Enlighten me: 2 Way Radios

I need to purchase some 2 way radios.  I know nothing about them.  Requirements and concerns:
 

• Used 16 hours a day.  Looking at needing around 10 of them, all on same channel.
• Charge overnight, in another country (Germany).  So ideally USB-charging?
• Used inside a large hangar type facility
• HUGE Trade show environment with construction going on, there are likely many other groups using radios, will all the channels be clogged?  Some are 16 channel, some are a bajillion channels (UHF)?  What do I look for here?
• Is there some international certification/compliance rule for radios re: power, frequencies, etc?

Thoughts? 

Max range?

Hobby or pro grade?

Edit:  If these are for use in Germany, you might consider shopping in Germany.  Stuff that is approved by our FCC may not be approved in Germany.

Pro grade is fine (within a reasonable budget)

Not that far.  Using a highly accurate eyeball measurement off google maps, I'd say we are usually all within a 500ft diameter circle.  It would span inside and outside the building.  I'm not sure of the construction, but I think either concrete or aluminum for walls.



 

Sorry for the ninja edit.  You definitely want to make this purchase in Europe, or Germany, as they use a different frequency spectrum for these kinds of communications.

You mention a trade show -- is this a one-and-done, or repeating?  If repeating, then is it at the same facility, or are you going to take them to different countries?

If just a one-time thing, or rotating through different countries, I would look into renting radios for the event.

Charging-wise, pro radios (say Motorola) use a charging base with small "wall-wart" power supply to convert mains AC into whatever DC the radio expects.  I don't think you'll find USB charging, but those wall-warts are usually a switching power supply with fairly wide voltage range and often don't need anything more than a plug converter to run in different countries.

I agree with looking for a source in Germany.  Perhaps the people who run the trade show can put you in contact with a recommended vendor?

For this?  Rent!  100%. That way al of the requirements will be met and the group/  person renting will most likely have the liability on them with government agencies.

Just rent them locally. We do this as part of our business, and have dedicated licenses. You should get a better radio (versus the Amazon special). You should get a charger bank, and can even rent a set of spare batteries to get you through a busy shift. 
 

for reference, we rent radios for $130/month. All accessories included, whatever you need. Belt holster, palm mic, ear piece, spare battery. 
These are expensive, Intrinsically Safe units...suitable for a chem plant.

Business-type radios should rent for less.

How many radios are you going to need and how many days ?

Then you can figure out if its worth buying or renting .

I would guess that there are EU regulations so they work all over Europe without a problem .

Thanks.  It did not occur to me to rent.  I'll look into that.

i am still a little concerned about the number of channels available, vs the number of different teams in a small area, but I suppose I can ask a rental company for recommendations.

In reply to TravisTheHuman :

A good local firm will have their own frequency licenses, outside the typical "shared" public frequencies for Amazon or camping/hunting radios.

They wouldn't congest their own rental frequencies...and would space out their rental customers geographically. 

Related:  any experience with a phone app that claims to offer the same capabilities?

this is tempting because no/minimal cost, no extra equipment, etc.  and definitely no overlapping channel issues 

I have no idea how it's done in EU, but in the States you have three basic options:  1) FRS which is unlicensed and uses inexpensive radios.  Think Motorola Talkabouts.  The downside is that you get a limited number of channels, and anyone else with an FRS radio can hear what you broadcast and can interfere with your communication... if they're on the same channel.  2) GMRS which is the same basic frequencies but up to 2W for longer distances.  Same drawbacks as FRS, plus needing an FCC license.  3) SMR/PMR or similar.  This is also a licensed radio, but basically the FCC gives you your own frequency much like they do radio stations.  It isn't exclusive to you, but anyone else who has your frequency is far enough away that you can't interfere with their radios.  Kinda like Pittsburgh has a 97.9 FM, and so does Clarksburg WV, but they're far enough apart that it doesn't matter.  There are some restrictions on how they can be used.  Our radios at work are licensed, and they aren't supposed to be used more than 100' outside the building.  This is the only way to get your own frequency... which can still be heard by anyone with a scanner in that band, but at least they're not licensed to broadcast on that frequency.

Long story short, do some googles on Germany/EU radio permissions.  FRS is pretty universal, and the EU has their own FRS which is similar to the states, but possibly a little different.  It's plausible that you could buy some Talkabouts and take them with you, or they might have slightly different protocols to adhere to over there.

Ninja edit:  Don't mess around with cheap alternatives if you go the FRS route.  Get Motorola Talkabouts.  Industry standard.  Bulletproof.  Not expensive.  I personally have T270 and T470 Talkabouts for family vacations and hunting, and they are excellent.  I think they were $75 for a pair of them.  They come with rechargeable batteries that last most of the day, or you can put AAAs in for longer life.

FRS is in the UHF realm, so even if you buy the ones that say "up to 35 miles," that means from one mountaintop to the another, at night, depending on the moon phase, humidity, and menstrual cycle, but it doesn't take much trade show traffic to absorb a lot of the signal.  Depending on the size of the trade show, you might not reach someone on the far end of the building.

TravisTheHuman said:

Related:  any experience with a phone app that claims to offer the same capabilities?

 

this is tempting because no/minimal cost, no extra equipment, etc.  and definitely no overlapping channel issues 

I haven't used one of those apps in a while (like 5 or 6 years) but they would have had to improve exponentially for that to be an option.  They rely on phone data and it can be a very laggy experience.  You know how you ask a website to email you a verification code for log in and 5 minutes later it's still not in your inbox?  Kinda like that.  Sometimes it's instant, other times it gets lost in the ether.

Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) said:

This is the only way to get your own frequency... which can still be heard by anyone with a scanner in that band, but at least they're not licensed to broadcast on that frequency.

If security is important, you can use encrypted digital radios on the licensed frequencies.

Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) said:

TravisTheHuman said:

Related:  any experience with a phone app that claims to offer the same capabilities?

 

this is tempting because no/minimal cost, no extra equipment, etc.  and definitely no overlapping channel issues 

I haven't used one of those apps in a while (like 5 or 6 years) but they would have had to improve exponentially for that to be an option.  They rely on phone data and it can be a very laggy experience.  You know how you ask a website to email you a verification code for log in and 5 minutes later it's still not in your inbox?  Kinda like that.  Sometimes it's instant, other times it gets lost in the ether.

Theoretically the Nextel/Sprint iDEN service would have worked well for this, but AFAIK it's dead and nobody is offering anything similar any more.

Guessing there is zero cell signal where you are going?  

If there is cell signal, why bother with anything else?