves making professional radio equipment. They supply spares and have a support network. If you have a problem after the warranty period the chances are we will be able to get your equipment working again....better value to you long-term than the sell-and-forget obscure brand equipment which HAS to be thrown away if damaged.

Q: Which radio has the best range.?
(This only applies to PMR446 licence-free)

The most frequently asked question but I have left it to last. because all the radios we sell have very similar performance in terms of range. We have tested them all against one another the the differences are not significant. The more expensive ones do however have much clearer audio so at the limits of range weak signals are more intelligible.

Range is mostly affected by location.
More details are here: