We are often asked if our hire radios, or radios that we sell to customers, are “compatible” with a customer’s own radios, or with the radios used at a site or venue that they will be using.
To properly answer this question, we must first consider the broad types of walkie-talkie radios involved.
Firstly, the radios need to be ones that use the same basic frequency band. Most “business” or “consumer” walkie-talkies will work on either the UHF band (400 – 470MHz) or the VHF band (136 – 174MHz).
It is not possible to get a VHF radio to “talk to” a UHF radio.
Then, you need to work out if your walkie talkies are programmable to many different frequencies, or if they are the fixed-frequency, licence free type (often called “PMR446 radios”).
PMR446 or “licence-free” walkie talkies are fixed to only work on the PMR446 frequencies. Other radios can usually be set to these frequencies though.
You can (usually) find out what type of radios you have by removing the battery from the back of the radio, and examining the information label that is often located under the battery. On the label will usually be printed:
- the frequency or range of frequencies that the radio can use
- the power output in watts
- the full model number of the walkie-talkie
RADIOS CAN USE HUNDREDS OF DIFFERENT FREQUENCIES
Most professional walkie-talkie radios can be programmed to use literally any of thousands of different frequencies using some PC software, which is provided by their manufacturer, and a “programming lead” that connects from the PC (via a USB connector) to the radios’ earpiece/microphone socket.
Walkie-talkies are usually programmed by the supplying dealer, so most radio users are unaware of programming software and how it works.
The user just “sees” a simple channel number, which they can select using a control knob. But “behind” this simple “channel number” is the actual frequency that this channel number has been set to use.
With the PC software, each of the walkie-talkies channels can be set to any frequency in the radios’ frequency range. For the most common UHF radios, this is usually in the range 420MHz – 470MHz.
See the screenshot of some programming software to understand what is involved – click on the image to see it bigger.
Each make and model of radio on the market will have a similar program.
Even if you had two walkie-talkies of the same make and model, if they have not been programmed to use the same frequencies, they will not communicate with each other.
In summary, any two or more brands of walkie-talkie CAN be made to work with each other, provided that they are on the same frequency band, AND provided that they are or can be programmed to use the same frequencies.
But they will not necessarily communicate together straight away, or “out of the box”, because they may well be set to use totally different frequencies.
WE CAN HELP TO GET DIFFERENT WALKIE-TALKIES “TALKING” TO EACH OTHER
We sell and hire a wide variety of walkie-talkies, and prospective customers often ask us if we can make our radios “talk to” some other radios that they already have, or that are in use at a venue or location where they will be working.
We can usually get them talking if you ask us to do so.
Often, in order to achieve this, we may ask you to bring or send to us one of your existing walkie-talkies, so that we can get the walkie-talkies that you are buying or hiring from us communicating with your existing walkie-talkies.