push to talk

[Mix]

this could be good when out caching...
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/ ... 90915.html

[Phlosten]

cool, another thing to add to our phone bill

wonder what the going rate is (read 'flag fall')

[Dooghan]

I'll pass. I'll use normal walkie-talkies which can be used inside and outside telstra's mobile area for free.

Dooghan

[Effrem]

Nokia actually has a phone (available in europe) that has a UHF radio contained in the Phone.

The THR880 I Think it is.

Not available here yet though.........

[bmac]

This begs the question of why? Isn't mobile phone a step up from half-duplex communications? Why the backwards move?

bmac.

[Team Stargazer]

This begs the question of why? Isn't mobile phone a step up from half-duplex communications? Why the backwards move?

bmac.

I guess it's not the quality that's the main issue here but how it can be used & put to practice.

An "always on" mode & pay for use (talk) time.
Any situation in a area with mobile phone coverage, where a two-way radio would be useful but distance between radios is a problem making the radio useless for example.

... just a thought

[Mix]

http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/ ... click=true

more news on PTT inc cost..

[Mind Socket]

I like to think of PTT as SMS without the thumb dancing. It's quicker, more flexible, conveys tone better, and will rake in lots of revenue for service providers. There is, I expect a slight lag compared to UHF since the signal is going into GPRS packets.

- Rog

[Hounddog]

You may find it interesting to know that PTT conversation is not as distracting to use as a normal full duplex conversation.

Since mobile phone technology was introduced many tests have been conducted and comparisons made on the safety of car comms and their effect on the concentration of a driver.
Mobile phones, at the ear, are the biggest distraction. It's been shown that engaging in conversation this way takes almost 90% of a driver's concentration away from the road. No wonder it's now against the law to talk while driving.
Next comes hands free mobile phone. It has been found that there really isn't a lot of difference, with the conversation still able to take 80% of road concentration away.
Next comes local conversation. You'll lose 60% of your concentration by chatting to your passengers. Probably more if the wife is nagging you.
Next comes PTT i.e 2 way radio. It is as a much lower distraction. 45%. The reason for this isn't clear but it is theorised that with PTT the driver is in much better control of the pace of a conversation and therefore can meter/share his thoughts much more easily.

Maybe this is the way to go for all Car comms.

[Mind Socket]

Interesting stuff. A little PTT button on the steering wheel would be nifty.

- Rog

[Dingbats]

There is, I expect a slight lag compared to UHF since the signal is going into GPRS packets.

You may not even notice the delay. I don't know what the GPRS bandwith constraints are, however if you've used voice over IP (without bandwitch constraints) you'll know that the latency with digitising, segmenting into packets and going through the protocol layers is not noticeable.