In an effort to achieve standardization objectives for purchases of products used by the military and other government organizations, the U.S. Department of Defense created standards that these products must meet. You will see these standards called military standard, “MIL-STD”, or “MIL-SPEC.” These standards ensure products meet certain requirements, commonality, reliability, compatibility, and similar defense-related objectives.

The Department of Defense also has standards for two-way radios and radios that meet this standard must meet levels for such criteria as vibration, rain, salt air, sand/dust, shock (dropping), humidity, temperature as well as other factors.

Buying two way radios that meets mil-spec standards means you are buying a quality product that is built to withstand tougher use.

You may also see radios with an “IP” designation. IP stands for Ingress Protection and it is an international standard that specifies the sealing effectiveness of the enclosure of a product. It is a two digit code that tell you how effective the enclosure is to penetration from fingers, dust, and moisture.

For instance, for a radio that meets IP 55, the first 5 means it is protected from the amount of dust that would interfere with its operation. The second 5 means that it is protected from water that shoots from a nozzle.

So when it comes time to purchase a two way radio you need to ask yourself what kind of useage it’s going to see. In industrial environments or for heavy-duty outdoor usage, you likely need a mil spec radio. In an office environment or for residential use you could probably get away with a lighter duty radio as long as you don’t drop it too often.

Most Mil-Spec radios will also have some feature content you will probably not find on lower cost radios. Channel Scanning is one such feature. If you want to monitor more that one channel, then you’ll need channel scanning capability. Higher quality accessories such as headsets with strain reliefs are another. Features like emergency call (man down), plus two-tone encode and DTMF tones that can activate other systems are additional features not found on cheap two way radios.

For more assistance on choosing the right radio for you, make sure you get the free book called Two-Way Radio Success: How to Choose Two-Way Radios, Commercial Intercoms, and Other Wireless Communication Devices For Your Business.

The loading dock in a business, hospital, or college is often overlooked when it comes to security. But the loading dock is a portal that exposes an organization to all sorts of risk.  Anyone can walk in and have full access to your building. Adding security personnel to monitor the dock is an expensive proposition that is usually not an option. The solution is to lock the doors of your loading dock and provide an intercom system for delivery people to call for deliveries.

With the MURS Callbox XT Outdoor Intercom installed on your loading dock door, and having at least one of the staff carry a two-way radio, you can secure your loading dock without missing deliveries. You can also place base station intercoms on several desktops so office personnel can monitor for deliveries.

Using these wireless intercoms, you can still get your important deliveries, without compromising security.

There are some situations where placing a phone call to notify an emergency response team is just not fast or reliable enough. What is needed is an emergency notification system that just requires a simple press of a button to notify everyone that needs to know.

A chemical manufacturing facility would be a good example of a need for this type of a system. If a chemical spill occurs, there is no time to make several phone calls. Assistance from multiple people is needed immediately.

At IntercomsOnline.com you can find the MURS Indoor Customer Service Callbox that can be used as a panic button that when pressed sends a recorded message to two-way radios, base-station intercoms, or to a wireless or wired public address system. You can record whatever message you want, or you could simply record a siren sound that plays when the button is pressed. If you have multiple areas where you need a panic button, then you’ll want to make sure you can distinguish between the recordings so you know where to send help.

If you don’t already have a PA system, then the MURS Wireless PA System can receive calls from the callbox and you won’t have to run expensive cabling to install it. If you already have a wired intercom, then the MURS Commercial Intercom can also receive calls, plus it has an audio output that you could run into your exisiting wired PA system.

No matter what your industry, if there is a situation where an emergency can occur, this system makes sure help occurs rapidly.

At IntercomsOnline.com we quite frequently get requests for a long-range wireless baby monitor type of intercom system that people want to use to monitor their elderly parents who live nearby. They want to be able to listen for cries for help.

If the parents live right next door the WireFree Portable 900MHz Wireless Intercom System (set of 2) will work since it has a Monitor mode. The problem is that this system really only has a range of a few hundred feet. If your parents live around a mile or so, that system won’t help.

We have not yet found any system that works like a baby monitor over a long-range. This is likely because a system that did this would be tying up a channel so no one else could use it. There are only a limited number of frequencies available for public use. If several people had them tied up with a monitoring application, then the frequencies would be useless to everyone else, or everyone would be monitoring everyone else.

Until such time as someone solves this problem, we do have one wireless intercom that will work for remote communication as long as the elderly parent can push a button. Our MURS 4 Mile Range Intercom works over a long distance. If the elderly person needs to carry something with them, then there the MURS two-way handheld radio works with this system as well.

By placing a MURS unit in both sides, two-way communication can occur over a long distance by simply pressing the talk (PTT) button.

There is a motion detector available (MURS Base and MURS Alert Kit) for this system so if you want to know if your elderly parent enters the kitchen, bathroom, or some other area of the home, the motion detector will send a verbal “Alert Zone 1″ message. That way you’ll know your parent is still able to move around.  If you don’t hear an Alert message then you can call and check to see if everything is OK.

The MURS 4 mile Range Intercom also has a relay switch that is also turned on you can use to activate an external bell or have turn on lights as an additional alert signal.

This system is available at www.IntercomsOnline.com.

When an elderly or disabled person lives in the same house as their caregiver, there needs to be a way that person can call the caregiver in the event of an emergency.

An elderly or disabled person needs to be able to summon help at any time whether he or she is in the bedroom, bathroom, or outside.

The solution many people go with is a wireless intercom system. Wireless intercoms can easily be placed throughout the house in key areas to ensure caregivers can be reached when needed. A particularly good choice for this application is the WireFree Wireless 900MHz Doorbell and Intercom.

These battery powered intercoms are portable and have a battery life of up to 12 months. They have a range a few hundred feet and you can use as many of them as you want. Plus they provide digital security so other people can’t listen in to your conversations.

When someone presses Call button on the WireFree Wireless Doorbell and Intercom (the white unit), they will hear a two-tone doorbell tone. A couple of seconds later, all the WireFree Portable intercoms inside the house will sound a similar doorbell tone.

You respond by pressing the Talk button on a WireFree Portable (black unit) and saying “Hello” or some other verbal response. The person on the doorbell unit will then be able to talk for up to 40 seconds without pressing their button again. However, you will be required to press the Talk button on the WireFree Portable each time you want to talk to them.

After approximately 40 seconds the microphone on the WireFree Wireless Doorbell will turn off and you will not hear anything until the button is pressed again.

Unlike our black WireFree Outdoor 900MHz Intercom (Set of 2), you cannot make a call to the Wireless Doorbell. Someone must press its Call button before pressing the Talk button on an indoor intercom will work. The black WireFree Outdoor Intercom does not have the handsfree, speakerphone-type conversation that the Wireless Doorbell has.

You can add as many WireFree Portable intercoms inside your house as you want and they will all receive the doorbell chime. Whatever unit responds to the chime will set up a secure channel with the doorbell unit, unless you have all your units set up in Conference mode. Then everyone can hear.

Anyone who operates a nursery that grows trees, shrubs, flowers, or any other plant life knows that they don’t spend a lot of time in the office. The problem being the office is the first place a visiting customer will go to find someone to talk to. If they can’t find anyone, they may just leave and take their money with them.

There is an easy solution for this problem that can quickly pay for itself. The MURS Callbox XT Outdoor Intercom paired with a two-way radio solves this problem. The customer simply  presses the button on the callbox and the nursery operator can instantly respond.

If the nursery grower has existing two way radios, there are models in both UHF and VHF frequencies that can be programmed to work with those radios. Otherwise, you can get unlicensed MURS radios that work with the callbox.

With this system, nursery growers won’t have to miss another sale.

When you hear the term two-way radio there are a lot of products that could fit this generic term. You’ll also hear the terms walkie-talkie, handy talkie, hand-held radio, base station radio, mobile radio, land mobile radio, private land mobile radio, family radio service, specialized mobile radio, and commercial mobile radio service. All these terms are essentially referring to a radio that allows you to have two-way communication.

The differences between all these two-way radio products amounts to the quality of the construction of the radio, the frequencies used, and the features available. You can get a cheap pair of radios for $50 or you can spend a few hundred for ones that meet military-tough standards and has all the features you would want and then some.

Two-way radios are essentially available in three types: hand-held portable, vehicle-mounted mobile, and desktop base station. There are also unique two-way radio devices such as indoor and outdoor call boxes and one-way radio receivers for wireless paging that we will cover in other sections as well.

Handheld portable two-way radios are the walkie talkie type of radios you see people carrying around. As ruled by the FCC (Federal Communications Commission), handheld radios may not have more than 5 watts of power.

Vehicle-mounted mobile two-way radios mount in a car or truck and they use the vehicle’s battery for power. They may have their own antenna, but better range is achieved by using an externally-mounted antenna.

Desktop base station radios use wall AC power and they too may have a built-in antenna, but this antenna may be disconnected and then connected to cable that leads to an external-mounted antenna. The higher the antenna is mounted, the better the range. The vehicle-mounted mobile radios are usually used as base stations by just adding an AC to DC power converter.

Mobile and Base station radios are usually more powerful than hand-held radios and may have as much as 100 watts of power.

To help you through the confusion of buying them, you can find a two-way radio guide at www.IntercomsOnline.com. It reviews all the technical details about two-way radios, plus it tells you about some of the unique applications you can use them for.