Two-way radio systems for tunnels, airports, offshore and utilities Every word gets through.
We survey, design, build, test and look after critical radio systems for the places phones can’t reach. Family-owned and independent since 1975, working from Ramsey, Cambridgeshire.
Or speak to an engineer: 01487 815111
- 1975 The year we started, still family-owned
- 20+ Years of ground operations radio at Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted and Southampton
- 2,000+ Substations on Northern Powergrid’s network with Key radios at the switchgear
- 300 Radios on hire across 14 Chiltern Railways sites, from 2026
- Motorola Solutions partner
- Sepura partner
- Our own Key range
- ISO 9001, 14001 and 45001
Where we work
Radio for the places phones go quiet.
Six kinds of site, one question: will every call get through? Choose yours to see what we’d install and where we’ve done it before.
Tunnels and construction
Radio that follows the dig.
Concrete, rock and curves kill a phone signal within metres. On a build, the coverage you need moves every week.
What we install
- Radiating cable (leaky feeder) and fibre-fed antennas that run the full length
- Digital repeaters and talk groups for each gang, shift and contractor
- Hire fleets that grow with the site, and remote health checks while it runs
Where we’ve done it
Crossrail, Tottenham Court Road: site-wide Motorola digital radio for the station construction, with antennas, radiating cable and remote monitoring.
Airports and airside
Clear calls on the busiest aprons.
Ground crews, engineers and security share crowded channels, and the aircraft and terminals themselves block signal.
What we install
- Wide-area trunked radio for ground operations
- In-building antenna systems for piers, baggage halls and car parks
- An airside office and engineers who already hold the passes
Where we’ve done it
Ground operations radio at Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted and Southampton for over 20 years. Heathrow’s system alone carries 2,000 portable radios and 500 vehicle radios.
Rail and depots
Every shed, siding and platform covered.
Shunters, drivers and fitters need to hear each other inside steel sheds and across long yards, where a missed word is a safety risk.
What we install
- Depot-wide digital voice systems, designed for each yard
- Safety-critical signalling links between shunters and drivers
- Radio hire for possessions, projects and whole networks
Where we’ve done it
Kings Heath, Three Bridges and Hornsey train care depots, plus 300 radios on hire across 14 Chiltern Railways sites from 2026.
Offshore and marine
Built for hazardous areas and open water.
Steel decks, explosive atmospheres and long distances to shore. Kit has to be certified, and it has to work first time.
What we install
- ATEX-certified radios, antennas and repeaters
- Complete platform telecom packages: radio, PA, CCTV and telephony
- Marine and airband radio for vessels, and marine navigation aids
Where we’ve done it
Complete telecom packages for three Petronas platforms in the Caspian Sea. ATEX radio for the CLOV FPSO and Shell Prelude, and radio for six SapuraKencana pipe-lay vessels.
Utilities and the grid
Data links that keep the lights on.
Substations sit where phones are weakest, and the radio link has to carry switching commands in a power cut.
What we install
- Resilient data radio for telecontrol and SCADA
- Keynet and digital networks with fully alarmed management
- Upgrades from ageing analogue trunked systems, without a truck visit to every site
Where we’ve done it
Northern Powergrid: Key radios at 2,000+ substations, and power switching times cut by a factor of four with Keynet.
Border and secure sites
Cleared engineers. Encrypted channels.
Sensitive sites need systems that several agencies can share, installed by engineers who are allowed through the gate.
What we install
- Encrypted digital radio and cross-patching between agencies
- In-building antenna systems for secure estates
- DV-cleared engineers, with over twelve years on government sites
Where we’ve done it
UK Border Force at Calais, Coquelles and Dunkirk: analogue radio replaced with encrypted digital, approved by Eurotunnel, the Home Office and the port authorities.
How we work
From first survey to 24/7 support.
One team, six steps. The engineers who measure your site are the ones who build, test and look after your system.
Step 1
Survey
We measure the signal on site, room by room and metre by metre, before we design anything.
Step 2
Design
Motorola, Sepura or our own Key equipment: we choose what suits the site, not a sales target.
Step 3
Build
Racks, repeaters and dispatch built and wired in our Ramsey workshop.
Step 4
Test
Every unit is tested before it ships, and you’re welcome to watch the factory acceptance test.
Step 5
Install
Our own engineers fit and commission it, then prove it on site with a site acceptance test.
Step 6
Support
Maintenance, repairs and spares, from office hours to 24/7 cover on site.
The six marks are our logo, opened out: a signal that starts as a flicker and ends as a solid bar.
Designed by us
Our own Key range.
Alongside Motorola and Sepura, we design our own Key range in the UK. So when off-the-shelf kit won’t do, we can change the hardware and the software.
Keynet
Our trunked radio networks for buses, utilities and industry. One bus network polls every vehicle every 30 seconds, over a million data messages a day.
Mobile radio
Key KM4000
Voice, data, tracking and telemetry in one vehicle or desk radio. Over 20,000 Key mobiles are in service.
Base station
Key KF510
A rack-mounted base station and repeater for conventional and trunked networks, made for Radio Systems.
Push-to-talk handset
Key KIP800
A rugged push-to-talk radio that roams across 2G, 3G, 4G and Wi-Fi, with GPS and dispatcher mapping.
Projects
From Ramsey to the Caspian Sea.
Some of the places our radio systems have been designed, installed or looked after, from airports and depots to the ports of northern France.
Further afield
- Northern Powergrid North East and Yorkshire
- Petronas, three platforms Caspian Sea
- Shell Prelude Off Western Australia
- CLOV FPSO Off Angola
- SapuraKencana, six vessels Built in the Netherlands
- Airport systems Cairo and Panama
Our head office and workshop Since 1975
Where systems are built, wired and tested before they ship.
Heathrow Airport T2, 2014
Ground operations radio for over 20 years, and coverage extended into Terminal 2 over fibre.
Gatwick Airport and Three Bridges 2007 to 2015
The airport radio redesign in 2007, Pier 1 coverage in 2015, and the Three Bridges train care depot.
Stansted Airport Ground operations
Ground operations radio infrastructure, supplied, installed and commissioned.
Southampton Airport Ground operations
Ground operations radio infrastructure, supplied, installed and commissioned.
Crossrail and Hornsey 2015
Site-wide radio for Tottenham Court Road station construction, and the Hornsey train care depot.
Chiltern Railways 2026 to 2029
300 radios on hire across 14 sites, with extensions possible to 2033.
Kings Heath depot 2015
A depot-wide digital voice system with shunter-to-driver signalling.
Eurotunnel Maintenance
Communications maintenance with engineering teams in Folkestone and Coquelles.
UK Border Force, France 2015
Encrypted digital radio at Calais, Coquelles and Dunkirk.
UK Border Force, Dunkirk 2015
Part of the same Border Force upgrade.
Radio hire
Hire for the project, not for ever.
From a dozen radios for a shutdown to hundreds across a rail network, we supply, programme and support hire fleets, and we design the coverage they need.
- Motorola digital radios, programmed, labelled and charged before they arrive
- Short or long term, on a rolling monthly basis
- Repeaters and radiating cable when the site outgrows a single channel
- Ofcom licensing sorted, and swap-outs if a radio is lost or damaged
What’s changing
Ready for the next switch-over.
Networks, standards and phone lines are all moving. We’ll check what your system depends on and plan the change before it’s urgent.
Now
Analogue networks are ageing out
MPT1327 and analogue systems are getting harder to support. We move them to digital and IP, Keynet included, without losing what already works.
31 Jan 2027
Copper phone lines switch off
Radio links, alarms and remote sites that still use old phone lines need a new path. We move them to IP or 4G/5G.
BS 9991:2024
Firefighters need coverage inside
Tall residential buildings now need firefighter communications that work on every floor. Leaky feeder and in-building antennas can deliver it.
Airwave to ESN
Emergency services are changing networks
If responders need coverage inside your tunnel or building, we’ll plan for today’s Airwave and for ESN when it comes.
About us
Same family. Same engineers.
We’re a small, independent team. No manufacturer owns us and there are no layers between you and the engineer who designed your system. It’s how a team of under twenty people has delivered radio for four airports, a grid operator and offshore platforms.
- ISO 9001, 14001 and 45001 certified
- DV-cleared engineers for secure sites
- Offshore engineers with BOSIET training
- Employer’s, public, product and professional cover for airside and offshore work
Over fifty years on air
- 1975 Founded in two-way radio hire, still under the same family ownership.
- 1979 Incorporated as Telecom Rentals Limited, renamed Radio Systems in 1989.
- 1997 Radio Services Inc formed to maintain radios for the US Air Forces in Europe.
- 2007 Redesigned and recommissioned Gatwick’s airport radio infrastructure.
- 2009 The Key Radio Systems design team joined, bringing the Key range in house.
- 2026 Chiltern Railways: 300 radios on hire across 14 sites.
Questions
What people ask us first.
Something else? Call an engineer on 01487 815111.
Or email sales@
Do you only sell Motorola?
No. We’re a Motorola Solutions partner and a Sepura partner, and we design our own Key range. We pick what suits the site, and we can integrate with systems you already have.
Can you make radios work in a tunnel, basement or plant room?
Yes. That’s most of what we do. We survey first, then use radiating cable (leaky feeder), fibre-fed antenna systems or extra repeaters to carry the signal where it needs to go.
Do we need an Ofcom licence?
Most business radio systems need one. We’ll tell you which licence fits, from a simple UK light licence to a technically assigned one, and we’ll handle the application.
Can we hire radios instead of buying?
Yes. We hire Motorola digital radios short or long term, on a rolling monthly basis, with repeaters and radiating cable if the site needs them.
What is a witnessed factory acceptance test?
Before a system leaves our workshop we run it through an agreed test plan. You’re welcome to come to Ramsey and watch it pass, so you know it works before it reaches site. We then repeat the key tests on site.
Can you upgrade our old MPT1327 or analogue system?
Yes. We’ve upgraded large MPT1327 networks, including our own Keynet systems, to digital and IP. Where we can, we keep the radios and sites that still work, which saves a visit to every outstation.
Do you work outside the UK?
Yes. We’ve supplied systems for platforms in the Caspian Sea, vessels built in the Netherlands, ports in France, and airports in Cairo and Panama.
Are your engineers security cleared?
Yes. Our engineers and several office staff hold DV clearance, and we’ve worked on UK Government secure sites for over twelve years.
How quickly can you respond if something goes wrong?
That depends on the support contract you choose, from office-hours cover to 24/7, 365 days a year, with engineers on site.
Book a site survey
Tell us where it has to work.
A few details and an engineer will come back to you, usually with questions about the site before anything else.
Message received. Loud and clear.
Thank you. An engineer will be in touch soon. If it’s urgent, call 01487 815111.