@@foxmulder216 Nextel Direct talk mode is phone to phone. Designed for work sites outside of cellular coverage, it uses digital channels and privacy codes in the 900 MHz ISM band. I've gotten 3 miles out of it in an urban environment because there isn't much in that spectrum.
thanks for the info. i’ve always beeen feeling this “radio” for quite some time now but don’t know specifically what it does, but now i know cause of you. thanks…
And as soon as you’re out of cell range it’s a paperweight, which is a lot of the point of radios today. It also doesn’t seem to have any kind of mic or headset input/output.
Those sorts of radios exist too, but they’re of course much more expensive. These are great for when you need medium to long ranges where walkietalkies don’t work, but have to give radios to people without radio licenses. We use them all the time filming in downtown Tokyo where there’s so much interference and physical obstructions a consumer walkietalkie is basically just LOS.
@@gastonbarouille767 you clearly don’t understand both the use and purpose of this device. First, they’re cheaper than phones and more durable. I don’t want to be handing out phones when I need to talk with people who don’t have an RT license. I don’t want to ask them to install an app and use their own data either. Secondly, phone batteries die too fast. Do this with a phone and it will last a few hours. These will last a day or more. Third, simply doing an internet voice call uses data constantly so it’s no option. Same with cellular calling, it uses minutes. This only uses data when the button is pressed. Fourth, range. I often work on video productions in central Tokyo. Regular radios simply don’t always have the range to reach through the urban sprawl. “Family band” radios certainly don’t. Lastly, kinda summarizes all the previous points,simplicity. Like I said we usually use these with people who don’t have an RT license. We just want to give them a box with a “talk” button and that’s it. Nothing is simpler than this.
I wish I could test these, we work inside of basically a Faraday cage and have a repeater antenna that allows us to get some cell phone reception in the building, back in the Nextel days, we could and have talked to a coworker from the East Coast while they were on top of the mountain in Hawaii looking at the big radio telescope, he was ABOVE the clouds and we could still hear him clear as day. Also used for our deep sea fishing trips where we could still chat over 40 miles from shore. The Nextels were perfect for staying in contact, but when they shut that PTT down, we switched to Verizon cell phones that had the feature that did not work nearly as well, and they shut that service down as well.
That's pretty interesting. I think it would be really useful if it had a built in radio as well, to fall back to when out of 3g/4g coverage. Then they would be awesome for group riding motorcycles etc.
@@stagiestpizza i have cardos and they don’t work well for my use case at all. You have to be pretty close for them to work. Also i’d love to have some handheld systems in the mesh.
If you wanted to go really deep down the rabbit hole, you could do what Shadytel does and set up impromptu telephone infrastructure. Technology is such now that you could probably fit a telephone exchange in your rucksack. And I'm only half joking!
@@deeiks12 I would assume that you could find some short range handhelds that would do the job for a quarter of the price though, couldn't you? plus they would work without cell signal or a data plan.
I’m 44 years old but you just told my story word for word except I was listening to ice T, NWA, too short, mc eight , snoop, Beastie Boys. I remember I got a pager in 7th grade because Eazy E rapped about it.
Of course its better than a dmr, or can be. This thing is just a cell phone in a different package. Did the 4g sim required part not give it away? lmao
I think this is great. Personally, I dont have a use case, but that doesnt mean I can't appreciate it for thise who do. It would be neat if it had wifi for local use (warehouse, etc) and it could be extended using private networks (networks of warehouses). A headset jack would be neat, but it's small enough you could use it in place of a speaker mic, albeit a quite heavy one. The funny thing is, if your channel didn't (wonderfully) provide so much amateur radio content, you wouldn't have so many grumpy comments. As you pointed out, its not amateur radio and doesnt pretend to be. Its just a 4G walkie talkie. Great for use where walkie talkies have a use case, but you have an extended working area and don't want to deal with the infrastructure required to service it. Sure, it relies on the cellular network, but businesses already know the limitations of that network when they rely on smartphones, and if you're anywhere other than a very rural area, you likely have signal.
Thanks for the information, I was not aware of that type of radio. I have to look into it further, I was thinking about a GMRS radio but this might be better. 73!
Very cool little sets indeed but the lack of WiFi connectivity seems a bit of an omission. Would also be a nice feature to have independent, programmable UHF freqs built in - perhaps the PMR 446 band for Europe or GMRS for the US for when out of cellular coverage but local handset to handset comms is still desirable? However, still very cool little things indeed and a great overview - thanks. :)
yeah, if this only works if you have a cellular account and only in range and IF cell service is up. would be useless in an deep woods/emergency/shtf situation
We’ve used these sorts of radios on video productions we need longer range but not everyone who needs a radio has have a radio license. Very useful little things as long as you’ll never be anywhere outside of cellular range.
A Wi-Fi version of this radio would be be interesting because Wi-Fi could be installed at a remote work site where 4G does not exist. The Wi-Fi access point could be tied to one of the various satellite Internet providers for wide area coverage.
@@kasuraga Old wrt54g's flashed with DD-WRT firmware make excellent point-to-point extenders - they're cheap ($30-$40 used), reliable, and still widely available.
@@heinzzid3923 The network client devices offer several advantages over a mobile phone with application, namely almost instant on, a speaker loud enough to hear over construction equipment, and ruggedized construction. The idea appears to be to have a simple device which conforms to the traditional notion of job site walkie-talkie.
It looks like it may be more rugged than mobile phones. Having a loud speaker is a huge plus on a job site. Simple operation is also a plus. The disadvantage is that you’re still paying incrementally to use a mobile phone network and you might not have access to that at a geographically remote work site.
I work in industry. When we're posted to "geographically remote work sites" we use UHF repeater systems or satellite phones. In the past we'll drive a spare work truck to the top of a hill or mountain with a repeater in it and use it to bounce comms in and out of a location. If we're on the site for a long time we just put in a solar powered repeater. Since these work off cell towers, you'd naturally not try to force their use in an area with no cell signal, that just wouldn't make sense. They're not FOR that. Think more like, a security company who wants to be able to communicate with it's employees without them breaking smart phones and watching p*rn all night on it.
I'm sure there are applications where these could come in handy because of their rugged and simple design, but for most applications any budget smart phone will probably do the job just as well. As for potential cons; always keep in mind is obsolescence. For one thing, in ten years time, who knows if the software for it will still work or if your computer even has the right port to plug it into. Another is that it relies on Real PTT, so who runs those servers and could they disappear tomorrow, may be relevant questions to consider. An additional point about longevity is that the cellular networks change. 2G and 3G is starting to get phased out in many places or will soon be. Which leaves 4G. How long will that stick around? Those are points to consider. The answer may well be that they're irrelevant for your purpose. They sure look like neat, little practical units that do what they're supposed to and do it well.
It's not for the applications where a budget smart phone would work. Think...security companies. Staffed by not overly intelligent people who get bored easily and break things constantly. Something like this they can't screw up, they can communicate on it, can't watch videos or p*rn, and that's it. And you're not buying them (even a budget) smart phone which they will absolutely destroy, probably in the first week, then want a replacement.
Excellent points, however the relevance is lost looking big picture, well because there is no big picture. For any of us. Smart money says everything goes to hell before 4g is phased out lol
@@JWallace004 We're all gonna die at some poitn and suffer till that day, yes. That's kinda a given. Until then ima geek tf out with all the electronic goodies I wanna play with. Then if I end up with a bunch of time on my hands and can't go outside, I'll have something to keep me busy. Smart money says if you're worried about what you're worried about, you're going to end up wasting money trying to stave off the inevitable. You're all over the place dude, try to pull yourself together a little. Have some composure.
Hiking would be an iffy use for a device that relies entirely on 3/4G wireless signal. Mountains play havoc with my signal every time I'm out there. Of course this is in the Rocky Mountains, USA, so I'm sure things are easier in the UK.
This is completely useless for "hiking" unless you know EVEYWHERE you hike has cell phone reception. Better off buying the new ip14 or a sat comm texter, like inreach zoleo or spot.
When you say they could be used for hiking or camping, I wouldn’t rely on these for that. If at any point the cell signal drops , they become nothing but a brick.
20 years ago we had NEXTEL PTT over 3g that worked so well in the field. Then Sprint bought them and it quickly became latent, with terrible sound quality. Almost as if Sprint wanted to destroy any competition.
I read that they run on Linux. So the question is whether they are locked down, or if there is a way to unlock their true potential. (Without breaking the law. They do connect directly to the phone system, so there may be some legal limitations to what would be allowed.)
All it is is a cell phone. You have to pay a monthly fee for that SIM. On the other hand, a two-way radio is "buy once, cry once" (ie no monthly fee). Further, if the cell phone network goes down or you go out of range, all you have is a paper weight.
the likelyhood of ALL carriers going down is unlikely. the nice thing sbout these type of radios, the sim csrds they use will automatically switch to different available carriers.. for instance if youre in a dead zone for att and your cell is an att phone you are SOL.. with this.. it will switch to perhaps verizon which has signal in that area. and using s global sim you can take these anywhere and they will hop onto other countries carriers too.
Just learned about the existence of these PTT cell radios. Besides the cost of the radio what else is there? What is this PTT account and sim card is there a monthly fee and if so, what happens if the company shuts down?
Used cell network radios one season instead of uhf on a live tv show. These would work better than analog radios or regular cell phones in a lot of situations. Push a physical button to quickly talk to a group of people anywhere there’s LTE coverage. They weren’t great for live show cues though, as there was up to a second of delay in receiving transmissions. Also not great when multiple people have them in close proximity without headsets, they all receive and replay with slightly different delays. I would consider a headset jack an essential feature for a network radio
This looks quite good. Going on tour soon and I'm looking at radio options to keep the crew in contact with one another all the time. Our last set of walkies were barely passable. We rented motorolas (the standard for work sites) and they constantly needed recharging and were expensive. Would you recommend these perhaps?
As long as there is good cell service with enough bandwidth at the venue. If you have an audience of 10,000 in a rural area, don’t expect data transmission to be reliable.
6:47 You said you would link them in the description below. However, I can't find anything in your description about where to buy these. Can you post a link please? These seem really cool.
Didn't the cab driver in Marmaris in one of your previous videos use such a thing ? I also would have liked to see how to charge the battery by using the crank :) Otherwise, PTT over mobile phone is a bit like the soda machines, it has a comeback every 20 years or so then gets forgetten.
This may be a bit left of field, but has any radio amateur looked into the technical specifics of DJI video transmitters. Apparently they advertise a low latency high-definition signal for about 6 km of range.
The only problem is if you lose your network second fiber-optic line goes down or a cell site goes down you don't have no Communications whatsoever nice-looking units but I would prefer the old analog ham radio wait you can't beat the old analog way any day have a good one thanks for the video
Its an idea for festivals and sorts. What i miss is the function to connect an head set or something. So you can leave it in your pocket keep the line open en talk with a bunch of people at ones. If the battery last longer than a cell phone en data usage is less than a cell phone
But dont you have to have a subscription to the local Telecom provider to use these terminals? Meaning - do you have to have a subscription both locally and with RealPTT to use these devices?
Can you do a video on the local radio systems used in shops and restaurants? Most of the staff at Aldi seem to be wearing a wireless headset used to communicate with their colleagues. These seem very different from the bulky analogue radio systems I used in past workplaces.
At the Co-op I used to work at, we used a digital system that connected all the radios by wireless access points. The range seemed similar to WiFi in that it you walked about 20 metres away from the coverage area everything just disconnected, and would reconnect to the network when you walked back into range. The headset itself *was* the transceiver, there was no additional kit hanging off your belt that the headset would sync up with over Bluetooth or whatever. I assumed it was all just using VoIP, but someone else might know better than me.
how did you create the Real PTT account?? Bought a radio based on this your video cause it looks cool. Wondering how you created an account because there website only has a login but now account creation
Would be useful devices for a group of drivers which want to stay connected if one of them takes accidentally the wrong turn or something like this. Would be utterly useless here as long as it depends on mobile Networks. If they'd fall back to some UHF-Frequency like 863 - 865 MH (EU ISM) or at least 802.11a/ac wifi - one vehicle could provide a WLAN where all these devices connect to with fallback to mobile data and/or ISM. Perhaps in some iteration this will be considered, this device seems to be basically an VOIP-Phone, perhaps even SIP - with the advantage of reaching out to many receivers at once with just one Button to push. With the WLAN-Option there couls be coverage of large sites even with poor mobile networks due to massive buildings or basements and with no monthly fee - WLAN Access Points are mostly needed on sites anyways, if these PTT-Devices could connect to these Networks and connect to a local Server with the PTT-Server as .deb package or even Asterisk for SIP-Services - this could be a great product.
Is there a channel like this RU-vid channel for the USA? I recall you mentioned something like Comms, but I do not remember the exact RU-vid channel name. Thanks
Reminds me of Nextel. I was issued on when I worked in IT at a global corporation. Anyone could ping me 24x7. After a week, I wanted to throw it in the river.
You're missing the point, it's not FOR personal use. Think of a security company that needs inexpensive comms with it's people, and doesn't want them breaking smart phones and watching p*rn all night on them. This would fit that perfectly, and they can't screw it up. (though you should never underestimate the ability of a security guard to screw something up). Think, hotel staff. Any low level position where you want comms with your people but you don't want to pay for even budget smart phones. How often do all the cell towers in an area go out? Not often. They aren't "emergency backup comms", they're just meant to be a price-point enterprise solution. It's like you picking up a bar code scanner and going "well this is stupid, what am I going to use this for at home?" You're not.
@@maindave1 Sorry if I come across brusquely, I'm "on the spectrum". I don't mean anything by it. Sometimes I read stuff later and I go...well maybe that was kinda rude, but it's more excitement than anything. I've been trying to tone it down a bit. I feel like if I just say "it's not designed or marketed for the typical consumer in mind as an end-user" people won't quite connect the same with it. It's easier to just paint the picture and make the connection easier, but I get kinda verbose and intense sometimes. My bad. You're a good egg, Dave.
Those look nice. They wouldn't work in my area because of poor cellular coverage away from the highways and in town. (lives in the Great Smoky Mountains of western North Carolina)
Is there any cost obligations to the network providers? Or can you just have two-way open channels permanently and not run up any kind of bill or run down prepay balances?
@@tangoreal9098 This is simply untrue, even during the siege of the azov steel factory they were still in contact with their families, my friend regularly chats with his friends back in ukraine on normal cellphones (non-opsec stuff ofc)
These things work great in locations that have 100% cellular coverage. In the west desert, Utah, Nevada, Arizona, Idaho, New Mexico and so on...they are almost useless.
A good story about short wave radios. TV host. Late night Johnny Carson. Was a radio man in the navy way back. In the with draw out of Vietnam. Johnny Carson used his short wave radio to lesson to the live, front line battles, with our withdraw. He stayed glued to his short wave radio. When the summer of 1975 with draw with a win was done. Johnny Carson, hunted me down. He wanted to meet the man code name ( aunt bee ), who was in charge of with drawing 720.000 American troops in 90 days. And only lost 4200 men. Note before the movement started est were 75000 troops would be killed. I only lost 4200. All of them died protecting the reverse movement and saved thousands of lives. Costing them there life. Always keep a short wave... One day your family will need it.
If you are going to be dependent on cell networks just use your phone. There are free ptt apps that do exactly what this thing does. My wife and I had nextels and particularly when we split up while shopping we just ptt each other to keep each other posted on what to cross off the list. Why easier than calling, but not very dependable when out in the woods far from a cell tower. You want simplex for that, get a cheap uv-5r, gt-3wp or uv-9g for real point to point (simplex) ptt communication.
I think these are more aimed at enterprise use. You buy a few of these, set them up, give them to your employees with minimal training ("its a radio, press that button to talk") and now you have basic communication in any location that has at least 2G coverage. Its great that we can buy them and play with them, but the radio hobby isn't the target market.
@@VA7SL You're missing the point. Yes, you still need a sim card, but do you know how much it costs for a company to have to buy phones for low-level employees just to have reliable comms with them?? Or for them to get on an actual commercial UHF repeater? And you can make it impossible for the employee to screw it up. It's JUST for communications, they can't watch p*rn on it. Yes, there's a cost for the sim cards but that's pretty low compared to buying everyone smartphones.
If it could incorporate encryption, that the user could select, & had the option for WiFi, it would open more possibilities. Zello logs GPS Data, & keeps recordings of the calls for 2-years, which I'm not thrilled about. If a person could get a hold of some outboard encryption boards, such as some Transcript Modules, and 'marry' them to this radio, it would open some serious possibilities, for secure comms world wide. A mobile version with an accessory connector, which brought-out RX & TX audio, PTT, 'Carrier Detect' or Active Channel Logic, & Channel Steering would allow interfacing to other equipment & systems. This could be fun to experiment with. I wonder what legality issues this might present? The gears of my mind are definitely turning. ;)
Interesting. They are cool if you need this sort of thing. The fact though that they need working cellular means that they are worthless in a grid down situation. That is my main interest so I'll stick with the ham radio equipment.
The problem with all these zello type radios, is that if there is No Cellular Service, they don't work! If there is a major power outage, there is no cell service! So if the SHTF, you are screwed! But they do work well, in the mean time!
You may be right about using this type of equipment. I believe this represents some value. But in light of recent events globally, I see no use in a communications equipment that depends on a SIM Card and a network to be able to operate. I'm not in contact with the instruction manual for this particular equipment and I can't see all the possibilities at the moment...but i suspect In case of generic blocking of means of communication, it will not be possible to establish our own communications with equipment of this type, which is far from the ideal situation. What's the advantage then? Furthermore, it is something that in the event of a global blocking it will be one of the first systems that can be disabled, in my view. Macedo Pinto Portugal
I'm of the same opinion. Reliance on 'their' networks makes these somewhat pointless. You don't need to dial, you can push to talk. That's the only benefit I see. The need for an intermediary, i.e. Real PTT also means these aren't secure either.
@@johnweymouth5685 Honestly, I'm not a Prepper. And I don't let myself be lulled by conversations about equipment that uses an infrastructure that can be rendered globally unviable in seconds. What I think we should think about in the case of SHTF is to have conventional two-way radios, with perfectly aligned electronics, properly aligned antennas (as hidden as we can) and never forget that we will also need a linear amplifier in case of emergency, because without this it may not be possible to contact someone in the different possible scenarios. In a war scenario, for example, it is not expected that communication towers will survive what an invader might do to our territory and we should not believe in any system that relies on 5G, 4G or even 3G. None of this will work in this case. We must keep our eyes open and think technically in advance, equip ourselves with simple and robust equipment, always be on the lookout, know how to remain silent in the radio space and only broadcast radio frequency signals as a last resort. Remember that your geographical position can be discovered very easily using trigonometry. Be aware. In other words, going back to the old school and using appropriate tactics when using the spectrum must be what we do best. This is just my opinion
Just a gadget. Satellites can be shut down with the flip of a switch. So can cellphone towers during any kind of a disaster or police action. Anyone that's ever been in Los Angeles during an earthquake can tell you how cellphones don't work. I'm not sure a payphone would work even if you could find one.
In my opinion the mention of the range is misleading in addition to repeaters being a con. Depending on your location in the world. such as Australia, repeaters can provide more converage than the cellular network. I do understand the use case however they are definitely not as useful as VHF or even UHF in areas outside of cellular networks. Thanks for the content. Cheers
Funky devices to use mobile phones network. But my cheap Ulefone is also rugged and I could talk over mobile network from Helsinki to Toronto just a same way. Or completely free over free WiFi.
I noticed these radios about year ago but they were marketed as "Nokia walkie talkies" by tydera, with no mention about the SIM card requirement. Where this has "anysecu" text on the front it had "Nokia" and I doubt Nokia had anything to with that radio.
