What you know or don’t know about communications technology can make a great deal of difference in what your communications system does for you and at what cost. So we thought it might be a good idea to provide a general overview of the most commonly used technology and how it is applied to address specific needs.
30-50 MHz Conventional Low Band
Still used by utilities, forest products users, construction, and even a few public safety users. Uses analog technology. Primarily for long distance Base/mobile operation. Generally simplex (i.e. not repeater). The oldest of the available frequency bands. Provides exceptional range between mobiles. Main disadvantage is cost, limited product choices, long distance interference, and lack of compact portables. We do not recommend Low Band for industrial plant use.
150-174 MHz Conventional High Band
Best performance overall in outdoor wooded areas. Analog. Base/Mobile as well as repeater and portable operation. Best suited for average outdoor use. Good coverage in pine forests. Doesn’t work as well inside industrial plants as UHF or 900 MHz. Cost of portable radios is very reasonable.
450-470 MHz Conventional UHF Band
Ideally suited for repeater operation. Best suited for in-plant use or in major urban areas. Alabama Forestry provides multiple UHF repeaters for use by volunteer fire departments. Cost would not generally be justified for wide area rural commercial use.
800 MHz Band Trunked System
800 MHz was the first band to offer trunked (dynamically assigned channel selection) for large system users. Later, trunking became available on the VHF and UHF bands which offer lower cost, greater range, and more vendor choices. Current 800 MHz users are virtually held captive to a single supplier and subject to significantly higher operating costs than VHF or UHF systems. For this reason, we do not offer or recomend 800 MHz for industrial plant use. In some cases, cellular operators have attempted to offer 800 MHz Push-To-Talk equipment as an alternative to traditional 2-way radio. It is neither as cost effective or as efficient as traditional 2-way radio and for this reason we do not offer or recommend cellular type equipment.
900 MHz Unlicensed ISM band
Extremely well suited for plant use. Digital portable system. No mobiles or repeaters available. Functions much like a Nextel without the monthly airtime charges with coverage up to several hundred thousand square feet. Voice and text messaging capability with audible or silent alerting. Great plant radio system.
Additional information on the products offered by Falcon Direct for each of the different systems above is available by clicking on the Mobiles, Portables, Repeaters, or Special Products selector tabs at the above left.
