Coverage
Walkie talkie range: why "20 km" fails indoors
By Jolene Wong
Why range on the box is not range on your site, and how to find out the real answer.
Range claims come from open, flat, ideal conditions. Your site is not that. If you buy on the number on the box, you find out the truth after you have paid.
What eats your signal
- Concrete and steel, especially slabs between floors and lift cores.
- Basements and car parks.
- Steel racking and big machines.
- Distance from the antenna, and where the radio sits on the body.
Why more watts is not the fix
A stronger radio can talk further, but it still has to hear the reply. Two people on opposite sides of a concrete building often need a repeater, not a bigger radio.
A real example
At a large retail property in the Klang Valley we tested portable radios, then a 4G PoC radio. Neither covered the property. Only the test showed it. The answer was one repeater and one well-placed antenna.
Do this before you buy
- List the places that must connect, including the worst one.
- Test with real radios at those places, at a busy time.
- Only then choose: portable radios only, a repeater, or 4G PoC.