Do you know what frequencies your two-way radios are licensed to operate on? If you’re defaulting to any frequency that seems to work, you could be breaking the law.
“This is where businesses really get into trouble and it happens more than you would think,” says Commenco Director Gary Quint. “They don’t realize that transmitting on the wrong frequencies can interfere with other licensed systems and violations are easily traced. Frequencies are shared by many businesses in urban areas like Kansas City, so violations really stand out. Before you know it, the government is knocking on your door.”
FCC regulation of radio operations is nothing to take lightly. Get caught using the wrong frequencies or violating your license in any other way and you’ll be shocked at the penalties. Fines can soar to $5,000 or more — every day. That’s right, $5,000 daily until your system is brought into compliance.
“Compliance alone is worth the cost of an extended service plan with Commenco,” says Quint. “We’ll make sure your business is squared away with FCC regulatory and license requirements and routinely check to make sure your system isn’t interfering with other licensed systems.”
Just one radio operating on the wrong frequency can throw off the performance of your entire system and pinpointing the problem can be an expensive journey.
Think Your Staff Can Handle Maintenance? Think Again.
Designing, engineering, installing, programming, and maintaining each of the key components in a radio system requires training — hundreds of hours of skilled training. Anyone who does this work needs to know what they’re doing. Guesswork isn’t good enough and a general IT background isn’t either.
Radio maintenance involves much more than cleaning and troubleshooting. Responsibilities include routine software and firmware updates that fix glitches, optimize performance, and strengthen system security. Do you have the right people on staff to handle all of that?
“Probably not,” says Quint. “Most small and medium-size businesses don’t have anyone on staff with specialized training, certifications, and testing gear to efficiently do the job. They tend to look at these systems with a break and fix mentality: if it breaks, I’ll fix it. But that’s a very expensive approach and it ignores all the efficiencies a commercial radio system can bring.
Maintenance is a fact of life
Just like a car needs routine maintenance, a radio system won’t last long without cleaning and updates. So why do so many businesses install a new system and then drop the ball when it comes to taking care of it?
“Most people don’t have time to delve into the details,” says Quint. “Until the system goes down and messages can’t get through and by then, the problem is usually much bigger than they thought.”
Normal wear and tear from daily use takes a toll on most devices. Add in dust, heat, moisture, interference, accidents, misuse, and other common industrial hazards and a radio system shutdown – which inevitably happens at just the wrong time – could soon be around the corner.
“Radios are extremely reliable,” explains Quint. “But that’s only if they’re properly maintained and updated. Some of these systems can last a decade or more with the right care.”
Shift the burden of radio maintenance from your team to ours and save your company thousands in repairs over the lifetime of your equipment. Commenco Care allows you to pay a monthly fee to put your entire system under our care — everything from system engineering, programming, and installation to troubleshooting, maintenance, upgrades, and documentation.
Learn more about Commenco Care Managed Services>>
