Selection FAQ
The eight questions that decide an order, including how to compare two equivalent-looking models.
System choice
Analog or digital DMR — which does a new fleet actually need?
Digital is not simply the newer analog. It changes what the radio can be asked to do — and it changes what happens when part of your fleet stays analog.
This is not a question about which generation is current. It is a question about what you need the fleet to do. Voice-only push-to-talk works on both. Dispatch, individual calling, text, location reporting and encryption in the handset do not exist on analog — and if you need none of those, analog remains a legitimate engineering choice rather than an outdated one.
What this note does not do
This note explains how the decision is made. It does not quote a claim about a specific system design, channel loading or coverage result, because the site does not hold one it can evidence. Anything shown as unconfirmed on the catalogue pages is unconfirmed here too.
Confirm the position with your regulator, your site authority or your freight forwarder before you commit to an order.How to use this note
- Answer the four questions below in writing. They are the actual input to the decision.
- Check the protocols recorded in this catalogue to see which families exist for each answer.
- Send the answers with your quantities — a system choice is confirmed before any quotation is meaningful.
The four questions that decide it
| Requirement | Analog | Digital DMR |
|---|---|---|
| Voice, one channel to a group | Adequate. This is what analog does. | Also adequate — digital does not improve a problem that does not exist. |
| Calling one person rather than a group | Not available. Everyone on the channel hears everything. | Available as an individual call, if the system is configured for it. |
| Text messages, work orders, check-in logs | Not available. | Available, and the reason many operations move — the traffic is auditable. |
| Location reporting into a control room | Not available from the handset. | Available where the system includes it. Confirm the scope rather than assuming. |
| Encryption for sensitive traffic | Limited to what the specific analog build supports. | Available at several levels, and the level is a licensable feature — confirm which one your build includes. |
| Mixing with an existing analog fleet | A digital radio can usually operate in analog mode as well, so a staged changeover is possible. | Confirm mode support per ordering code; do not assume it from the family name. |
The protocols recorded in this catalogue
Protocols are recorded per identifier, and they are not uniform — several families are listed as supporting more than one. The counts below are of identifiers, not of stock.
| Recorded protocol | Identifiers |
|---|---|
| Analogue | 71 |
| DMR | 49 |
| P25 | 19 |
| MPT1327 | 8 |
| TETRA | 8 |
A licensed feature is not a delivered feature
Where an encryption level or a system capability is sold as a licensable feature, the radio in the box may not have it enabled. Confirm the entitlement on the quotation line, not from the family name.
The two traps in this decision
- Buying digital for a requirement nobody has. If no one will use individual calling, text or location, the digital premium buys capacity you will not consume — and it makes every future handset in the fleet more expensive.
- Buying analog for a requirement that is already being met by a spreadsheet. The moment a control room wants check-in logs or a location trail, analog cannot supply it and the fleet is replaced early.
What does not change
- Your licence. Moving from analog to digital does not change which frequencies you may transmit on, and does not remove the need for authorisation.
- The site. Coverage problems are still coverage problems; a change of protocol does not remove a steel structure from between two points.
- The channel plan discipline. A digital system still needs a plan that somebody maintains, and a plan nobody owns fails the same way on either protocol.
Not covered here
- Which protocol suits a specific country's regulator — approval is per build and per destination.
- Cost comparison. No prices are published on this site.
- System design for dispatch, location or text. Those are project scopes, not handset selections.
What to put in the first message
Every one of these removes a round trip. The enquiry page composes a brief containing them; you send it from your own mail or messaging app.
- Destination country — this decides the approved variant and the marking.
- The frequency range you are licensed to use, in MHz.
- Quantity per site, and whether spares are included in that number.
- Operating environment, if it is classified (hazardous area, mine, tunnel).
- Whether the units must arrive programmed, and if so the channel plan.
- Whether the fleet will be all-digital, or staged with analog equipment remaining in service.
- Named features you need beyond voice — individual call, text, location, encryption level.
- Whether you will run the system yourself or need a control room included in scope.
Three identifiers, read off their records
CP1200 is recorded as VHF/UHF, with the protocol noted as Analog/DMR on the CP100D build or a regional variant, and the channel capacity recorded as not confirmed. That absence is the point: a variant list is not a specification. DP1400 is recorded at 16 channels, IP54, VHF/UHF, Analog + DMR. DP4801e at 1000 channels, IP68, with VHF 136-174 and UHF 403-527 recorded as separate bands.
Three units that all claim digital, and three different answers to how much radio is being bought. The channel figure is the one buyers compare first and the one that decides least: 16 channels is a site with a handful of talkgroups, 1000 is a fleet whose programming file is managed centrally. Neither number says whether the audio is digital. That lives in the build, and the build is in the ordering code.
Questions this note answers
A digital radio operating in analog mode can, if that mode is supported in the build you buy. Confirm it per ordering code — mode support is a build property, not a family property.
It gives different audio behaviour. Digital holds intelligibility further into a weak signal and then fails abruptly; analog degrades gradually, so operators hear trouble coming. Which is preferable is an operating decision.
This site does not publish a withdrawal claim for any protocol, because it holds no evidence for one. What is recorded is which protocols the catalogue's identifiers support.
Not inherently. Direct mode works without one. Whether you need a repeater depends on coverage and on whether you want the features that require infrastructure.
Other notes written against the same decision — Selection basics.
- GP338 and GP340: what 128 channels buys over 16
Two analog portables that look alike on a quote, recorded at 128 channels and 16. The channel plan decides which one a site needs, not the price.
- DP2400 or DP2400e — the letter changes the build
The e is not a revision of the same radio. One record holds 16 channels at IP55, the other 64 at IP67 — a build decision that a price comparison hides.
- DR3000: what a repeater changes that a radio cannot
A repeater is not a bigger radio. It changes the licence, the antenna system and where the equipment can sit — and the record states indoor rack equipment, not a portable.
- Is this part number the right battery for this handset?
A battery part number is easy to quote and easy to get wrong: it looks like a commodity item, but it carries a chemistry and a voltage that have to match the handset. The fit list is the check — provided you read it for what it actually is.
- Handheld or vehicle-mounted: which one the job asks for
Most fleets need both, and the ratio is set by counting posts rather than people. Three things change with the form factor: where the antenna sits, what powers the radio, and who signs it out.
Where to go from here
Full catalogue
Filter by category and series to see which identifiers support which protocol.
Buyer notes are written from the catalogue and the published reference pages. They carry no parameter the site cannot evidence, and an unconfirmed value stays unconfirmed here too. BaltiGo is a trading and distribution company supplying Motorola two-way radio hardware into markets worldwide, and does not claim to be a Motorola authorised dealer or official distributor.
Enquiry
Send the configuration, not just the model name
Band, destination and quantity decide whether a quotation is usable in one round or three. Compose the brief and it carries all three.