Frequently Asked Questions

Icom programming software allows users to set frequencies and functions within their Icom radios.  Also know as Icom Cloning Software, this software runs on your PC under the Windows Operating System.

You can:

• set each channel's frequency and privacy codes
• set functions for each programmable key
• set parameters such as the Time-Out-Timer, and other functions
• save the settings and program multiple radios

• Motorola Business Radios (models beginning with CLP, CLS, RM, RD):
• These radios have pre-stored business frequencies (Part 90). Software to program these radios is available for free on the Motorola website. Just go to the product page for the radio and you can download the software. We can sell you the cable. Custom frequencies will require dealer programming.

• Motorola Commercial Radios (models beginning with CP, CM, MagOne):
• Software to program these can be purchased directly from Motorola. We can sell you the cable.

• Kenwood ProTalk Business Radios (all models):
• These radios have pre-stored business frequencies (Part 90). You can easily program these radios through the menu by following the instructions in the User Manual. Custom frequencies will require dealer programming.

• Connect Systems Commercial Radios (all models):
• Software and cables to program these can be purchased through us.

Warning   Business radios that have pre-stored frequencies still required an FCC license to operate. Be advised, serious penalties and prosecution can result from the unlicensed transmission on frequencies.

Icom Cloning Cables - Please Read

Icom Cloning Cables - Please Read

Icom Cloning Cables - Please Read

• UHF radios perform well both indoors and outdoors. If you are using your two way radio inside or near buildings, in a city environment, we recommend you use UHF or digital radios since the signal will penetrate through walls far better. UHF radios are also used outdoors where there are trees, or other obstacles.

• VHF radios are best for outdoor use where there are few obstacles and clear line-of-sight. VHF signals will travel further than UHF, but you need to have a clear line-of-site. VHF signals do not penetrate obstacles as well as UHF signals.
  

• 900MHz are digital radios and perform much like UHF radios. However, their communication range is shorter than a typical UHF radio. These radios often do not require a license and are for short range use, also known as "on-site" radios.
  

Wattage is one key factor that determines the strength of your radio signal. Therefore, the more wattage a radio has, generally the longer distance it’s signal can travel and the clearer the transmission will be. The larger the job-site, the more watts you should purchase.

Channels are used to send the actual communications. Each channel in an analog radio is tied to a particular frequency. You can assign a different channel to separate work groups within your organization. This way each work group can have their own channel to reduce disruptions to other departments. Digital radios provide the added benefit of allowing each worker to have an individual channel as well as a channel for their work group.

Think about which groups of employees need to communicate with each other on a regular basis. Divide these employees into groups who will be assigned a specific channel. For instance in a small hotel, you might make the following channel assignments:

Channel 1 - ‘All Call’ channel that talks to all groups
Channel 2 - Housekeeping Staff
Channel 3 - Front Desk Staff
Channel 4 - Maintenance Staff
Channel 5 –Valet Parking

To cut down on excess chatter, the Housekeeping Staff would communicate with other Housekeeping Staff by using Channel 2. That way, other departments don’t hear calls that don’t involve them. Your groups might be set up according to location, department, or type of work. Each department would leave their radios turned to their own channel and communicate among themselves by using the Push to Talk button (PTT).

You can use the scanning feature to set up which groups hear and talk to other groups. In our hotel example, you’d program all staff radios to scan Channel 1 (All Call) and their own channel. So, Housekeeping radios would scan Channel 1 and Channel 2. Front Desk radios would scan Channel 1 and Channel 3 and so on. The Manager might program their radio to scan all channels, so they can oversee general operations.

When one group needs to talk to another group, they simply turn their radios to that group’s channel to speak with them. For example, when the Front Desk wants to talk to Housekeeping they would temporarily turn their radios to Channel 2. Anyone who wants to talk to Maintenance would turn their radios to Channel 4. Anyone who wants to talk to the whole group would turn their radios to Channel 1 where everyone would hear their message because all radios have been programmed to scan Channel 1.

It’s important to plan ahead. Think about how many people and groups of people will need to communicate now and in the future. You’ll want to buy radios that can accommodate your business growth 3-5 years in the future. You might spend a little more now, but it will be much less expensive than replacing all your radios if they can’t handle your communication requirements in the immediate future.

Commercial grade handheld radios can have between 2 and 512 channels. As you can see this is quite a range!

The distance a handheld radio can communicate depends several factors. The most important factors for you to consider are: band (VHF or UHF), wattage, antenna type, and environment.

• The more wattage a radio has, the longer distance it’s signal can travel. Manufacturers claims of long distances are based on what might be achieved under near perfect conditions. Some radios may work a mile or so away, but most are designed to work primarily within a single location. For example, in a city environment the most powerful UHF radio (4 watts) will give you approximately a range of 2 city blocks. Obstacles such as buildings, hills, etc. will reduce the range of communications. Out in the open with no obstacles you can expect more distance. If you are standing on a hill your distance could be even further.
• Longer antennas provide better signal reception; a short (or stubby) antenna cuts your range by roughly 30%.
• Repeaters can extend the range of communication. A repeater basically does as the name suggests, it 'boosts' the signal and sends it out again. Repeaters have much more wattage than handheld radios, generally between 25 and 100 watts, so the repeated signal will travel much farther than the original signal from the radio.

Please visit How Far Can I Talk? for more detail on what affect radio range.

Each of the following types of radios come in VHF, UHF, and Digital varieties.

• Handheld or Portable radios are the two-way radios that most people use. As the name suggests you hold them in your hand and can be carried them with you.

• Mobile radios are used in vehicles and are permanently mounted. They can have up to 100 watts of power, need special licensing and setup, and you can expect more range with these types of radios.

• Base stations are placed on a desk or counter. They pug into a standard electrical wall socket, and use a antenna usually located on the highest point of the building where they are located. They also can have up to 100 watts of power, need special licensing and setup, and you can expect more range with these types of radios.

• Repeaters can extend the range of a radio by boosting the signal where the repeater is located so the signal may continue traveling. It can help you get ‘around’ obstacles, or simply extend the range of communication beyond what is possible with your handheld or mobile radio alone.

• Trunking systems manage communications of more complex systems. In conventional radios a frequency is assigned to a channel through programming, one frequency per channel. Channel assignments in a conventional radio can only be changed by re-programming the channel. In a Trunked radio system all frequencies are in a 'pool', the pool is managed by another device. Frequencies are allocated to a radio's channel dynamically as they are needed. Once the transmission is complete the frequency is released back into the 'pool'. This is a much more efficient use of frequencies but requires more sophisticated equipment. Generally systems with a large number of users require trunking systems. There are several types of trunking protocols; LTR®, PassPort®, SmartTrunk®.

There is no limit to the number of radios that can be used at a location other than what is on your license. However, to manage communications better we recommend that you limit the number of users on each channel to approximately ten.

Many radios of one brand can communicate with other radio brands. However, to communicate these things must match:

• The radios must be on the same frequency band (VHF, UHF, etc).
  

• UHF and VHF radios do not communicate with each other. They use difference frequency ranges or 'bands'. VHF uses frequency ranges between 30 – 300 MHz (MHz stands for mega hertz). UHF uses frequency ranges between 300 MHz – 3 GHz (GHz stands for giga hertz).

• The radios must be programmed to the same frequencies and tone codes on each channel.
  

• If the radios are digital, and you are transmitting in digital, the radios must be using the same digital protocol. The common two way radio digital protocols are:
• DMR
• DMR / MOTOTRBO
• IDAS
• NXDN
  

Always check with your dealer to make sure the different radios will work together.

Here are just a few of the main advantages of digital radios:

• Most digital radios allow for both group and individual communication.
• The clarity of the signal is generally better with digital radios due to digital error correction technology. Although once you get to the outer range of communication and the signal gets very weak, you will get no reception with digital, where you might still get some faint signal with analog.
• Text messaging and the ability to add other types of data to the transmitted signal are possible with digital radios. Digital technology in two-way radios is relatively new and still evolving.
• Digital that operate on the 900MHz ISM frequencies do not require an FCC license to operate. However, the range of these radios is limited.
  
• Today most digital two-way radios also have analog transmission capability. This makes communication between older analog radios and newer digital radios possible for a customer who already owns an analog fleet of radios, and wants to migrate to digital technology over time.

A short (or stubby) antenna cuts your range by approximately 30%. The short antenna sometimes makes the radio easier to carry, and works well in locations like small hotels, schools, small construction sites, where distance is not an issue.

Privacy codes go by many different names, so this can be confusing. Names such as QT, DQT, PL, PL-tone, PL-code, Privacy code or tone, C-Tone, or CTCSS/DCS, all basically mean the same thing. They are just terms that different manufacturers have used to describe the same function.

This is a sub-audible frequency (you can't hear it) that filters out unwanted transmissions on the same frequency. This allows channels using the same frequency, in the same vicinity, to be shared by different user groups. Each group will not hear the other if they are using different privacy tones. Think of it as lanes on a highway; people can share the same highway (frequency), and PL tones are the lanes that prevent them from running into each other (hearing each other). PL codes are the codes associated with each PL Tone.

Intrinsic safety (IS) is a technology for safe operation of electronic equipment in locations where explosive gases may be present. Intrinsically safe radios are designed so the electrical energy in the radio is low enough that ignition of the explosive gases will not occur. Manufacturers must meet specific standards in order for a product to be certified as 'Intrinsically Safe'. Radios meeting this standard have the designation 'Intrinsically Safe' or 'FM Approved' on their documentation.

For more detailed information on Intrinsically safe classifications and usage please visit Intrinsically Safe Classifications.

Encryption scrambles the voice signal so other radios in your vicinity cannot listen in on your conversations. There are several different types of encryption. Some are simple types that offer basic protection from conversations being over heard. Others offer a higher level of protection and are not easily unscrambled by scanners or other surveillance devices. The common forms are:

• Voice Inversion Encryption is a simpler type of Voice Scrambler used to jumble communications to prevent other radio users in the vicinity from listening to your conversations.
• Rolling Code Encryption, a feature usually only available on higher-end units, is a more robust technology of encoding that is not as easily decoded as scrambling.
• DES 20 provides protection against more advanced types of listening technologies.
• Digital DES P25 secure 56 bit encryption (for public safety applications).
• Digital AES P25 provides the maximum security with 256 bit encryption (for public safety applications).

For more information on encryption please visit Encryption Basics.

In our experience, digital radios do not significantly outperform analog radios of the same wattage. Digital radios have the same power (4 Watts on UHF radios, 5 Watts on VHF radios) resulting in similar performance when it comes to distance and obstacles. Probably the main reasons to purchase digital radios is for better voice quality the added functions they have, not longer range.

P25 stands for ‘Project 25’ and refers to a set of standards for radio communications used in federal, state, and local public safety agencies (such as police and fire departments). P25 enables these agencies to communicate between each other in case of emergencies. These radios are not for businesses or personal use.