I’m going to upgrade our church security radios and need 900MHz capable radios.
My first choice would be the DTR700 as I think it would cover all of our needs. However, I’m now intrigued by the DLR110 due to its smaller form factor and simplicity (many on my church security and medical teams are not “radio people” and thus need things as simple as possible). We won’t initially need the WiFi capabilities of the DLR110, but that’s a nice future-proofing technology.
According to the reps at Buy Two Way Radios.com, I believe the DTR700 may have a slight range advantage due to the slightly longer antenna. But our range is high school campus sized, meaning we’ll never push the full range either of these radios can handle.
Our church is housed within the typical “prison build” high school; lots of concrete, brick, and metal. We also have the option of the essentially plug and play repeater offered for these radios, the Cane Wireless DRX1020 Digital Range Extender.
So I’m seeking advice and perspective for anyone who’s had experience with either or both of these radios. I’ve got the budget approved for both, but if I go with the DLR110, I can also get the repeater, if needed.
I have tested the DTR550 versus the DLR1060 in head-to-head range tests. The longer 1/2-wave antenna on the DTR550 gave me about one block longer range than the original 1/4-wave stubby on the DTR550. Surprisingly, the DLR 1060 was only about a 1/2-block shorter range than the DTR with the stubby antenna. Based on my head-to-head tests, you will do fine with the DLR. (I tested them in a high density urban environment with lots of building, trees and vegetation, and they were good for about 20 blocks in my tests, but of course actual range is very dependant on conditions. But they have beaten any VHF or UHF analog radio for range in other head-to-head tests.)
I would suggest not worrying about a repeater unitl you find how the DLRs perform in your conditions. I think they are an ideal choice, and they can be easily programmed without software. Simply change the codes on all of them from the factory defaults and you are good to go.
Go for it. The folks at buytwowayradios are very experienced on radios for churches, and very knowledgeable on the DTR/DLR series radios. You can trust them.
Let us know how they are working for you. There is a nice community in here of fans of the DTR/DLR radios. When they first came out, even Motorola couldn’t help us out; we had to learn them on our own.
Interesting bit of trivia - the frequency-hopping, spread-spectrum radio idea was first invented by a Hollywood actress named Hedy Lamar during the Second World War. She was an inventor and she created a system to allow remote control of torpedo guidance during the war that would be immune to frequency jamming from enemy ships. In those days, women could not hold a sole patent, so she co-patented it with her friend, co-inventor and music composer named George Antheil.
Somehow I can’t see the Kim Kardashians of the world doing anything equally useful in life.
