Hey guys, I know this isnt a question regarding HAM… so I apologize for that… But I couldnt think of another community that I could ask, since my knowledge of radio comms is so limited.
We run a non profit gaming convention, and we were looking for an affordable comms option for contacting one another across a pretty large INDOOR area. We bought some radios that served us in a less enclosed space… but we have moved venues, and the block structure and range seems to be impeding our ability to reliably communicate.
I wondered if anyone could recommend an affordable (I am almost positive there will be no cheap options. lol… but I had to ask) option for a few handesets, that we could find repeaters, to strengthen the signal, so we could stay in contact… or a more powerful out of the box solution that wouldnt require repeaters.
Again, I 1) apologize for the non HAMmy question and 2) for my general lack of understanding of radio comms, harware and verbiage. To say I have a basic knowledge in this tech would be giving me too much credit. :) We all have cellphones, but we end up missing a lot of messages on them… so we wanted a better option if there is one.
How’s your WiFi infrastructure? Assuming you have the area covered with WiFi you could go PoC (PushToTalk Over Cellular). There are dedicated handsets you can use for this for as low as USD$50 ea on Ali Express. Being that it’s just WiFi there are no licenses to worry about. Having a 2 way radio type handset makes it pretty familiar, buy you can very much use it with existing mobile handsets. Zello seems to be the de-facto standard for this but i believe other options exist.