So here is the deal, I work with a small, yet growing security company here in the South Tacoma area, and I have a problem. It's communication, the radio kind.

We have tried a couple of companies, such as Day Wireless and another company who have given us portable radios that they claim cover the entire area, but the coverage is shotty at best and broken up most of the time. I would say over half of the time, the radios can't even connect with the repeater. With officer safetly being an issue, screw that.

I personally hate digital trunked systems, while they sound cool and all, I don't trust the technology yet. So we are done trying out these new digital networks with bearcomm, day wireless and the like.

That sorta leaves me at a loss on how to communicate. We are using cell phones, but being that we have officers spread out in dense apartment complexes all over the city, who sometimes rely on others for backup in a tense situation, the cell phone is tough to fumble with while dealing with a situation. We also tried out the PTT features from verizon and sprint and were unimpressed with the reliability and ease of use. ( I wish nextel was still around )

I need something simple to use, will cover the Tacoma area, and we won't have to go sell vital organs to pay for. I honestly wish I had a 400 MHZ analog repeater I could use with good coverage so I can buy cheap and easy to program portables, but thats a pipe dream at best.

Any suggestions are helpful.

Techno weiner is your man to talk to.

He probably on night ops though

PTT over cellular.

He says they tried that without reliable results.

get a decent base system and than some quality portables would say vhf and push 5watt portables or you can put mobile repeaters in the cars

Cell phone with Viber app? It's kinda like a walkie-talkie. Hell it records everything too

We have been using an app called zello (sp?) but we are again not liking the ease of use.

SINCGARS or Harris HF Radio? you'll need a strong back though.