What Are PoC Radios? Rapid Radios, Hytera, Wurui???

[@PieRatRC]

Just passed my technician exam because of your videos. Wanted to say thanks and I appreciate people like you!

[@TheBrokeHam]

I'm glad you made a video about this, I've seen a lot of disingenuous marketing from rapid radios, particularly when the whole AT&T fiasco happened a couple months ago. Their marketing video portrayed the radios as working during that outage when large parts of the country were unaffected by the outage

[@kinch613]

I absolutely LOVED my Nextel phones. In my old unit we used these as a primary method of covert communication on operations. We easily blended in as we were on a cell call.

[@HamRadio2]

Well done. Ask me about Rapid Radios when I see you next month in person

[@HamRadioCrashCourse]

If I gleaned anything form your video, I'm expecting an interesting story. :D

[@HamRadio2]

@@HamRadioCrashCourse you haven't seen half of it yet, lol

[@hankfox4170]

Future Josh is spot-on... in addition to that, cell phone networks, frequencies, channel access methods,etc., are discontinued from time to time such as 2G, 3G, CDMA, etc. I've had at least 4 cell phones which I have held onto long enough to have their technology discontinued, so if someone is thinking of this as a long term investmentv- it's not. You can't just upgrade technology by getting a different SIM card.

[@daniell8387]

Half of the comments in that videos were pointing out that it is not amateur radio, and the other half were people calling the first half sad hams.

[@UllLis1962-p4t]

Thank you for opening my eyes as I was also astonished to use for a WT a simcard, lol. Have a great week. With friendly regards from Warsaw/Poland

[@royurick]

I actually had a conversation with someone about the rapid radios. I believe they are a customer. The fine print that is apparently only available during checkout in the terms of service, is that the price only includes the first 12 or maybe 24 months of service. (I don’t recall) After that, you have to pay the monthly fee for the cell tower access.

[@fransahm1956]

Put Zello on your cellphone. I have a PoC radio that I just wifi off of my cellphone or home wifi and have friends all over the world. Just don't buy the crap they are pitching for $400. Zello is kick ass and is basically free. I like mine as I can travel with friends and just have them use the Zello app while I have the convenience of a PTT button.

[@quailstudios]

Hey Josh, thank you for the excellent video. I had not heard of Rapid Radios until 2 days ago. Someone asked me what I thought of them. Now I know what to say. N7HKS, 73 my friend.

[@HamRadioCrashCourse]

Thank you for watching.

[@N4TNA]

The Rapid Radio is $400 for a pair of radios and a years worth of service. You have to pay $50 per year for the service after the first year.

[@DV-tc1yr]

thats a deal! im going to get a pair, back up communications

[@billmakesmovies]

Rapid Radios banned me from their Facebook page for pointing out their false advertising. lol

[@HamRadioCrashCourse]

Lol

[@yoseifmichael9058]

What was the false advertisement?

[@billmakesmovies]

@@yoseifmichael9058 They claim that they can talk 1000s of miles. Sure, with the aid of the entire cellular network. So when they say that "the next time the cell phones go down, you'll be ready with Rapid Radios!" - that's a flat out lie.

[@Mitch62918]

@@billmakesmoviesThey also so there’s no fee or montrhly charges. The no cost is for the first year. After the first year it’s $50 per year for each radio.

[@billmakesmovies]

@@Mitch62918 yep. Hopefully not too many people get swindled by these “radios.”

[@Supernumerary]

Nextel was incredible! What’s more, Nextel functioned internationally! Example, I’ve used Nextel between Lima, Peru and Minneapolis, USA. Just push the button and pairs or groups of people had flawless communication. It operated around 800Mhz which penetrated buildings quite well. AFAIK, that ~800Mhz spectrum is now used for data on iPhones on AT&T.

[@leolopez495]

Usted es peruano?

[@HAMRADIODUDE]

Interestingly enough, I had one of my buds ask me about this just the other day. I think he was very disappointed they weren't actually Point to Point radios but also happy he didn't buy them. I'm going to reach out to him and link him here.

[@HamRadioCrashCourse]

Thank you! 73.

[@Puddles-j1q]

$57 dollars for the pair i purchased. Kept one and gave the other to my 2 1/2 year old granddaughter who lives 50 miles from me. We can now talk, if you can call it that on a daily basis. Not for shtf situation, but perfect for what i use if for. I love it!!!

[@Godfather44055]

Which did u buy

[@AJStClair-fj5fv]

The POC radios I have transmit crystal clear from Virginia to Alaska but yeah they basically use cellphone towers as the repeater.... Not the best thing to have during an emergency when the internet and phones get cut off but they work great.

[@BravoBassin]

Rapid radios puts out such miss leading and false advertising about there radios it just blows my mind. I personally have tried to talk to them about this and the response was no response and the deleting of my comments and messages. They have an F rating with the better business bureau and are flat out lying to there customers at this point. I am so glad you covered this and pointed out even more stuff then I touched on in the video I made about these radios. Ham radio 2.0 did a good job talking about these radios as well.

[@jayceew2j202]

Nextell that’s a name I haven’t heard in ages

[@Ubergamer256]

The nextel ‘radio’ feature was absolutely game changing for my workplace, and no tech has really come close since Sprint killed it. One of those edge use cases where tech totally nails it and then forgets about it once things become more generalized. Like how Windows Phone 7 was the fastest, easiest, most coherently designed smartphone there was (sans apps). Many cases in tech history of ideas just flat out being executed better in the past.

[@samallan6616]

I've been using POC devices for years (Chinese N60's, etc.). But due to software limitations, they do have a limited life. They can't be updated or re-flashed. And they're expensive. Better to just use your smartphone for that kind of stuff like I now do. Just download the application (such as Zello) to your phone and instant Nextel-like two-way radio! Always 'leashed' to the cell networks with data capability anyway. Have fun!

[@DDDeeter]

We need someone to come out with one of these, vhf/uhf ham and meshtastic all in one device.

[@N0SSC]

Icom loaned their network PoC radios for one of our YOTA camps for staff and volunteer use. Worked so much better than texting, calling, telegram, zello, etc since not everyone is glued to a phone (believe it or not). plus it was secure so campers couldn’t hear us complaining about troublemakers 😂

[@NotARealChef]

They charge an annual fee for the service after the first year. So the $200 radio has 1 year or service included.

[@andrewcharles6489]

They’re in a pandemic I started researching what is the best form of communication for long distance as I travel a lot. I saw a rapid radio commercial pop-up on my KZbin video and I thought it was interesting because I could not find anything that actually communicates that far without using the Internet and of course I was still correct in my assumption that it was all crap.

[@gmdavisphotography3422]

Great video and love the Lord of the Flies reference!

[@bravocharlie011074]

POC is quite popular in my country, Indonesia. Several brands such Hytera, Talkpod, and others are some of them.

[@michaeltishler8502]

My only question is can they hit a cell toward at any added range compared to your cell phone. Then I could MAYBE see a case for these in very specific use cases.

[@graygrantham7029]

What makes Rapid Radios attractive is the ability to use them as a Radio. What makes them useles is that in critical scenarios where only radios work (Disaster, recovery, off grid etc) they don't work becasue they require use of cellular networks and a power grid. If either the cellular network at the send or receive end go out or a power grid failure anywhere along the the way they are bricks.

[@tonyfontana8222]

Our rapid radio works great at 35 miles from our location,I was very surprised!

[@HamRadioCrashCourse]

Sure. It runs off the cellphone infrastructure.

[@davidsradioroom9678]

You could use cellphones to do what those radios could do. Thanks for the video.

[@daryenmirabal2656]

🤦🏽🤦🏽 you missed the point

[@gerardouribe9939]

Conozco un caso de un radioaficionado que recién había recibido su señal distintiva, tubo la "suerte"de viajar a Europa y compro un handy que era un teléfono parecido a un radio vibanda pero el mismo solamente se podía usar con un chip para teléfono y se podía programar en la aplicación Zello. El pobre chico no sabía que hacer ya que al enterarse que no era un handy proponía cambiar el mismo por cualquier radio de VHF-UHF portátil pero siempre sin suerte!!!! Muchas casas de venta de equipos toman a los que no entienden y estafan a los mismos!!!! Un abrazo grande, muy interesante tu canal colega, desde Argentina LU7EUG.

[@feltusfeicit]

A few months back I saw a load of ads on Instagram for devices with almost no specs. From what I could gather they seemed to be Bluetooth enabled FRS units, which acted as a gateway for using your phone over the FRS network, but this makes little sense to me. I commented on the ads and got no clarity. I found it interesting that they advertize for devices without any specs that HAMs can understand. Similarly most of the Motorola Talkabout series have specs I have trouble reading, but I think most of them are just FRS units with a vibrating alert for squelch break. I really don't understand the point of the PoC, but I really would love some of these design languages to trickle over to an HT that I might need.

[@ronc9743]

DVSwitch and an Asterisk Server and you have the same service on your existing cell phone with no user fees.

[@rayfranco4267]

During Hurricane Sandy we lost Verizon landline, Verizon Cell, AT&T cell and Optimum internet for ~9 days in central NJ. Satellite TV however did work. So a ham radio would have been very helpful during this period of time.

[@99storymode29]

Hello all !! And good morning from Slovenija.

[@HamRadioCrashCourse]

Morning!

[@PeakPTT]

Great Video good explanations. With the advent of Sat to Cell direct - there will be a time in the not to distant future where cellular deadspots will be a thing of the past... Starlink/TMO and AST Spacemobile AT&T/VZW....

[@blackforestshiresgypsyhors9583]

My wife and I had the ATT equivalent back in the day. We discovered (on accident, literally) that there was quite a delay on transmission. While backing a trailer into an RV park, my wife tells me when to stop over this thing, but because of the delay, the trailer hit a tree first. -oops-. Of course moving slow so no damage to trailer or tree.

[@iiinsaiii]

My question is how they will work during an emergency. I live in NYC and when 9/11 happened. It was impossible to make a phone that day. The whole cell network get overwhelmed. So how would this work in the same situation? Or even during a grid down situation?

[@HamRadioCrashCourse]

It wouldn’t in that case.

[@SolgerLemp]

So why should not i just stick to my phone instead of that?

[@Woddy-bd7ns]

Is it easy to find groups to join, themed or regional. Either, ie is it possible to find groups and make contact with strangers etc

[@HamRadioCrashCourse]

No, not at all. These radios aren’t for “finding people”

[@abileneaugie8961]

If you’re looking for redundancy via cell network. A better solution would be to just get a second cellphone on a different network from your primary cellphone. Maybe go opposite of your primary cellphone OS too. There are used/budget phones and budget carriers. The device would do a lot more than just PTT. There is also PTT cellphones like the Sonim. Some local club hams use them with IAXRpt to go into their AllStar nodes which of course can connect to amateur radio repeaters etc.

[@stealth71ch]

Thanks for this video. I really wish someone though would post a detailed video on how to set up the 4G cellular service, I just don’t understand what I would need to do or buy in order to get up and running on a cellular network. Do companies like AT&T or Verizon have some sort of POC offering? I just don’t get how that end of things works.

[@HamRadioCrashCourse]

Go in the store before buying and ask, “I need your lowest cheapest grade dog water service for these PoC radios”. You can do this, I believe in you! Seriously though, I won’t be making much more content on these radios. I’d rather you had a truly off grid communication solution.

[@stealth71ch]

Yeah I have basic two-ways and an HF rig but I’m trying to find a radio solution for where I work at an airport. A POC seems to be the best option out there but if we have 8 radios, I think that then means we’d need 8 LTE subscriptions as well, which would get really expensive. I repeater is another option but I dunno, we’re all a little in the dark as far as a good solution.

[@chrischristopher36]

Hey this is KO6ENR newly minted ham in Los Angeles. I wanted to say thank you, I used your technician training vids and passed with almost 100%. Thanks again . Where can I find you on the dial?

[@deanmuhammad]

Can you do a video on What you recommend for this level of communication. I am looking for something less expensive and no monthly fees or very little...if not can someone leave a suggestion... thank in advance?

[@HamRadioCrashCourse]

I don't make PoC review videos. Not a fan of a technology that requires a service plan.

[@RKingis]

Zello free, or paid, with a hood PoV radio if needed.

[@clems6989]

I loved the chirps ! Think we could use them now..

[@tulrich2]

I have a couple of POC radios, on by Irico and the other by Sonim. I use them on Wi-Fi at home and tethered to my cell when out and about. Are they fun little devices that let me get on Zella and Brandmeister when I’m out of Wi-Fi/hotspot range? Sure. Would I trust them for actual important communications? Heck no, for that I’ll turn to my trusty Yaesus and Alincos.

[@gamalielshapira]

Cool idea but I'm not sure what use case it's solving. No additional functionality beyond what is already handled by existing phones on the market, with group communications via apps. Maybe mimicking GMRS groups via cell in a location where there are no repeaters? But again, why not use the smartphone you already have and one of the many group communication apps?

[@dafunkmonster]

It solves a couple of problems. One, group voice communications. Two, low-overhead call initiation. Push the button, talk. It goes through. No initiating a call, waiting for the recipient to pick up, etc.

[@onetransmission7871]

Bought a six pack of Rapid Radio. Out of the first three only onecworked afte the first two days. I think it's actually a battery problem. They suggested i switch batteries and that didn't fix it. I asked if I could get premium quality batteries and they said no. They suggested I BUY another charger but I already have 6! I finally asked to return them and I'm certain they will refuse. $809 mistake. I strongly advise against purchasing these radios. Going to make a horizontal adjustment with a 4 lb hammer and put them in the trash can where they belong.

[@RKingis]

They're reselling Glass bal PTT equipment.

[@gregsheba356]

Thought those communication devices were too good to be true. Been wanting to get in to ham radio for awhile. A good friend got me in to cb radio awhile back. They said next steps were to get my ham license.

[@Bogo___]

Being labeled as old because I remember the chirp was triggering. I'm only 35 I can't be old!! Right? Send help for mid life crisis.

[@busterhoodstar6598]

Since it's based on cellular, it's no better than using your phone. If carriers would offer PTT on existing phones and the manufacturers made phones with the physical buttons on the phone, I would purchase it. As a standalone unit, the answer is no. I'd rather use traditional walkie-talkie radios.

[@RKingis]

Sonim & Samsung, and Zello free & paid.

[@NCOUTDOORS1960]

With Nextel we were all too blind to see that we had the best all around phones!! So sad when they went away. Someone needs to bring them back!!!!

[@KG6NLW]

Great video on a hot button subject!

[@HamRadioCrashCourse]

Thank you!

[@onetransmission7871]

There's a reason why their comments are turned off.

[@ernieg]

Why did they get rid of the “ chirps”

[@RKingis]

Nextel was slow to adapt to the Internet. The FCC kinda screwed them on spectrum. The SprintPCS bought them, which is like Microsoft buying Apple.

[@stevebeaumont3141]

Australia is watching..great video 📸

[@HamRadioCrashCourse]

Awesome! Thank you!

[@cain-shooting-sports]

Rapid Radio charges $50/year/radio for service after the first year.

[@EvgeniX.]

I wonder, are the ptt apps in android using exactly the same tech as those PoC radios? is there any fundamental difference?

[@HamRadioCrashCourse]

Very similar. They need the internet.

[@EvgeniX.]

@@HamRadioCrashCourse yep. but i mean going deeper, are the PoC radios have some sort of their own protocol, or is it just the same voip solution such as zello for example, just using another server as the backend? is there any difference in terms of latency and the data rate requirement?

[@RKingis]

Global PTT platform is what they use. Based in.....China!

[@EvgeniX.]

@@RKingis so the coms are listening to our comms huh :)

[@RKingis]

@@EvgeniX. Most likely, probably!

[@clivewilkinson5394]

Mine connects to the internet in my house. No cell network needed

[@DarkShadowCustoms]

I can't speak to everyone marketing these, but Rapid Radio and Myemergency Radio (Rapid Radio's parent company) use fear mongering tactics with their marketing. I can see these push to talk cell phones being used on large construction projects and large scale events. However I would never include them in an emergency communication plan. Everyone I know has a cell phone that can download an app for the same purpose of these push to talk cell phones. To me an actual two way radio that doesn't need to rely on infrastructure would be a better option for an emergency communications plan.

[@REXOB9]

Great review, especially covering how the service might go away in the future. The advertising used by these vendors is definitely deceptive, and that's a red flag on its own.

[@johnlew5972]

Do you have to pay for cell service to use these?

[@HamRadioCrashCourse]

Yes.

[@johnlew5972]

@@HamRadioCrashCourse Thank you.

[@LUTZRICH6487]

The usefulness of any communication system in a crisis is inversely proportionate to the amount of infrastructure needed to make it function correctly. as a survivor if three major hurricanes, and 9/11 I can tell you without a doubt you do not want to rely on a cellular system.

[@jimmywayneoconner9225]

How are NODES legal? Even though you talk radio to radio.

[@HamRadioCrashCourse]

Huh? Why wouldn’t they be? It’s just a talk group.

[@VeteranOfSojuWars]

There is nothing these do that a cell phone doesn't do, and the cell phones (smartphones) have more functionality.

[@ManuelPinner]

also the problems with these radios take the pain 100% on the south side, massive natural disaster like a hurricane wipes out all the cell sites like happens occasionally in Puerto Rico, Will Ham Radio is the perfect way to keep in communication,

[@ClintThomsen]

Are there any of these that you’ve come across that *don’t* seem like a ponzi scheme? Cause I kinda like the idea here.

[@HamRadioCrashCourse]

Any one that you just buy and provide the service. Like the ones from ICOM.

[@ClintThomsen]

@@HamRadioCrashCourse oh wow, I didn’t know icon made these. Thanks.

[@zackperkins7991]

Ok everyone is missing the whole point we use these and they are awesome i cant take a cell phone and call up all of my service techs with one push button with a phone your setting up a call and all that crap everyone thinks their phone can do it all well it can but cant some would say just get regular radios well with that your dealing with repeaters and all of that shit so these really have a great place in the service tech world

[@angelscomputers]

buahahaha, 100% honest, I though PoC was for "Piece of Crap" lol

[@daryenmirabal2656]

Why hasn't anyone else came up with a new vision of nextel ?

[@RKingis]

Zello!

[@user-cn8zq8li2p]

hello.. I have a radio similar to the TXO ( that I viewed in one of your videos)m The thing is, my radio is similar in color ( tan in color), and I tried to call someone about 90 miles away. And, as you have probably guessed...IT DOES NOT WORK. It doesn't have a sim card, It doesn't have any iinfo ENGLISH... ONLY CHINESE......PLEAS HELP ME WITH THIS SITUATION..... THANK YOU

[@RKingis]

Global PTT

[@BushcraftOnTracks]

I would avoid these for emergency use but I could see this as an alternative to give a young kid for staying in contact rather than a cellphone with a zombie screen.

[@AZREDFERN]

If you have an Apple Watch, you've already had one of these for years.

[@profgyland2]

Exellent and easy to understand explanation about PoC. Well done as most of your interesting and outstanding explanations. Well done and thank you. VK1GYL

[@HamRadioCrashCourse]

Thanks!

[@NAPELAKAPU]

Lahaina! Network systems went down. Power shut down. 100+ people lost their lives. Communication breakdown...what can we honestly depend on.

[@HamRadioCrashCourse]

In a close range like that. Proper two-way radios and repeaters.

[@winterburan]

I wouldn't call PoCs radios, they are useful tools for work for companies etc., just think of taxis, maintenance costs and the frequency granted would be significantly reduced, perfect in a city environment where coverage is horrible, it's easy to set up a communication system group with operations center etc. now we are talking about the starlink connection on smartphones etc. I would never use them in areas at risk of catastrophes, such as earthquakes, floods, tornadoes, etc you just need to choose the right instrument for your needs, but a ratio enthusiast who uses a PoC or Zello and similar things just makes me laugh, to say the least. Ciao from Italy

[@hillbilly4christ638]

Your hair reminds of that movie “something about Mary”.

[@rickpinelli1586]

Just use ZELLO...

[@mitchh6702]

Yes!!! Zello does about the same thing!

[@bumsrockgreen]

Rapid radio has a yearly fee of $50 it works really good

[@DonzLockz]

It's not my cuppa tea, but I think it would suit some people, but not Ham's, as you mentioned.

[@DominicMazoch]

Recently, some 911 services were hacked. The net has weaknesses.

[@fax565]

These radios might be cool for everyday life to communicate with a loved one or someone who is in the hobby. As a backup or SHTF radio this would have little to no value IMHO

[@stevest.martin3940]

It’s a ripoff I’m a Ham and if the cell tower goes down your radios will be junk

[@AeonsOfBlight]

And if the radio towers go down? Yeaaaah.

[@RKingis]

Not with those radios. They create a subspace channel to all the other users, and has quantum faced batteries

[@christopherblevins1968]

That didn't go where I expected. I thought you were being polite by saying "Pieces of Crap" radios, instead of "Piece of S#@!" radios. Still, it was an educational topic and I enjoyed it!

[@gabrielsierra6890]

THe Rapid Radio is paid only for the first year; you need to pay after that

[@don_n5skt]

I just think if you need something like this, just use Zello on your existing phone. zello.com/

[@johnkeeler123]

All radio snobbery aside, this is a great way to have a back up network for your family when you can’t convince 4+ people to all get ham radio licenses

[@HamRadioCrashCourse]

So is a cellphone. POC radios are just less useful cellphones.

[@user-pg5yy5he9m]

Why will I pay for a celular with less features than. a normal cell phone. A radio that relies on a sim chip is not a radio, it is a cell phone.

[@cyleleghorn246]

Yeah for sure, they already have $50-$200 Android phones that have the full Android ecosystem, removable batteries, Bluetooth, GPS, etc. you can pair these to different radios to get some digital features without a cellular network. Things like seeing your friends on a map over some local FM frequency, and being able to exchange text messages over FM. For voice comms, you would just use the radio directly instead of interacting with the phone, or it may be text/data only depending on your radio hardware. Key work is radio hardware. I agree with what everyone else is saying: if it has a sim card, it ain't a two-way radio. Very rarely do you see that functionality anymore. You need a proper two way radio to have off-grid comms, and advertising a cellular radio to work off-grid or during a blackout is disingenuous.

[@hankfox4170]

@@cyleleghorn246 While you can get additional functionality through addons/apps, your friends also have to do that in order for that functionality to work. I can only speak for android phones, but I have used basic widgets to create an icon that you press to call a particular individual and it pops up and their phone starts reasing immediately, no additional hardware or software reqtired, AND it's full duplex.

[@dandyeman781]

It's a cellphone

[@RKingis]

Um, no! It's a subspace radio, with quantum phased batteries!

[@KQ4PMD]

Thanks for sharing that information 73 KQ4PMD

[@BravoBassin]

Hey Josh so since my last comment on this and my video on rapid radios went up on youtube Rapid radios has reach out to me multible times now trying ot get me on a private phone call to try and change my mind and "edgucate" me on there radios. So I responded by offering them a chance to come on my channel and have an honest conversation about there radios and what they really can do and not do and what there real capabilities are. There response was no we can just talk on the phone so I sent a message back re interating they are more then welcome to come on my channel and have an honest conversation about there radieos on my channel but the fact that they are wanting to talk to me privately over publicly tells me they have something they want to hide. So far no response back yet. But My question to you is have they tried to reach out to you as well to try and get you to take your video down or so called "edgucate" you more on there radios as I am just curious if anybody else that has made videos pointing out how these radios really work and don't work have been contacted by rapid radios?

[@full_metal2452]

Is this how Apple Watch Walkie Talkie works?

[@timbookedtwo2375]

Why don't people just make a telephone call? PoC seems like a gimmick to me, and not a very good one at that.

[@clivewilkinson5394]

Doesn't DMR use the internet to facilitate communication. What's the difference. Ah, I get it. Hams like DMR. PoC needs no hot spot has direct connection to the service. No hot spot or digipeater needed. what's the difference. Asany use smart phone apps you have the message capability too. Far more capable than DMR

[@shoa2285]

Coming soon BIPoC radios. LOL.

[@wildweasel6898]

They are neutered cell phones. I mean ptt is convenient but for me there is no reason to buy one.

[@rogerhancock8732]

If you don't mind being ripped off go ahead and buy some. These radios are nothing but garbage

[@ERICtheLATE]

i am holding off untill they are vape hybrids.

[@leecwilkin]

just use zelo

[@fredc3543]

My lazy adult kids won't invest any time learning comms. Better to buy a cheap GMRS radio and lock it onto a fixed channel. About $40.