Today\'s two way radio market is very competitive with numerous models and brands on the market all with a variety of functions, and this can make choosing one for your business difficult. Do you need a Motorola, Kenwood or Icom radio, for example? Do you need a handheld or mobile radio or even a UHF repeater? Assuming you are in need of a mobile radio, this article will hopefully provide a useful guide to the features and jargon found in the market.

A mobile radio is one of the larger portable units, often found installed in vehicles as opposed to being carried by hand, though they do sometimes fulfil military or similar functions where they are carried into the field. Choosing between a Kenwood, Motorola or Icom radio will largely be down to personal brand preference as most of them will feature the same functions, though there may be aesthetic or warranty aspects with different brands which you will prefer.

The kind of business you are in will largely dictate what you need when you are purchasing your mobile Motorola, Kenwood or Icom radio; for example, there is little point selecting one of the military grade devices if you run a haulage firm as it\'s highly unlikely that it will need the degree of waterproofing and impact protection from inside a vehicle compared to inside a backpack in hostile weather conditions.

Some models of radio will offer a lot of channels, from eight to several hundred and money can be saved here. If you run a taxi firm for example, you are unlikely to need that many channels as you will prefer that everyone is communicating on the same frequency, whereas if the radio is needed for military or similar applications, a lot of channels can be useful.

Another consideration to make when selecting your Kenwood, Motorola or Icom radio is the degree to which you feel the security of your transmission is necessary: some models of mobile radio will feature a voice inversion scrambler function as standard and - though it is not foolproof - this added layer of defence can be a very useful factor if transmission security is a concern.

If the operator is likely to be working alone for extended periods of time, it is worth looking into choosing a mobile radio which has emergency signalling functions which can be a valuable aid if something does go wrong and the user requires assistance.

Ultimately the type of business will define the functions you need from your Motorola, Kenwood or Icom mobile radio, but hopefully this article has provided a few helpful tips in regards to some of the available features.