judice@kyoa.enet.dec.com (L. J. Judice (DTN: 323-4103 FAX: 323-4533)) (07/05/89)
Two way radios REALLY help for this kind of work. A couple of years back we built a large LAN and a terminal network at a very large (2,000,000 sq ft) plant. We used Motorola MT series radios in the VHF band. They were very rugged and always reliable. The only problem we had in terms of penetration was talking from the computer room to some outlying location. Two solutions would be UHF (which we considered but never had time to demo), or an inexpensive base station radio, with antenna on the roof. Uniden (Regency) and others make these (see ads for Scanner World in Popular Communications magazine). Motorola also has a line of more compact radios, and I believe I saw a pair advertised in the Jensen Tool Catalog. By all means consider a radio system - it really helped turn drudgery into fun! /ljj (Standard disclaimers apply - I don't work for any of the above, but I've used their products).
edg@ames.arc.nasa.gov (Edward Greenberg) (07/07/89)
In article <telecom-v09i0224m11@vector.dallas.tx.us> judice@kyoa.enet.dec.com (L. J. Judice (DTN: 323-4103 FAX: 323-4533)) writes: >Two way radios REALLY help for this kind of work. A couple of years back >we built a large LAN and a terminal network at a very large (2,000,000 >sq ft) plant. You can probably rent a few portables from one of many radio vendors. Just consult the yellow pages under Two-Way Radio's or some such listing. If you want better coverage, you can get radios that share time on a "Community Repeater." There you have tone squelch that allows you to hear only your own traffic, but it's like a party line. If someone else is using it, you have to wait. Speaking as someone who has installed key systems using a pair of portables, I highly recommend this route, and specifically recommend that you rent portables with small speakermikes that can be clipped to your shirt up near your mouth. Saves continuously putting the radio on your belt and removing it again. -edg