Why do police radios have such bad sound quality?

March 30, 2010 - 2:37 am 3 Comments

Why do police radios have such bad sound quality? You would think with the new technology that the sounds would at least be phone quality.

By the time I retired a few years ago, radios had improved far beyond what I started with in the early sixties. Sound quality now is pretty good. The problem now isn’t the quality, it is where you are trying to radio from (poor reception) and, more than likely, mush-mouthed cops and dispatchers that talk to fast, too low for the mike to pick up, or have some gawd-awful accent.

3 Responses to “Why do police radios have such bad sound quality?”

  1. ranger_co_1_75 Says:

    It is because the government buys things on bids. If you produce a product one cent cheaper than someone else, you get to supply the product to the government, even if the product sounds like someone talking with a mouth full of crap.
    References :

  2. Michael Says:

    By the time I retired a few years ago, radios had improved far beyond what I started with in the early sixties. Sound quality now is pretty good. The problem now isn’t the quality, it is where you are trying to radio from (poor reception) and, more than likely, mush-mouthed cops and dispatchers that talk to fast, too low for the mike to pick up, or have some gawd-awful accent.
    References :

  3. fmaster9796 Says:

    Because city governments would rather spend the money on decorating the mayor’s office, welfare, parades, drug rehab programs, public housing, and their own salaries than making sure the public safety workers have the best radio system available.
    References :

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