Menu
We quite often get asked what radio can be used at our sites. Here are some guidelines:
There are two basic types of radio equipment – those that can be operated without a licence and those that require a licence to operate.
These are the basic radios which can be bought cheaply from any retailer – they are easily identified because they have fixed antennae that cannot be removed and are set to transmit at 500mW on 8 frequencies in the 446MHz band.
They do not require any licence to use, and you may use them freely on any of our sites. They are excellent for section level comms similar to military PRR type radios.
They are low powered, so don’t have a huge range. They are also used by a huge amount of people so interference may be encountered when other users are close by.
We will not usually assign you a specific channel on PMR446 comms – it’s up to you to find a spare channel.
Firstly, just because you can buy a Baofeng or similar radio cheaply and programme it freely does not mean that you do not require a licence. YOU DO!!! If you can programme your radio to specific frequencies it MUST be used under the terms of an Ofcom licence.
Gunman Airsoft have an Ofcom issued Simple UK Business radio licence. This grants us the ability to operate radios on specific frequencies anywhere in the country. These frequencies are shared with anyone else with the same licence, so occasionally some interference may be encountered.
If you are operating your own personal radio equipment on our sites on our frequencies, you are covered under our licence. This allows you to buy a more powerful radio without needing your own licence.
Please check with us at the start of the day as to which channels you can use as we sometimes assign certain channels to Marshals or team leaders. Don’t just assume that you can use the same channel you did last time.
We have a list of frequencies which you can pre-programme into your radio equipment to make assigning channels easier. These are listed below:
“IMPORTANT – IF YOU ARE PROGRAMMING YOUR OWN RADIOS, PLEASE ENSURE THAT THE BANDWIDTH SETTING IS EITHER “NARROW” OR “12.5KHZ”. Most Baofengs etc default to “wide” or “25kHz” – if you don’t change it then you will cause interference on other channels.”
IF YOU ARE NOT 100% SURE OF HOW TO PROGRAMME YOUR EQUIPMENT, PLEASE GET A PROFESSIONAL TO DO IT – YOU COULD INADVERTANTLY BE BREAKING THE LAW AND CAUSE US TO LOSE OUR LICENCE OR BE PROSECUTED!
YOU ALSO NEED TO ADHERE TO THE CONDITIONS AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS POST WHILE USING OUR FREQUENCIES.
You will notice that some of these channels share the same frequencies, meaning if users of both channels are transmitting at the same time, interference will be received. Please ask us to assign you a channel at the start of the day to prevent interference on Marshal Safety comms.
We have other channels available to us under our licence and we occasionally get short term hire equipment in for larger games with more complex radio requirements.
The Licensee shall ensure that the Radio Equipment is:
not used to transmit music, broadcast programmes or obscene or offensive language;
not used as a public address system;
and not used to send misleading messages.
Upon receipt of messages not connected with the business of the Licensee, the Licensee or any person using the Radio Equipment shall not:
make known the contents of any such message, its origin or destination, its tence or the fact of its receipt to any person, except to a duly authorised officer of Her Majesty’s Government, a person authorised by Ofcom or in the course of legal proceedings or for the purpose of any report thereof; and retain any copy or make any use of any such message, or allow it to be reproduced in writing, copied or made use of.