Walkie Talkie Hot Or Not?

[Gashead]

Considering a pair of walkie talkies, particularly for around the busy areas where mobile reception may be difficult.

Can anybody share their experiences, range, frequency blocked, known unknowns etc?

[CharlotteB]

I've heard of them being confiscated at the gate.

[Pinhead]

They don't like 'em cos you can listen into and disrupt the site Teams / Comms that use them.

[incident]

Just now, Pinhead said:

They don't like 'em cos you can listen into and disrupt the site Teams / Comms that use them.

 

That very much *shouldn't* be the case. And if it is, then the Festival are doing something very wrong.

 

All of the official radios should be encrypted, and on licenced frequencies, whereas all the publicly available ones will be on PMR446 - so there's at least 2 separate ways that they won't be cross-compatible.

[Pinhead]

Haven't done Glasto for a few years as an Oxfam steward but for the other festivals it doesn't feel like they had anything that sophisticated - we occasionally had someone butt in or cross talk on the channel, prob from a CB in their campervan or something.

[CharlotteB]

3 minutes ago, incident said:

 

That very much *shouldn't* be the case. And if it is, then the Festival are doing something very wrong.

 

All of the official radios should be encrypted, and on licenced frequencies, whereas all the publicly available ones will be on PMR446 - so there's at least 2 separate ways that they won't be cross-compatible.

 

What's your handle? How many candles are you burning? 😅

[incident]

To answer the original question - no direct experience but I'd assume it's not worth the effort.

 

Without a network of repeaters to back it up (which the professional grade systems the festival use will have) then your range is going to be limited. You're also likely to run into other traffic - while you'll be on different frequencies to the main Festival radio systems, you almost certainly wouldn't be the only person using the public / unlicensed bands. For example I'd expect that probably a decent number of traders will have their own radios for operational reasons and they won't be bothered to fork out for a pro-grade system and/or the use of licenced frequencies.

 

3 minutes ago, Pinhead said:

Haven't done Glasto for a few years as an Oxfam steward but for the other festivals it doesn't feel like they had anything that sophisticated - we occasionally had someone butt in or cross talk on the channel, prob from a CB in their campervan or something.

 

Obviously systems out there can vary, and there's no rules saying that festivals need to encrypt, or that they can't use public frequencies. But I'm pretty sure Glastonbury don't cheap out on this.

[Pinhead]

Yeah the smaller festivals cant afford signal boosters and encryption and so on I'd say looking at the cheapo units they use and the fact that they seem to have about a 200m range before they start to stutter!

[incident]

1 minute ago, Pinhead said:

Yeah the smaller festivals cant afford signal boosters and encryption and so on I'd say looking at the cheapo units they use and the fact that they seem to have about a 200m range before they start to stutter!

 

I suspect you've seen it first hand at Bearded, where they didn't used to put a repeater in, and so we'd have to manually repeat messages to get them from one end of the site to another.

[JB3]

DAN, DAN Comms check.

 

Just had Jerk chicken by WH, where are you.

 

OVER

[Pinhead]

1 minute ago, incident said:

 

I suspect you've seen it first hand at Bearded, where they didn't used to put a repeater in, and so we'd have to manually repeat messages to get them from one end of the site to another.

And BD and Shambala, but maybe they've improved it now, dunno.

[Lucy92]

Send a memo on the monorail 

[Chris_R]

1 hour ago, incident said:

But I'm pretty sure Glastonbury don't cheap out on this.

 

As a steward team lead I will be carrying a radio - have been told to expect a bill of £600 if I lose one. So doesn't sound like they are going with the cheap options 😄 

I have no idea how much a radio costs I will be honest, so that may be because they have to do something to "switch encryption" in the other handsets or something?

I will be holding on to it for dear life though, it apparently comes out of the total given to our charity sponsor, that would be awful!

 

 

[clarkete]

2 hours ago, Gashead said:

Considering a pair of walkie talkies, particularly for around the busy areas where mobile reception may be difficult.

Can anybody share their experiences, range, frequency blocked, known unknowns etc?

Why not just spend a quid on a decent sim?   😊

 

Last year only time mine struggled was in the Elton crowd.  I'd be flabbergasted if your solution worked better there, given they've spent a fortune on infrastructure and you haven't. 

 

 

[Gashead]

Thanks for all the responses. I'm pretty sure I won't be needing a repeater as it's more for losing each other in the same approximate area and the person with the big hat has gone since I went to The Cider Bus and similar. If I get challenged by security I can simply return them to the car though the ones I have ordered look just like mobiles. They are only £34 for the pair, even if they don't do the job at Glastonbury their always on mode should be good for cycling communications.

[Gashead]

Just now, clarkete said:

Why not just spend a quid on a decent sim?   😊

 

Last year only time mine struggled was in the Elton crowd.  I'd be flabbergasted if your solution worked better there, given they've spent a fortune on infrastructure and you haven't. 

 

 

I have an EE and O2 dual SIM, just wary of the ever increasing capacity.

[clarkete]

22 minutes ago, Gashead said:

I have an EE and O2 dual SIM, just wary of the ever increasing capacity.

 

You want anything on Vodafone for best coverage now on the farm. 

 

https://www.uswitch.com/mobiles/guides/mvnos-a-guide-to-coverage-and-pros-and-cons-of-virtual-networks/

 

More here about their network upgrades https://techhq.com/2023/07/how-did-vodafone-supply-festival-telecommunications-glastonbury-wimbledon/

 

Edited June 8 by clarkete

[Ayrshire Chris]

2 hours ago, Gashead said:

Considering a pair of walkie talkies, particularly for around the busy areas where mobile reception may be difficult.

Can anybody share their experiences, range, frequency blocked, known unknowns etc?

if their use is frowned on by the festival then why not try these, if you don’t want to use mobile phones?

[Spindles]

Packing my semaphore flags.  2 brown flags waving franticly means I have to nip back to the tent to change.

[bob323]

we took some ages ago to keep in touch with the kids, unless things have changed, don't bother, almost every channel was being used ad-hoc by someone.

 

we got a few minutes of use then swamped by other comms, normal voice and what seemed like semi encrypted comms. it wasn't reliable - we gave up

Edited June 8 by bob323

[Yoghurt on a Stick]

36 minutes ago, Spindles said:

Packing my semaphore flags.  2 brown flags waving franticly means I have to nip back to the tent to change.

 

Scroll down and press the play button near the bottom

 

http://semaphorify.info/?c=I have to nip back to the tent to change

 

Yes, exactly, that is how sad my life is, that I know of that generator. 

[Neil]

6 hours ago, Chris_R said:

have been told to expect a bill of £600 if I lose one.

one of the (major) area  organisers was sacked by Michael  from that role a few years back after a few radios went missing(that was the official version). i also heard  that there were some intra-area's jealousies involved in things (with some building their own empires on the back of other's failures).

[Chris_R]

2 minutes ago, Neil said:

one of the (major) area  organisers was sacked by Michael  from that role a few years back after a few radios went missing(that was the official version). i also heard  that there were some intra-area's jealousies involved in things (with some building their own empires on the back of other's failures).

Ah I am making no Game of Thrones style moves here LOL. I am just being put in charge of our group of stewards for our specific shift - I really don't want anything great responsibility wise as I think it will take the fun out the whole thing for me.

 

Give me a gate to watch, a few people to chat with and an endless supply of revelling punters to watch over and I am very happy thanks. Just want to do a decent job of it on so that I get invited back year after year - no more Sunday morning in October heartache from missing out on tickets and I am golden 😉

 

[Yoghurt on a Stick]

7 hours ago, CharlotteB said:

 

What's your handle? How many candles are you burning? 😅

 

 

[Neil]

10 minutes ago, Yoghurt on a Stick said: