Best Radios for Security Companies in the UK: 2026 Buyer's Guide

There is no single "best security radio".

A four-person security team working inside one retail unit has very different requirements from a mobile patrol company covering fifty client sites across several counties.

For some security operations, a straightforward licence-free handheld is entirely adequate. Larger fixed sites may be better served by professional licensed UHF or DMR radios. For mobile patrols and companies operating across multiple locations, Push-to-Talk over Cellular, usually called PoC, can remove the normal geographic limitation of a local radio system by carrying Push-to-Talk over the mobile phone network. (Our plain-English explainer on push-to-talk over cellular covers the basics.)

The right choice depends primarily on where your officers work, how far apart they are, what coverage is available, and what the control room needs to see.

This guide compares the main options available to UK security companies.

Quick answer: which type of radio is best for security?

The important point: do not choose a radio by advertised range alone. Start with the operating environment and decide what communications architecture fits it.

What should a security company look for in a radio?

The handset itself is only one part of the decision.

A good security radio system needs to work for an entire shift, in the places officers actually work, while remaining simple enough to operate quickly when something happens.

Coverage

Coverage should be the first question.

A radio that works perfectly beside the security office but cannot reach a basement plant room, loading bay or remote gate is not a working radio system.

For conventional UHF or DMR radios, coverage depends on factors including:

• frequency
• transmit power
• building construction
• terrain
• antenna position
• repeaters or other infrastructure

For PoC radios, coverage comes from the mobile phone masts that already cover the UK.

Neither system should be bought purely on a range claim.

The best way to choose is to try radios where your officers actually work. Our guide to testing before you commit shows how, and RevoNet coverage explains how the wide-area side works.

Audio

Security teams frequently work around:

• crowds
• traffic
• machinery
• shopping centres
• events
• loading areas

Speaker volume and intelligibility matter more than an impressive specification sheet.

A good professional handset should remain understandable in the environment in which it will actually be used.

An earpiece or remote speaker microphone may be more important than the radio's own loudspeaker for some roles.

Battery life

A radio needs to survive the shift.

For a security operation running 12-hour shifts, a handset that lasts eight hours in real use is unsuitable regardless of how good everything else is.

Consider:

• actual shift length
• amount of PTT traffic
• GPS use
• screen usage
• battery age
• charging between shifts
• spare batteries
• multi-bay charging

Published battery figures are useful for comparison, but test devices under your own operating conditions before a large rollout.

Physical Push-to-Talk button

For frontline guards, a dedicated PTT button is a major advantage.

An officer should be able to transmit quickly without:

1. unlocking a smartphone
2. finding an app
3. opening a screen
4. locating an on-screen button

This is one reason dedicated PoC radios can be preferable to ordinary smartphones even though both use the same mobile phone network.

Ruggedness

A receptionist's radio and a mobile patrol officer's radio live very different lives.

Consider:

• rain
• dust
• drops
• temperature
• repeated belt-clip use
• charging connector wear
• glove operation

Look at independently defined ratings such as IP ratings where relevant rather than relying solely on words such as "rugged".

Earpieces and accessories

Security is one of the sectors where accessories genuinely matter.

Depending on the role, you may need:

• covert acoustic-tube earpieces
• D-shape earpieces
• remote speaker microphones
• belt clips
• chest harnesses
• spare batteries
• vehicle chargers
• multi-bay chargers

Check accessory availability before standardising an entire company on one radio model.

GPS and control-room visibility

Traditional voice communication may be all a small site requires.

For mobile patrol companies and multi-site guarding businesses, location information can become much more useful.

A system capable of showing the latest reported location of an officer or device allows a control room to understand which resources are near a site without asking every patrol unit over the radio.

Most teams find the last reported position is all they need to see who is closest to a site. See how a browser-based control room brings voice and location together.

Option 1: PMR446 licence-free radios

PMR446 is the simplest place to start.

These are short-range handheld radios operating under the UK's licence-exempt PMR446 arrangements when compliant equipment is used. Ofcom's guidance on licence-exempt devices describes PMR446 as a short-range, peer-to-peer voice and data service.

You do not need to obtain an individual Ofcom Business Radio licence simply to operate compliant PMR446 equipment.

That makes PMR446 attractive for:

• small retail units
• reception/security teams
• small venues
• short-range door supervision
• small events
• teams who all work within the same compact location

The attraction is simplicity.

Buy compatible radios, select a channel and start using them.

There are no SIMs or mobile-data connections to manage.

A representative current example is the Motorola XT420, a business PMR446 handset with eight channels and no call charges.

Where PMR446 becomes limiting

PMR446 is deliberately a low-power service. Ofcom's PMR446 information sheet sets a maximum effective radiated power of 0.5 watts and requires an antenna that cannot be swapped.

Buildings, reinforced concrete, basements and distance all affect coverage.

It may be absolutely adequate across one small premises while performing poorly across a large commercial estate.

Channels are also shared spectrum rather than being an exclusive frequency assigned specifically to your business, and the service operates on an unprotected basis, so you must accept interference from other users.

For a security company with officers spread across multiple sites, PMR446 normally stops being a realistic way to connect the entire operation.

Best suited to: small, local teams where simplicity matters more than wide-area coverage.

Option 2: Licensed UHF and DMR radios

Professional conventional radio remains an excellent choice for many security operations.

DMR (Digital Mobile Radio) provides digital voice and other capabilities using conventional radio spectrum rather than relying on a mobile network.

Professional examples currently available include product families such as:

• Motorola MOTOTRBO
• Hytera professional DMR radios
• Kenwood NX series

Why security companies use them

A well-designed conventional radio system gives you a self-contained system for one site:

your own frequencies, covering your own ground.

For a large warehouse, hospital, industrial site, shopping centre or other fixed location, that can be extremely valuable.

A site can be surveyed properly and infrastructure designed around the required coverage.

Professional DMR radios also commonly have:

• strong audio
• physical PTT controls
• long battery life
• rugged construction
• extensive accessory ranges
• emergency/safety functionality depending on model and system

The licensing question

Ofcom is clear that using a radio system requires a licence from Ofcom, and that Business Radio is the licence family for most private radio networks. There are two broad kinds: Light licences (Simple UK, Simple Site and Suppliers Light), which are pre-packaged with a set list of frequencies, and Technically Assigned or Area Defined licences, which are specific to a site or area and need technical coordination.

Ofcom currently lists Light licences at £75 for five years. Technically Assigned and Area Defined fees depend on the technical details of the application. See Ofcom's Business Radio licensing pages and its fees and payment page for the current position.

The exact licence depends on the system being deployed.

Do not guess which licence your organisation requires based only on an article. Check current Ofcom guidance or speak to a competent radio supplier.

Where conventional radio becomes awkward

The challenge appears when the operation stops being local.

Imagine a security company with:

• ten static client sites
• six mobile patrol officers
• supervisors working from home and office
• one central control room

A local UHF radio system at Site A does not automatically communicate with Site B ten miles away.

That can be solved with radio infrastructure and IP-linked systems, but complexity and cost increase.

This is where wide-area broadband Push-to-Talk becomes particularly interesting.

Best suited to: fixed sites where dependable local radio coverage is the priority.

Option 3: PoC and 4G radios

PoC stands for Push-to-Talk over Cellular.

These handsets look and operate much like professional two-way radios, but the call is carried over the mobile phone network. That means there is no Business Radio licence to apply for and no repeaters to install: the handsets use the network that is already there. (For a fuller explanation, see what push-to-talk over the mobile network actually is.)

Current commercial examples include devices such as:

• Motorola TLK 110 using WAVE PTX
• Icom IP503H and the newer IP510H LTE/PoC handsets

The concept is also used by RevoNet.

The major difference is geography.

A guard at one client site does not need to be within radio range of another officer.

If both devices are connected to the same service, they can be members of the same talkgroup, the radio term for a shared channel that a defined set of people listen and talk on.

That makes PoC particularly attractive for:

• mobile patrol officers
• keyholding and alarm response
• geographically separated client sites
• supervisors covering several contracts
• central control rooms
• national or regional security companies

Why this changes security-company radio networks

Consider a guarding company with operations in Guildford, Reading and London.

With conventional site radio, each location may effectively operate as its own radio system.

With PoC, the company can create logical talkgroups such as:

• Guildford Site
• Reading Site
• London Site
• Mobile Patrol
• Supervisors
• Control Room

A static officer does not need to hear irrelevant traffic from every site.

A supervisor can, however, be authorised for several groups.

That allows communications to follow the organisational structure rather than the geographic range of one transmitter. Our note on managing groups across your sites goes into how to set that up.

Option 4: a hybrid approach

The choice does not always need to be:

traditional radio OR PoC.

A security company might use:

• conventional radio within a large fixed site
• PoC for mobile patrol teams
• PoC for supervisors
• a control-room dispatcher joining the wide-area network

Another organisation might keep an existing radio system on one site while introducing PoC to connect its sites, patrols and supervisors. The comparison of push-to-talk radios and traditional two-way radio covers running the two side by side.

The correct architecture is the one that matches the operational risk.

Many companies get the best result by keeping what already works on a site and adding PoC where it connects the wider team.

Which radio is best for static guarding?

For a single fixed site, start by asking:

Does everybody who needs to communicate work within one radio coverage area?

If the answer is yes, a traditional radio system works very well on its own.

A professional DMR/UHF system may provide:

• predictable local coverage
• long battery life
• simple operation

If the site is very small, PMR446 may be enough.

PoC becomes more interesting when the officers need regular communication with:

• an off-site control room
• supervisors elsewhere
• mobile patrol officers
• other contracts

Which radio is best for mobile patrols?

Mobile patrol is one of the clearest use cases for PoC.

A patrol officer may travel between sites separated by tens of miles.

Trying to cover an entire route using one local conventional-radio system is rarely practical.

A cellular PTT handset can remain in the same talkgroup while the officer travels through different mobile-network coverage areas.

The control room may also be able to see the device's most recently reported position, depending on the platform. There is more on this in our page for mobile patrol radios.

The best way to prove it is to try it on one of your own patrol routes.

Which radio is best for event security?

There is no universal answer.

For a compact event site with a carefully planned radio system, professional conventional radio can be excellent.

It can be designed around the venue.

PoC offers different advantages:

• fast provisioning
• easy creation of temporary groups
• connection to off-site supervisors
• integration with control-room software
• location reporting
• no requirement for every user to remain within one RF coverage footprint

For an important event, you can try it at the venue beforehand.

Which radio is best for door supervisors?

Door supervisors often work within a relatively small venue.

That means enormous range is usually less important than:

• clear audio
• compact size
• reliable battery
• discreet earpiece support
• easy channel selection
• physical PTT operation

PMR446 or a professional licensed radio system may therefore make more sense than a nationwide PoC system for a single nightclub or small venue.

If the security company operates multiple venues and wants supervisors or a central control room connected across all of them, PoC becomes more compelling.

Which radio is best for a multi-site security company?

This is where the distinction becomes clearer.

If your company has officers spread across several unrelated client sites, the question is no longer simply:

Which handheld has the longest range?

The more useful question is:

How do we create one managed communications network across the company?

PoC is specifically designed for this kind of wide-area communication.

A central platform can potentially manage:

• radios
• officers
• talkgroups
• supervisors
• locations
• control-room dispatch

without requiring every site to be inside the RF coverage area of one traditional radio system.

That is the type of environment RevoNet is being designed around.

Examples of professional security-radio options

These are representative products for each technology. They are not ranked, and this is not a complete list. Details below were checked against the manufacturers' own pages in September 2026. Availability, configuration and pricing change, so confirm current UK models with a supplier.

Licence-free PMR446

Motorola XT420. A business PMR446 handset. Motorola lists eight channels, 219 privacy codes and no subscription or call charges. The XT460 is the same family with a two-line display.

Licensed conventional radio

Motorola MOTOTRBO R2. A professional conventional two-way radio designed for business use, offered in analogue and analogue/digital (DMR) versions. Worth considering for security operations that need a straightforward rugged handheld for a local radio network.

Hytera HP6 series. Professional DMR handhelds. The range includes the HP605 without a display and the HP685 with a keypad and colour display, with optional Bluetooth and GNSS. Relevant where a company is deploying or already operates a DMR radio system.

Kenwood NX-1300 series. Professional UHF portables available in versions supporting NXDN or DMR digital operation, or FM analogue only, depending on model. Relevant to conventional professional radio deployments.

PoC and 4G radios

Motorola TLK 110. A purpose-built broadband Push-to-Talk handset for Motorola's WAVE PTX service. Motorola's documentation lists push-to-talk over LTE, Wi-Fi, GPS/GNSS location and an IP67 rating. It runs on Motorola's WAVE PTX subscription service.

Icom IP503H and IP510H. Dedicated LTE/PoC handsets within Icom's cellular Push-to-Talk range. Icom positions the system as a licence-free, nationwide alternative to conventional PMR radio. The newer IP510H is a hybrid that works on both LTE and Wi-Fi and switches between them automatically.

These products illustrate the main choices rather than constituting a universal ranking. The correct radio depends on the communication system behind it.

The radio is only half the system

A common buying mistake is to compare handheld specifications while ignoring the system that connects them.

For a security business, ask:

• Who manages users?
• How are radios assigned?
• Can a lost device be disabled?
• Who can create talkgroups?
• Can supervisors hear several sites?
• Can control communicate directly?
• Is GPS available?
• Is the location current or stale?
• Are activity records retained?
• How are radios provisioned?
• Can devices be moved between contracts?

A £100 handset connected to the right system may be more useful than a £500 handset connected to the wrong one. For one example of what provisioning can look like, see onboarding radios with admin-approved pairing.

Where RevoNet fits

RevoNet sits in the Push-to-Talk over Cellular category.

It is being designed around security companies that need to connect officers beyond the boundaries of one conventional radio site.

Rather than treating each client location as a completely separate radio estate, RevoNet allows authorised officers, supervisors and control-room users to share centrally managed talkgroups over the mobile phone network.

The RevoNet control room brings communication and operational visibility together rather than treating the handset as an isolated device.

This makes the architecture particularly relevant to:

• mobile patrol companies
• multi-site guarding
• keyholding/alarm response
• supervisors responsible for multiple contracts
• security businesses operating a central control room

The RevoNet handset is a dedicated push-to-talk radio with a physical PTT button, built for security work. See the RevoNet radios page for more. More on how the pieces fit for guarding firms is on our security solutions page and in PTT for security companies.

How much should a security radio system cost?

There is no useful single price for a security radio system because the cost structure changes depending on the technology.

PMR446 systems may involve little more than purchasing handsets, chargers and accessories.

Licensed conventional radio may involve:

• handsets
• programming
• Ofcom licensing
• repeaters
• antennas
• installation
• maintenance

PoC systems commonly involve:

• handset cost or rental
• software/service subscription
• SIMs and mobile service
• accessories
• control-room software depending on platform

Compare total cost across the expected life of the deployment rather than just the handset purchase price.

A cheap radio that requires an entirely separate GPS, dispatch or mobile-phone system may not actually produce the lowest total operating cost.

Questions to ask before buying security radios

1. Where exactly must the radios work?
2. Are all users on one site or spread across several?
3. Do mobile patrol officers need to communicate while travelling?
4. Do we need GPS?
5. Does control need a live map?
6. Do supervisors need access to multiple groups?
7. Do we need discreet earpieces?
8. How long are our shifts?
9. What charging infrastructure is required?
10. Do we need spare batteries?
11. How will lost radios be disabled?
12. How are new officers added?
13. What radio licensing applies?
14. Are we buying hardware, renting it or paying for a managed service?
15. Can we test the system on the actual site/routes before committing?

If a supplier cannot give you a practical way to test coverage before a significant rollout, treat that as a warning sign.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best radio for security guards?

There is no single model that suits every security operation. Small single-site teams may only need PMR446. Larger fixed sites often use professional licensed DMR/UHF systems. Mobile patrol and multi-site security companies are particularly well suited to PoC radios because communication is carried over the mobile phone network rather than being limited to one local radio coverage area.

Do security companies need a radio licence in the UK?

It depends on the system. Compliant PMR446 radios operate under licence-exempt arrangements. Many professional business-radio systems require an appropriate Ofcom Business Radio licence. PoC systems run over the mobile phone network, so there is no Business Radio licence to apply for. Always check current Ofcom guidance for the system being deployed.

What is a PoC radio?

PoC means Push-to-Talk over Cellular. A PoC handset provides radio-style Push-to-Talk communication but sends voice over the mobile phone network. This allows users in different towns to remain in the same talkgroup.

Are 4G radios good for security?

Yes. They are particularly useful for mobile patrols, multi-site guarding and organisations with central control rooms, because officers stay connected wherever they work.

What is the difference between PoC and a traditional two-way radio?

A traditional radio talks directly between handsets, or through your own repeaters, over a local area. A PoC radio carries the call over the mobile phone network, so officers in different towns can be in the same group and the control room can see and speak to all of them.

Can security radios use earpieces?

Most professional radio systems support some form of earpiece or remote audio accessory, but connector and accessory compatibility varies significantly by handset. Check availability before choosing a fleet.

Are PMR446 radios suitable for professional security?

They can be suitable for small, local operations where coverage is adequate. For larger properties, complex buildings or operations requiring dedicated frequencies and more advanced functions, professional licensed radio or PoC may be more appropriate.

What is best for mobile security patrols?

Wide-area PoC is often the best fit, because patrol officers stay connected while travelling between client sites rather than staying within the range of one fixed radio network. RevoNet can be tried on your own patrol routes.

Choose the radio system before choosing the handset

The best security radio is not necessarily the handset with the longest specification sheet.

Start with the operation.

If four guards work inside one compact building, a straightforward radio system may be all you need.

If fifty officers work across twenty client locations with mobile patrols and a central control room, the communication problem is fundamentally different.

Choose the architecture first:

• PMR446 for straightforward short-range communication
• licensed DMR/UHF for professional local radio networks
• PoC for wide-area cellular Push-to-Talk
• hybrid systems where a site keeps its own radios and PoC connects everything together

Then choose the handset that fits that system, the working environment and the officer carrying it.

For security businesses evaluating PoC, RevoNet can be tested on the locations and patrol routes where it would actually be used rather than relying solely on theoretical coverage.

Sources and further reading

• Ofcom: Business Radio (licence types)
• Ofcom: Business Radio licensing fees and payment
• Ofcom: Licence-exempt devices (PMR446)
• Ofcom: Analogue and Digital PMR446 information sheet
• Motorola Solutions: XT420, MOTOTRBO R2 datasheet, TLK 110
• Hytera: HP685 (HP6 series)
• Kenwood: NX-1300
• Icom UK: IP503H, IP510H