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Business Radio licence help freqs

Posted: 02 Nov 2017, 21:43
by welshy9
Hi guys ive just paid for a Business Radio license , ive had the emails etc but unsure on what frequency they have given me as they given me a few
here is what i have

Image

do i use just one or do i chose what frequency i can use or can i use them all and they are allocated to myself ? its only for handy to handy

thanks guys

Re: Business Radio licence help freqs

Posted: 03 Nov 2017, 00:00
by AshtonMobileScanner
You can use any of them frequency on that list with any CTCSS or DCS tone :D

Re: Business Radio licence help freqs

Posted: 03 Nov 2017, 01:46
by welshy9
thank you for that info im trying to find out now what handys i can use that don't break the rules of my license any ideas ?

thanks again

Re: Business Radio licence help freqs

Posted: 03 Nov 2017, 08:34
by paulears
well - practically all of them are fine. You can go with dirt cheap baofengs for bar bill prices, or buy some solid big brand radios - you have a ten to one price difference. My advice is that if the radios will get damaged, dirty or abused, go cheap and buy lots, or if you want loads of features like radio IDs, go expensive. However - Google for Kenwoods UHF or VHF and they have a lot of quite cheap simple kit - channel change and volume - that's it, and these are pretty tough and reliable. I personally would pick UHF. You also will need to programme in a CTCSS tone in the programming software, because depending on where you are, you will be sharing those channels with many other people, so pick a tone and you can make your radios ignore them.

TK-3207 or TK-2207 (one is UHF the other VHF) Be aware that the cheap ones are probably not genuine, but I have some mixed up with genuine ones, and I cannot tell the difference! Not condoning copies of course, but if money is important, these are actually very decent radios. The only difference I can find is the copies do not have a scrambler, the genuine ones do!

Re: Business Radio licence help freqs

Posted: 03 Nov 2017, 08:58
by thelad
Why did you edit over the photo of the frequencies.?

Re: Business Radio licence help freqs

Posted: 03 Nov 2017, 14:03
by Metradio
Probably thought the frequencies were licensed just to him rather than open to anyone on a UK Light license...
See they are still not notifying new users of the 'UHF 2' frequencies..

Mike

Re: Business Radio licence help freqs

Posted: 04 Nov 2017, 12:18
by Radiotronics
Hi welshy9,

The licence you've bought is known as an Ofcom Simple UK Licence. The Ofcom Simple UK Licence, as you're probably aware, allows you to use a business radio anywhere in the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland, but not Republic of Ireland. The frequencies allocated by the Simple UK licence are commonly called General Business Channels (or Frequencies) and are the same for everyone.

On the Ofcom Simple UK Licence you are issued 5 low band, 2 mid-band VHF, 5 high-band VHF and 3 UHF frequencies (known as PMR449). There's no need to black these out as they're the same for everyone. I.e. Just like PMR446, every business radio user on the Ofcom Simple UK Licence uses these published General Business Channels (or Frequencies):

simple-uk.png

The question we get asked all the time is: If everyone is on the same channels, why don't you get interference and collisions?

The theory is that everyone who uses these General Business Channels is using a maximum 5w VHF (or typically 4w UHF) and is on a portable radio*. Then each radio fleet uses its own randomly selected CTCSS tone (see Wikipedia) which works like an advanced squelch and only opens the squelch when a signal is received with a known CTCSS tone.

This is a very good approach and allows you to operate unlimited business radios on a very "Simple" licence which has simplified the licence process for basic business use enabling basic business users to quickly and easily get up and running without complicated licensing boundaries.

* You can use a fixed or mobile vehicular radio, however on the terms of the Ofcom Simple UK Licence, the power must be restricted to 5w and the antenna must be no more than 1.5m high.
welshy9 wrote: 02 Nov 2017, 21:43 Hi guys ive just paid for a Business Radio license , ive had the emails etc but unsure on what frequency they have given me as they given me a few
here is what i have do i use just one or do i chose what frequency i can use or can i use them all and they are allocated to myself ? its only for handy to handy
So in answer to your original question. You can use any one of these frequencies depending on what radio you have. By far the most popular is VHF and UHF as in the two right columns in your / our image.
welshy9 wrote: 03 Nov 2017, 01:46 thank you for that info im trying to find out now what handys i can use that don't break the rules of my license any ideas ?
You can use almost any business radio. And that includes digital radios on the Ofcom Simple UK Licence. You will find some great older radios on eBay. Look out for the Motorola CP040 and Motorola GP340 which are both discontinued but are by far the most popular of the previous generation of Motorola radios. You can also look at some cheap entry level radios such as the Baofeng BF-888S as a starting point.

However, the best advice would probably be to future-proof yourself and buy an analogue and digital hybrid radio. That way you can operate on analogue for now and when the whole world goes digital your radio will also have that capability. The best value analogue/digital hybrid radio is the Motorola DP1400 (digital version) as its cost effective and DMR digital compatible, but if you really want to treat yourself and push the boat out take a look at the Motorola DP4600e or a Hytera PD785.

You'll find the right radio for you. But start with something cheap and easy and work up from there.

Re: Business Radio licence help freqs

Posted: 11 Nov 2017, 19:04
by welshy9
thanks for the info guys its been a great help :)

i thought they were my frequencys so i blanked them off not realizing they were the same for everyone lol

thanks again guys

Re: Business Radio licence help freqs

Posted: 01 May 2018, 21:54
by Farty
Good heavens, a user of the business freqs who has a licence? There had to be at least one I guess!

Re: Business Radio licence help freqs

Posted: 14 Nov 2018, 00:06
by Dan13l
I have supplier light licence, with list of frequencies currently using RT-82 on them DMR with encryption as FOI confirms it is ok