The Radio Information Board

Is the RPV516A a good choice for a small rural Fire Department? What do you like and dislike about them? What is their weakness? Please pass along any tips for service or programming.

Redbird,

The RPV series is what Relm calls a "B&I", or Business and Industrial Radio. I can't tell you how much you have to rely on your comms, for the safety of your firefighters, but you might want to look at the new "Relm/BK" line of radios that Relm is offering........*looks for a link*


http://www.relm.com/sections/relm_unide ... 000web.pdf

This might be a better choice for you. It just depends on how badly you need the ruggedness of a Public Safety grade radio.

I just bought 37 of these radios. I will post later about how they work and last.

Sorry, Redbird. I just noticed, from your other posts, that you seem to have already purchased them. I think they are probably pretty good radios. Will be interested to hear how they work for you. We just bought six of them, to outfit a crew of timber fallers. I'm curious to see how well they hold up to working out in the weather, day in and day out. While our comms CAN be a life safety issue, they rarely are. I think the loggers spend more time, on the radios, talking about what bar they are headed to, that night, than anything else. God bless them, though. I wouldn't want their job.

Redbird,

What are you hearing about the RPVs? From the feedback I have gotten, it sounds like our loggers really like them. They say they are getting excellent range with them, and the audio is ok, too. (Well, as good as the audio can be, with a tandem rotor helicopter hovering 300 ft. above you)

I ordered 39 radios and they all worked out of the box. There are some things on scan and page that I do not like the programming options. The radios have in service about 30 days and no failures. The only problem is extra belt clips have been on back order for over 30 days.

Yeah, Relm sometimes is slow to deliver accessories. I would like to see them keep more stuff in stock, but I have to assume they have a good reason for not doing so. I've met the RPV product manager, a guy named Ken Klyberg. He's a good guy, who seems to really care about his customers' needs. But he is also very blunt about what they can and will do, and what they can't and will not do. Personally, I like his approach. Hopefully, they will get their stock levels up soon. I think this is probably pretty typical of a new product. Until they have some kind of data to work with, they won't know what kind of stock levels they need for accessories. Good luck with the radios.


We also bought one RMV25 mobile, for evaluation. I have to tell you: the transmit audio on this radio was freaking FANTASTIC! I don't know how rugged it is yet, but I was very impressed with the electronic characteristics of the radio.