Two Way Radios and Cars

Mobile radios fitted in cars require little maintenance if the radio and antenna are permanently installed. However our engineers find that in lots of cases when the radio is fitted in hire cars the radio/antenna has to be easily removable. This results in the use of magnetic mounted antenna and the radio fitted under one of the front seats. Because the wiring is not fixed it is likely to get damage and become unreliable.

The two main areas that cause the most problems are that aerial cable and the microphone cable. Damage to the aerial cable will reduce the coverage area, put excessive strain on the electronics of the radio and area of radio coverage becomes unreliable. If the cable is not repaired or replaced expensive repairs to the mobile may be also required. Unfortunately as the aerial cable is coaxial it is not simply a case of a visual inspection but needs to tested with calibrated test equipment.

Damage to the microphone cable is also hard to detect as the cable is made up of very thin flexible wire, if it is damaged it will result is intermittent communication until it fails completely.

Some customers have obtained magnetic antennas that have a small magnetic base and very thin aerial cable (coax) believing that this will solve problems with the area of coverage - wrong! an antenna that is used for two way communication needs to be adjusted to operate on the required frequency efficiently.

The magnetic base is too small to keep the antenna on the roof of cars when passing under such things height restriction bars in car parks. Two-way radios and base stations should be checked at lest once a year to ensure that the equipment is operating within manufactures specifications and licensing requirements.