A two-way radio is an important tool for blue light services and private security companies because they provide a vital line of communication between operatives and headquarters. At Wall to Wall Communications, we’ve been providing the public and private sectors with two-way radios for 40 years and we have advised many businesses on the right radio systems to suit their needs.
As a business, you need to ensure that your data is not exposed. We previously discussed the frequently asked question: Are two way radios secure? Keeping on the same topic, we want to explore the issue of can a two way radio be traced? Two-way radios offer closed communication networks and these networks are known to be difficult for hackers to access. The networks rely on radio frequency, not an internet connection and radio frequencies can be hard to trace through GPS but it’s not impossible. Two-way radios traceability can be seen as a negative, but it also can be used to a company’s advantage to allow you to trace your employees whereabouts.
Can You Trace Two Way Radio Transmissions?
Tracing radio signals can be tricky because they aren’t as strong as a WIFI transmission, which makes it difficult to pick up a signal using GPS. Radio transmissions can be detected but they do have to be traced while an operative is using the device. There are several ways you can locate a radio signal which includes:
Triangulation
How triangulation works is that it measures the direction of radio waves from two to three points to locate the radio signal. The benefit of using triangulation to trace a two way radio transmission is that it only needs to measure the radio transmitters to pinpoint a location.
Trilateration
Trilateration is very similar to triangulation in tracing two way radio transmission but instead of measuring distance of the location of a radio signal, this method measures the time that it takes for radio waves to be transmitted between radios.
Can You Track Someone With A Walkie Talkie?
It is possible to track an operative using a walkie talkie, but it’s not always a bad thing. Many of our digital two-way radios include our unique trackitt software that gives real-time status updates from radio users. The application collects geographical information and stores it safely in the Cloud. The integration of trackitt into our digital walkie talkie allows businesses to build a picture of how well their radio operators are performing in their roles and to identify areas that need improving. Some more benefits of trackitt are:
- No limit on the number of users
- Can be used on digital and analogue devices
- In-depth information
- Simple to use software
- Messaging function
- Real-time status of individual radios
- Logged information on the cloud