The advantages of a two-way radio are immense, however, the limitation of range and signal reception is the weakest point especially when you’re using your radio in a packed building structure.
Yeah, it might have happened with you often that you’re talking with your partner and all of a sudden voice started fading or you start getting broken feedbacks. Well, that’s because of weak reception.
So in this article, you’ll get even the smallest minute detail regarding the process of boosting radio signals in a packed apartment or a building.
Moreover, we’ve also crafted a step-by-step guide to enhance or improve your radio’s signal quality when you’re operating it in a building.
However, before we start with the guide, we’d like you to take a look over the basic causes and situations which might be holding your gadget’s communication power.
Location: – It can be anything where you’re planning to establish a connection between two radio devices. Yeah, it can be a building, farm side, open ranches, and country or hillsides.
Surroundings & Terrain: – In a nutshell, a two-way radio comes with a communication range of around 30 miles if all the surroundings are clear. Yeah, in packed surrounding this range can be reduced up to 50-70%.
Power/Charge: – Power backup plays an essential role when it comes to the level and perfection of reception and transmission. The more power your radio possesses means the better signal quality.
Antenna Design: – An antenna is also crucial for radio communication. So, ensure that your radio is having a well capable antenna built in or buy an extra piece to enhance the communication.
Range Capacity: – Each model features different capabilities regarding the communication range. So, ensure that your radio has enough range caliber to let you communicate properly in your selected environment.
Barriers: – Well, it’s a part of the surrounding and terrain section but requires a separate mention. Yeah, the majority of the times your walkie-talkie’s signal strength will be dropped due to the number of obstructions and barriers around it.
So yeah, if you’re using a 2-mile range radio in open surrounding then you might get decent signal and communication power in an open surrounding of that range however in a packed environment or surrounding with an obstruction like forest terrains it’ll drop to around 1.5 miles or even 1-mile range in some cases.
Usage: – Walkie-talkies are best when you use these gadgets for outdoor purposes. However, it doesn’t mean that you can’t use it indoors. Yeah, you can use it indoors as well; provided you’re boosting its signal caliber to the top extend.
So, these are some of the most probable root causes behind weak communication. And yeah, here we’d like to mention few quick tips that can resolve these issues. So take a look!
Tips to deal with the above-mentioned root causes
- Try walking around with your walkie-talkie and keep sending signals. Yeah, chances are high that you get a point from where reception and transmission work like a breeze.
- The rule of line-of-sight plays an essential role in radio communication. So, try to get on to the highest possible location and then try to establish communication.
- You can open up the body of your radio monitor to let its antenna pick signals with ease. It’s like reducing barriers to transmission.
- Provide additional power of using high power mode as it helps in enhancing communication by raising radio’s reception caliber.
- If the Radio antenna is a folding one then replace it with a higher frequency capturing antenna.
- Reboot your radio devices or reset them.
- In most cases, having a robust and high quality radio for two-way communication is a perfect solution. Yeah, many times it happens that the radio you bought is outdated and not capable of capturing frequencies as it should. So, always rely on a robust and reliable walkie-talkie only.
So, these are basic tips that one can follow when they use their radio devices in an ideal situation or open surroundings. However, things become harsh when you try to establish communication in a building or a packed environment.
Hence, we’ll now focus on the process to follow while using radio in a building to boost its signal quality.
How to Boost Signal Quality in A Building
As mentioned earlier, barriers and obstructions are the biggest factors disturbing the communication range. Yeah, it happens often when you try to establish a connection in a packed surrounding or in a wooden or concrete building.
Not only that, even a water body like a floating river can change the direction of the signal in transmission. Yeah, there are occasions in history where water bodies have changed the whole game of communication, tracking, and radio reception.
Also, some materials like salt are capable of absorbing radio frequency signals. You know that submarines require to come up on the top of the surface to establish communication. Right?
In a nutshell, anything like a solid structure or a high amount of floating liquid can reduce the accuracy of radio communication.
And, in such a case, you should always be prepared for troubleshooting and expanding the range of your radio communication device. Agree!
Well, you shouldn’t worry much about this interference as luckily there are few things that can help in reducing communication errors, enhancing signal reception & transmission.
Furthermore, a big number of obstacles around the device causes many difficulties in the transmission that results into loss of signal. However, you shouldn’t worry about it, if you’re reading this guide till this location. Yes! Now, we’re about to discuss about resolving these issues and gaining better signal quality in a packed environment.
Yeah, in this section, we’re going to discuss how to boost signal quality in a concrete or metal building by implementing a strong mechanism to enhance radio communication.
So, let’s begin now.
Use of An External Antenna
The majority of people who faced the issue of drop-in signals or short communication range have resolved it using an external signal boosting antenna.
Yeah, this is the best place to start with if you’re planning to boost radio signals in a building.
A distributed antenna system works like a charm and implementation of this process is also pretty straightforward.
Yeah, find a convenient location in your home, place numerous antennas in varied directions and places and you’re done.
Well, these antennas will receive the signals and transmit them to your radio device so it’ll require less power to spend on reception as well. However, if you want to avoid attaching an external antenna then you should either opt-in for Cobra walkie-talkies or Midland Two Way Radios as their antennas are of top-grade quality. Moreover, these two brands are known for producing communication devices that capture frequencies even in between so many obstacles.
This is the most common solution in cities like New York where population density is higher compared to others. Yeah, you might have most probably noticed those antennas on the majority of rooftops in New York.
But remember, this is not the most efficient and cost-savvy technique of improving signal in an apartment. Yeah, a separate antenna might cost some bucks and that’s not feasible solution for all. So, cope up with us and read below other tactics to improve signal quality at its best.
Also, if this solution doesn’t work out well for you, then we’ve another option as well.
Use of A Signal Booster System
If antennas don’t work out well, a signal boosting system is a great choice. Yeah, these systems work out pretty much similar, and also the implementation of this system is almost similar to antennas.
Basically, you place a system in your house and it’ll catch up with the signals on its own. Then, it’ll repeat the signal and transmit it to your radio devices like walkie-talkies. Yeah, these systems are equipped with a repeater that helps in signal enhancement.
Above that, the majority of signal boosting devices feature a built-in amplifier that amplifies the received signals.
And that’s the reason these signal boosting systems are capable of powering up the signals to their best potential and transmit them.
Moreover, these systems are ideal for both indoor as well as outdoor radio communication as most of the time you’ll find these systems to be portable units.
These systems are not just used for radio communication, but they’re usable for enhancing and improving cellphone networks like 4G and all in a building.
So, this can act as the best solution when you’re looking for something that can boost radio signals in a building or a packed metal structure.
Bottomline
As stated, radio communication is a fun activity that is also helpful in most cases. And, you don’t need to spend a hefty amount of money on dedicated radio communication devices or systems. Especially, when you’ve got a strong and powerful communication gadget picked up from the well-curated list. Here at NewsMavens, we review only the most recommended and top-selling products that are ensured for doing their job at its best.
Also, if you already have a radio device or gadget and want to power up its signal reception and processing then you could simply follow our above-mentioned guide.
Moreover, if required you can either use a dedicated antenna or signal booster system which are pretty much affordable and that’s the reason we’ve suggested it as a way out.
So yeah, that’s all for boosting radio signals in a packed building. However, if you’re still left with any queries or doubts then we’re always happy to help our readers. Just Drop A Comment below and we’ll try our best to help you out.