PMR446

PMR446 (Private Mobile Radio, 446 MHz) is a licence-exempt personal radio service in the UHF radio frequency band, available for business and personal use in most countries throughout the European Union, Malaysia, Singapore, Norway, the United Arab Emirates, and the United Kingdom. PMR446 is typically used for small-site, same-building and line of sight outdoor activities. Equipment use ranges from consumer-grade to professional quality walkie-talkies (similar to those used for FRS/GMRS in the United States and Canada). Depending on surrounding terrain, range can vary from a few hundred metres (yards) (in a city) to a few kilometres (miles) (flat countryside) to many kilometres (miles) from high ground. Historically, analogue FM is used but a digital voice mode has been available in radios conforming to digital private mobile radio (dPMR446) and digital mobile radio (DMR Tier 1) standards designed by ETSI. Originally 8 channels were available in analogue mode but this has now been increased to 16 channels. Typically PMR446 is used for both recreational and business use, additionally it has been utilized by amateur-radio operators and radio enthusiasts as a license-free experimental band.