Text message capable 446

[radio_ryan]

Flood the place with WiFi, and let them use http://www.whatsapp.com/ on their smarts

Like I post above, we used WIFI on a JOTA but it was just for the staff,

But a closed feed like whatsapp would be cheeper. and being closed no on the mobile no one should be able to access, unlike the Icom Digital 446. any one who has one could listen in.

[solarstorm]

I’ve run into similar challenges during large events where you need group communication without relying on voice. Honestly, finding radios on the PMR446 band with texting is tough and the digital sets that support it don’t always have the range or pricing that fits smaller organizations. At one camp, we ended up using a mix of radios and basic smartphones, linking up everyone over WiFi where possible so people could send texts or group messages with their own accessibility settings. It was clunky at times but worked out decent, especially for including staff who were deaf or hard of hearing.

If you’re looking to improve communication for a group setting, another approach I've seen in the real estate industry is *Link removed* It lets you deliver info quietly and directly, which could be good if texting isn't reliable or equipment is limited.

[scanhermit]

Meshtastic or Meshcore could be used for small sites.

[DX-Digger]

You could always use Rattlegram App
just key up your radio and send rattlegram message
It works quite well considering