Understanding The Essentials of 2 way Radio Antenna

An antenna is essentially the most crucial element of a two way radio and other transmitting application such as cell phones, television, radar, or satellite communication. It is responsible for performing the most important task - converting electric power to transmittable radio waves and the other way round.

How an Antenna Works

To transmit a signal, the transmitter provides an electric charge that oscillates at a specific radio frequency to the terminals of the antenna. Consequently, the antenna sends out corresponding electromagnetic waves. During reception, the antenna takes some of the power of the transmitted electromagnetic waves to generate an extremely small voltage for the terminals, which is then redirected to a receiver that amplifies the signals. This is basically how an antenna works.

Extensive Applications

The applications supported by an antenna go beyond communication. The same concept powers today's high tech wireless applications that run computer networks; Bluetooth enabled systems, garage door openers, and baby monitors. It's important to know that a perfectly functioning antenna is not only critical to the functioning of your two way radio; it also helps maintain the life or longevity of your equipment.

The Bigger, The Better

The first and most important rule of thumb about an antenna to keep in mind is that the taller it is, the higher your db gain. A high volume of db gain is critical to achieving a stronger reach and better performance of your two way radio equipment. This basically translates to, "the bigger, the better." However, in order to achieve results in practical situations, the antenna can have only so much height. In essence you have to sacrifice convenience for performance or vice versa. You can't walk around or even install a gigantic antenna for all your needs, say for example your car radio.

Positioning of Antenna

The second rule of thumb pertains to the positioning of your antenna. The most optimal position for then antenna would be the centre of your metal car roof. In situations where this is not possible, you would need a "no ground plane" antenna. A no ground plane is basically just a metal surface that goes around the base of your antenna so that you have something for the radiating signal to react with. The next aspect you need to consider for your antenna is the frequencies at which you would be transmitting on. A VHF radio transmits and receives in a range from 136 to 174 MHz.



Chubby and Long Antennas

There are different kinds of two radio antennas available depending on how you want to use it. The large stock antenna is powerful and can be replaced or upgraded as you require. The shorter or stubby antenna provides a great deal of convenience. You can add a longer whip antenna to enhance your range. When it comes to two way radios, you stand to gain a great deal of advantages by having a business radio that comes with a removable antenna. The one problem is that removable antennas may not necessarily be compatible with all kinds of radios.

SwiftKey launches symbol-based communication app for people who are non-verbal

Any technology that can improve peoples lives is always a technology that will be championed by us here, and if it is helping people with learning or speech difficulties then that is more incentive for us to bring it to our readers. This is current available on the google store for android devices and we are stating now that this should be on apple devices as soon as possible, the original article can be found on the verge website.

SwiftKey, the predictive smartphone keyboard company, wants to help people who are non-verbal communicate with others. The company launched an experimental symbol-based assistive app today called SwiftKey Symbol, which it says can be used to build sentences using images. SwiftKey staff who have family members with autism spectrum disorder came up with the idea for the tool, according to the company's blog.



The app, which is free and available on Android, makes use of SwiftKey's predictive technology to suggest symbols that might be used to finish a sentence. Outside factors like the time of day or the day of the week will influence these predictions, the company says. Users can also add their own images and use audio playback to read out to sentence to others.

Symbol-based communication apps like this aren't new. Apps like Proloqui2Go and TouchChat also rely on pictograms to build sentences. But these tools can be expensive, and SwitKey says that its own take on the assistive app will be able to form sentences faster than the competition. "A lot of the current communication tools on the market are often too slow to select a particular image a child might choose," the company wrote on its blog. "We realized that SwiftKey’s core prediction and personalization technology â€" which learns from each individual as they use it â€" would be a natural fit for people on the autistic spectrum who respond particularly well to routine-based activity."

In the US, about two in 100 children have an autism spectrum disorder diagnosis. People with autism have varied needs, so it's possible that this app could enhance communication for some people. We haven't tried the app yet â€" but we're eager to see what it can do.

Motorola Solutions to buy UK's Airwave for $1.24 billion

As this article shows, Motorola move closer to sealing the deal to supply the emergency services for the whole of the UK, this move seems to prove what we have been saying, as Airwave have a working relationship with the emergency services and a good majority of the equipment they use are Motorolas' own products they are in an excellent position now.

Walkie-talkie and radio systems maker Motorola Solutions Inc said it would buy UK-based communications company Airwave Solutions Ltd for 817.5 million pounds ($1.24 billion) to beef up its services business.



Shares of Schaumburg, Illinois-based Motorola were up 3.4 percent in extended trading on Thursday.

Airwave, owned by a fund of Australia's Macquarie Group Ltd, provides voice and data communications to more than 300 emergency and public service agencies in Great Britain.

Motorola's sales have slipped as its major customers, which include police and fire departments as well as other government agencies, curtail budgets.

The company is trying to strengthen its services business - which provides communication services to governments, businesses and public safety agencies - to drive growth.

Activist investor ValueAct, Motorola's largest shareholder, said last month the company's shares were undervalued and that it would talk to its board about ways to enhance shareholder value.

Motorola Solutions said it plans to fund the purchase of Airwave, which has about 600 employees, with bank financing and cash on hand.

The deal is expected to add to adjusted earnings and free cash flow immediately after closing in the first quarter of 2016, Motorola said.

What Are The Types Of Motorola Connectors?

Since the 1920’s Motorola has been leading the advancement of radio technology in more ways than one. From the battery eliminator created in 1928 to the world’s first handheld public safety LTE device created in 2012, Motorola truly has been an innovator in the radio world.


There was one of Motorola’s products that stood out and started paving the way for the Motorola brand name. That was their two-way radio systems. In 1978 Motorola introduced the RDX1000. This device was a portable data terminal. With a built-in keyboard and advanced transmitters, The RDX1000 made it possible for a person to share information, like inventory control, wirelessly with a central computer system. It is because of advancements and products like the RDX1000 that Motorola was awarded the National Medal of Technology twice.

Yet, even with being the one of the leading technological companies they still had their issues. For example, the connectors used for their devices, usually, were confusing and weren’t universal like most of our tech is today. Yes, with being in the lead of the industry with innovative products they needed new forms of connectors and pieces that couldn’t exactly be matched by other companies. To be more specific, the connectors to the Motorola earpieces came with their own specific confusions.

Over the course of the years, Motorola devices have had over 50 different types of earpiece connectors. Motorola earpieces are specific to their devices so the pieces chosen had to be precisely specific to the device it was being matched with. You can imagine, with over 50 different types of connectors, finding the correct corresponding puzzle piece that would fit was imperative. The confusion wasn’t just limited to a small portion of the Motorola accessories . Motorola earpieces were different by model of the same device as well. With the earpieces you can’t exactly go by looks either. Most of the earpieces look very similar with very subtle difference.

Even though some had connectors with very similar differences. Differences ranging from appearance and size of the connector to the type of material used in the pin of the connector itself. This confusion also spans over several different years of manufacturing as well. With connectors from earlier years being a small series of pins in lateral form that would only connect to the proper outlet with the proper series of pins. Or like the single pin connector that would only be in a specific size per model, you wouldn’t exactly be able to take a Kenwood connector and confuse it with a Motorola 2-pin connector because on these connectors the pins are of a different size to the Kenwood. Some specific connectors can be understood considering the advancing of the technology as well as the device it connects to has some significance.

The importance of the device does have some control over the type of connector used as well. Because you don’t want to issue and offer a radio and have to worry about it getting lost or stolen and being used for an inappropriate purpose. But, you would expect a device in the same model family to be able to connect or at least the connectors to be somewhat interchangeable. This isn’t the case with Motorola radios. For example, The DP2400 two way radio takes a Clip on block style of connector. While the DP3400 responder radio has to have a Screw in Block  connector in order for the product to be used properly. Even though the station and responder radio are two different products, they share similarities and commonalities. Also you would expect them to share the same connector.

Unfortunately this is the case with many of the Motorola earpieces.