PTT, PoC & LMR: A Push-to-Talk Glossary

Shopping for team radios or a push-to-talk app means wading through acronyms. Here's a plain-English glossary of the terms you'll meet — PTT, PoC, LMR and the rest.

PTT — Push-to-Talk

Hold a button to speak, release to listen. The instant, one-to-many voice model used by walkie-talkies and PTT apps.

PoC — Push-to-Talk over Cellular

PTT delivered over 4G/5G and Wi-Fi instead of radio frequencies — unlimited range, no licences, runs on smartphones.

LMR — Land Mobile Radio

Traditional two-way radio systems (UHF/VHF, DMR, TETRA) using dedicated handsets and, often, licensed spectrum and repeaters.

Half-duplex vs full-duplex

Half-duplex (radios, PTT) means one person talks at a time; full-duplex (phone calls) means both at once. Good PTT supports multiple talkers without a hard floor lock.

Channel, broadcast & dispatch

Channel — a group that hears each other. Broadcast — one-to-many announce. Dispatch — a controller coordinating calls and alerts from a console.

Geofence & man-down

Geofence — a virtual boundary that triggers an alert on enter/exit. Man-down — motion-sensor detection of a fall or no movement that raises an alarm.

See it in action

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