3G and 4G radios

What we are looking at now are some 3G, 4G radios. Now, instead of working by transmitting a radio signal to control or to another handset, these radios here work on the 3G, 4G network and other networks like 5G and things like that. But these particular ones are 3G, 4G. Now they work slightly differently, for a start, They are not using and transmitting directly to a station, they are using that network, but they do not use the voice network. They use the data network. So you can have different SIMs with these depending on which operating system you are working with. These particular ones are hooked up to Broadnets and which is a system which you can manage the control and where responders are and things like that. These units will work on all four major networks. They are not just one network on it's own. So if you are in an area that for example, 02 is very, very weak on but Vodafone is very strong on, then these will still work.

And so you can also have them with SIM cards that work outside the UK. So what we have done in this particular one here, it has got a SIM card that will work across Europe and across the world anywhere they accept this type of emergency type SIM card. So with this particular radio here, I could be in Europe and still using the radio, it is actually the same. As long as it is picking up an approved data network from one of the providers that are on the list for these working. It is somewhere in work reach of about 160 different network providers list in particular you need to work. Now, as far as cost goes into your need that, If you are only working in the UK, you would only really want to have one that works in UK networks. And there are some good SIMs you can get, which are very, very effective in working on the UK side of things only. So if you are deciding what SIM, then pick one, if it is just UK, just have a UK based SIM. And now the radios themselves are a little bit different from the other ones we have spoken about, but they have all got very similar buttons on them.

So if we just look at the main features of them, if you start with this ones in a case, you can get different cases on them and also different clips on the back. This particular one here has got a belt clip. Whereas this one has got a belt clip that goes directly into the belts, this actually straps in place. And these are... Work by removing the radio. You just twist it up and it comes out. So if you want to put it in, put it down and then just twist it around and it is locked in place. Both of these work in the same way. They are very good, effective ways of making sure the radio does not fall out, particularly if you are running or moving around a lot. There is no way you will accidentally lose the radio. So we just take that out of the case, you can see the radio itself and here is the main radio. Now on the back is the battery. We have just got a battery here to show you what that looks like. And you can put interchangeable batteries in it.

So if you are going to be away for any length of time and you cannot charge the radio, you can have a second battery easily. Unlike with mobile phones where you typically you would not have a separate battery. These are separate. You can have as many of these as you want and you get different chargers that the charger will sit in for the radio and the battery will sit behind. So a very fast way of charging it up. And on the bottom here is a USB-C connection for charging the unit. If you do not want to put it into the stand charger, well you can use that as a lead from your car straight into the back of that into the cigarette light as a USB-C or USB standard to USB-C. And on the side here are push control buttons as you push to talk buttons. So when you push that, you can talk the same way as you would with the normal two-way radio. And then... These fit buttons at the top here are the mode buttons. On the front, you have got the main keypad and you use that for accessing data within the unit itself. It works like any old mobile phones where you have to push button one so many times to get different letters and so forth.

And so it can be a little bit hard work trying to program it at times, but once you program the units, then usually that is it. And you do not need to muck around them anymore. Some of the program you can also do online through web portals. On the front here, you have got okay button and the red button there locks it. So if I just push that, what it would do it will light up the display, because it is literally just going to save display and it locks the handset. So by pushing that, I can turn the display off and if we want to turn the display back on again, I push that back and it comes on again. Here are some selectors just for going up and down the features. So as I push this down, I can go through different areas. It is just moving along here. And these buttons here are effectively yes and no type buttons for selecting things. So if you want to get out of anything on this radio, if you are into a... You are not sure, just keep pushing that one and it will get you out to the sides and also can select different menus. Also the hash key at the bottom. You can push that and access that menu as well. So there is different ways around of accessing different information with this particular radio.

On the top, there are two knobs. The first one is a volume control, an on, off button. So it literally clicks to on and then you just turn it around for increasing the volume.

And this one here is a channel selector. So as you push that button, it is literally going to change from any pre-selected channels. Now you can select this radio to not work on pre-selected channels, if you wish. And so that button does not do anything, but if you have got different channels, then you can just literally turn that around and it will just tell you what channel you are on. So if there is a particular one you are using and for emergency dispatch, for example, you could just leave it permanently on that. Or if you want to change to other channels to have other confrontations, you can do. This is the air lid at the top and this little button here is the emergency button. And then what that will do is if you push that button, it will center any handset on that particular channel, an emergency signal, their display will light up to show that there is an emergency transmission coming through. Now, depending on how you set it, you can set these so that time control can then hear a 10 second block of what is said, so they would get an indication if something has happened, it just records that time. You can turn that on and off.

But also you can pre-program that to send in a text message out to people if that button is pushed. So for example, if I am on my own and I can pre-program the number in there for someone at work or someone at home. And when that button is hit, they will get a text message and it will send my exact location and say that I am in trouble. And so be very careful with that button. You do not want to push it accidentally, but you can take that off. So if you do push it by accident, you can remove that and quite easily that warning. Otherwise these radios are very tough and easy to use radios. And once you have got the basic idea and the functions. We first got these, they are very quick to understand how to use them and get them charged up. And away you go with using them. All of the manufacturers provide a very good support should you need it, if you have got any major questions with the units themselves.