Two-Way Radio FAQs

Yes! In fact, two-way radios now integrate with cellular and connect people across platforms and locations. You get nationwide coverage with Motorola’s WAVE PTX — a platform combining radios and broadband that only Motorola Solutions offers.

Depending on your needs, a radio can be as small as your cell phone. Today’s technology, when designed correctly, uses smaller units to communicate without sacrificing performance.

No difference. “Walkie-talkie” and “push-to-talk (PTT)” are terms coined years ago. Today, we typically just call it a two-way radio.

Depending on the system you’re considering, the answer is typically yes. Licensing is part of the dealer’s service offering — we handle it for you through our FCC Licensing services.

Unless you’re in a rural area, UHF is used in most communication systems to cover urban and suburban areas. VHF is typically for longer distances outdoors.

Analog is the technology used in the very first radio Motorola developed.

Digital expands capacity, features, audio quality, and expansion capabilities. Digital is truly the way to design a system today — see the MOTOTRBO platform and apps.

Yes. Today’s radio communications technologies cover multiple sites across your network, enabling workers to reach alternate locations with a simple push-to-talk call — from local buildings to locations across the country on a unified platform. Add Motorola’s WAVE PTX, and you can reach anywhere cellular service allows.

This is a perfect case for choosing the right technology:

• Most cellular carriers won’t fund coverage enhancements for their systems — you’d need to buy large volumes of cellular phones before they’d even discuss it.
• Radio covers large buildings from a single, centrally located radio site. With WAVE PTX, coverage extends throughout the facility and, if needed, outside it. It can be modeled as a capital or operational expenditure.

For in-building coverage specifically, ask us about Distributed Antenna Systems (DAS).

In short, models vary like cars — match the radio to the environment:

• Construction: heavy, intensive use where the radio needs to hold up physically. A cheap model is economical up front, but measure the cost across the whole lifecycle — replace it every year, or every seven?
• Warehouse & manufacturing: often controlled environments. Physical design still matters, but you may want features like work-order management, alerting, or Man Down.
• Retail: small form factor with accessories like earpieces. Coverage is limited to the store, and today’s tech allows discreet, badge-style communication.

Two points to make:

• You get what you pay for. The physical abuse a radio endures is demanding, and Motorola beats the competition time and again. You’ll pay more up front, but the real measure is the total cost over the radio’s lifecycle.

“No one was ever fired for buying Motorola.”

Yes, yes, yes, and yes — they all matter to some extent. But it really comes down to what you need now, and what you’ll need in five and ten years.

Buying for today alone can be a costly mistake: a cheaper radio solves today’s problem, but when your facility expands, you may have to replace everything because the features won’t transfer between systems. Buy for the long term — modern radio systems are designed to expand with your needs.

The number-one question we hear is about Range. For two standalone radios talking to each other: on open farmland, a couple of miles; in an urban environment with buildings and trees, about a mile. We always like to be conservative — a big-box-store radio may claim 50 miles, but real range depends on power and terrain.

Height changes everything: a 4-watt radio transmitting from the top of the John Hancock Building in Chicago will reach more than 30 miles. On the ground, that same radio reaches about a mile.

The best way to understand your needs is to talk to your local dealer. Systems can be designed locally or nationwide, and Motorola’s MOTOTRBO platform is second to none for spanning geography and technology.

In short: terrain and power. A higher-power radio transmits farther, and a radio placed higher up also transmits farther. Trees, buildings, cars, and other obstructions limit a radio’s ability to penetrate.

To a small degree, yes — 5W is more powerful than 2W. But a properly designed system may not care much about raw power. There are several questions to answer before this one can be answered well, and that is where a system design conversation helps.

• Height is always preferred.
• A central location within your coverage area is the next-best choice.

• VHF radios in the 150 MHz band — up to 5 watts.
• UHF radios in the 450 MHz band — up to 4 watts.
• 900 MHz radios — up to 3 watts.

But it’s more than power — height and a central location relative to your coverage area matter just as much.

Let’s answer this one backward — people often buy smaller aftermarket antennas after purchasing radios, and two things happen:

• The antenna’s frequency band must match your needs. The antenna is part of a tuned circuit built for the best reception, so the wrong antenna typically degrades performance.
• Antennas like Motorola’s are designed specifically for that radio — and longer is typically better.

Our first suspicion: the battery is more than 18 months old. Motorola’s IMPRES charging system extends battery life by continually monitoring performance and maintaining the charge.

Usually one of three things:

• Poor coverage.
• Interference from something — or someone — on another radio.
• The battery holds only about 50% and can’t sustain a charge.

• Compare it with a second radio that works properly.
• Swap the battery with a known-good one. People keep batteries too long and blame the system instead.

Still stuck? Our repair and service team can help.