top of page







Does COPIF apply to in-building two-way radio coverage, or only to telco and mobile operator facilities?
COPIF covers telco facilities, not your two-way radio DAS. What a Singapore building owner must do instead — riser rules, licensing and coverage specs.
info466216
14 hours ago5 min read
What is the penalty in Singapore for operating an unlicensed in-building repeater or booster, and is the building owner or the operator liable?
What Singapore's penalty is for an unlicensed in-building repeater or booster, and whether the building owner or the operator carries the liability.
info466216
2 days ago5 min read
What do Singapore's Radio-communication Regulations actually require of a building owner?
Singapore's Radio-communication Regulations licence radio equipment, not buildings. What building owners are actually obliged to do about coverage.
info466216
3 days ago4 min read
What percentage of a building's floor area must have working radio coverage?
90% general and 99% critical floor area radio coverage is a US code figure. Singapore prescribes no percentage — here is what to specify instead.
info466216
4 days ago5 min read
Does choosing UHF over VHF actually fix basement and stairwell dead zones?
UHF beats VHF in reinforced concrete by roughly 5-10 dB. A basement carpark costs 30-50 dB. Why band choice alone never fixes dead zones.
info466216
5 days ago5 min read
Do two-way radios work inside lift cars, and what does it take to cover them?
A lift car adds 40-60 dB on top of the building path. Why radios cut out inside lifts, and what a shaft antenna or leaky feeder actually fixes.
info466216
5 days ago5 min read
Is the "200 radios per repeater" figure realistic, and at what call rate does it break?
The 200 radios per repeater figure assumes about three short calls per user per hour. Here is the traffic maths, and what it drops to on a busy site.
info466216
5 days ago4 min read
What is the difference between IMDA's Localised Radio-Communication Station Licence and the Localised Private Network Licence?
IMDA's Localised Radio-Communication Station Licence licences equipment; the Localised Private Network Licence licences a network. Which your site needs.
info466216
Sep 45 min read
Why doesn't a walkie-talkie's advertised 300,000 sq ft coverage rating translate into floors covered in a concrete building?
A walkie-talkie's 300,000 sq ft coverage rating says nothing about floors covered in concrete. Here is the dB arithmetic that does, from an RF engineer.
info466216
Sep 34 min read
Do cellular DAS antenna spacing figures apply to a UHF two-way radio DAS?
Cellular DAS coverage-per-antenna figures underestimate a UHF two-way radio DAS by roughly six times. The frequency maths, and what to design to instead.
info466216
Sep 14 min read
What is the "cliff effect" on digital radios, and why do they cut out suddenly instead of just getting noisy?
The digital cliff effect explained: why DMR radios sound perfect then drop dead, the BER threshold behind it, and the fade margin your DAS needs.
info466216
Aug 314 min read
Will a higher-power repeater or a higher-gain antenna fix our coverage problem?
More transmit power only fixes the downlink. Why higher-gain antennas can hurt a high-rise, how to spot an uplink-limited system, and what IMDA allows.
info466216
Aug 315 min read
What antenna spacing should an in-building DAS use per floor, and is there a rule of thumb?
How far apart should in-building DAS antennas be per floor? Real UHF spacing figures, wall-loss numbers and a rule of thumb before your site survey.
info466216
Aug 285 min read
Is DAQ 3.0 or a -95 dBm Signal Level the Right Acceptance Criterion for In-Building Radio Coverage?
DAQ 3.0 and -95 dBm measure different things. Which acceptance criterion should an in-building radio coverage test use? A Singapore RF engineer explains.
info466216
Aug 264 min read
Should we fit a receiver multicoupler and preamplifier at the repeater, or go straight to a DAS?
A mast-head preamp buys 4-9 dB on the uplink only. A DAS buys 40 dB or more both ways. How to tell which one your building actually needs.
info466216
Aug 244 min read
How many channels, users or how much power triggers a higher IMDA licence tier in Singapore?
What pushes a Singapore two-way radio network into a higher IMDA licence tier: 1 W ERP, fleet size, dedicated frequencies and fixed repeater infrastructure.
info466216
Aug 245 min read
How many radios can one repeater channel support before calls start getting blocked?
How many radios one repeater channel supports depends on Erlang traffic, not headcount. Typical figures, DMR two-slot capacity and when to add a channel.
info466216
Aug 225 min read
Why can our staff hear the repeater clearly, but the repeater cannot hear them from inside the building?
Staff hear the repeater but it can't hear them. The uplink runs 16-20 dB weaker. The link budget maths, and the four fixes that actually work.
info466216
Aug 195 min read
Why Don't Our Two-Way Radios Work Inside the Data Hall, and What Does a Data Centre DAS Need?
Why two-way radios fail in data halls: rack rows, containment and mesh cages. What a data centre DAS needs in Singapore, with real dB figures.
info466216
Aug 184 min read
Does an In-Building Radio Coverage System Need Battery Backup, and How Many Hours Must It Run Through a Mains Failure?
How many hours of battery backup an in-building radio (BDA/DAS) system needs in Singapore, what SCDF and IMDA require, and how to size the battery bank.
info466216
Aug 184 min read
bottom of page