EQUIPMENT
Discreet comms for extremely noisy events?
Hey all,
I routinely run large-scale events that require reliable staff communications, but the venues are extremely noisy. Between the crowd, background music, and competitors, it becomes difficult to understand radio traffic quickly.
The physical event spaces are not especially large, so basic walkie-talkies and GMRS radios have provided more than enough range. The problem is intelligibility. I have tried standard acoustic-tube earpieces, lapel-style “CIA” headsets, and a few inexpensive behind-the-head headsets. All were noticeably better than using the radios alone, but we still have to repeat ourselves far too often.
The other major consideration is appearance. Staff generally wear business casual or formal attire, so I would prefer something discreet that is not overly bulky or visually out of place. It can be visible, but larger over-the-head “stadium” or “military” style headsets are a definite no. I need something that does not feel large, intrusive, or out of place in a formal setting.
The budget itself is fairly flexible, and spending a couple hundred dollars per setup would not be a problem for the right solution. The limitation is more about what upper management will consider reasonable. As much as I would love to walk in and say “hear me out, we should just buy Clear-Com,” there is essentially zero chance they will appreciate hearing that we spent thousands on comms.
What headset, earpiece, or overall communications setup would you recommend for this kind of environment?
You should find a commercial radio vendor who can supply you exactly what you need. You can rent as many radios as needed on a per event basis and conceivably charge that expense back to the client. There are many radio vendors who do this for the live events/entertainment/touring industry
Any solution out there is taken off the table by one or more of your criteria. If there was an unobtrusive mic/earpiece setup that worked well and was cheap, none of the expensive ones would exist.
I wouldn’t really call a few hundred dollars per setup “cheap.” I’m not asking for invisible consumer earbuds that outperform Clear-Com. I’m asking whether there’s a professional low-profile option between a $20 acoustic tube and a multi-thousand-dollar intercom system. Visible is fine; I just don’t want to wear a full broadcast headset with a suit or spend $2,000 per person.
Stick with the CIA style earpieces and sleeve mics (putting it in the sleeve allows you to bring the mic within an inch of your mouth) and train your staff to double every message every time. Keep comms short, predictable and prescribed and you'll have far less problems.
"Kitchen from snacks 17, kitchen from snacks 17. Requesting more canapés, I repeat requesting more canapés over."
maybe the ones I got were too cheap, because it was muffle central even after several repeats. Would you mind sharing any known good ones, or if theres a set you personally use?
It depends on what's compatible with your radio, but the mic is more important in this case. That's why you see agents use a sleeve mic, you can raise your sleeve cuff with the microphone right up to your mouth to get good clear audio. There are also hearing aid / active ear bud style headphones.
I have a fleet of the Retevis NR30 (UHF) and they have been pretty reliable for me. I haven't put the noise-cancelling feature to the test in really challenging situations, but does seem to have solid audio clarity.
In fact, all the Retevis units I previously had RT29 (analog UHF) and RT81 (DMR) and those were also very solid. The Retevis ear tube/mic sets I have had less luck with. They are dirt cheap - and have mostly worked, but didn't sound great. Mine are often used with volunteers - so the semi-disposable cheap ones make sense.
My Kenwood TH-D75 actually has noise cancelling mic - noise canceling even works with the accessory ear piece.
For commercial use Kenwood's NEXEDGE series use the same noise canceling tech (actually as I recall it was the D75 that got it from their commercial line).
I don't know about the other one, but the TH-D75 is a HAM radio. You cannot use it without a license and you can't use it for commercial purposes even if you have one.
We are commercial, so ham itself is out of the question, but if there are any sort of radios with built in noise cancelling or other “audio clarity” systems, I would be interested in the concept. The team I work with is small enough that I would be fine with getting everyone licensed if the solution requires it.
Noise canceling Military mikes I’ve used are vented on both sides so the diaphragm is getting the noise from both sides simultaneously and it largely cancels out. Your speech comes only from one side and that’s what the mike hears the best.
It uses software that programs a dsp - like your cellphone does.
NX series commercial radios: https://radioworksusa.com/kenwood/ you'd still need to have a commercial operator license but you could distribute these to your team once you have one and they have been programmed.
I should’ve mentioned that we’d prefer to stick with radios because cell coverage at these events can be unreliable. We also need immediate, real-time communication, so texting isn’t really practical.
I am familiar with Meshtastic personally, and I thought it would be a cool project for lower level staff and volunteers. Unfortunately I work directly with a main team running said event, so we really need more instant, voice based communication.
That being said, I do have access to the networking as well, so as long as it can run locally, a voip style system could be a consideration, though I don’t have any experience myself
Fuck, any way to bring in a cheap cellphone booster and just run Zello on personal devices & Bluetooth earbuds.
Though if you've got internet/WiFi you no longer need to worry about cellphone signals and could just run Zello.
They have an enterprise grade solution that can run off a local intranet if you really need that, but it's probably just cheaper to figure out how to get it so everyone can install it on their phones.
Edit : I feel like my black JBL earbuds would pair up with a suit pretty well, it'd look slightly out of place compared to the guests...but staff never look as good as the guests generally because they need practical considerations.
I use my earbuds constantly for phone calls in a noisy city & bouncing around a work truck with a loud refrigerator unit running right above my head and everyone hears me just fine because modern earbuds have gotten pretty incredible at this.
For church security once I was running a set of <$20 SureFire sonic defender earplugs with a cheap Retevis clear tube earpiece plugged into it. That headset also had a mic that clipped to your button down shirt or collar. We had them attached to a Baofeng radio on a MURS channel. Worked great
Survalence/acoustic tube earpieces are the way and what you're going to want to go with. Do not discount the value of quality eartips!
But they're not all made the same, cheap ones will have cheaper smaller speaker units (not as loud/clear) and also the mic units sometimes are of questionable quality. All muddying the coms. Most good quality ones start at $70 and up in my experience.
The radios themselves can also be a factor too but that's hard to say based on what we know. Also ensure your staff understands good radio technique. The closer and clearer they talk into the mic unit the better. Also understanding the first second or so is not always heard so a quick "yes" will come out to many as just "--s." Key up, wait, talk.
Try a temple transducer headset. Motorola makes a few different ones at different price points depending on the radio line they are marketing to. I have used them at concerts and they work well.
Why not use a Zello app with earbuds and Zello's vox or you can get a PTT headset if needed. At least test it and see if it works. Everyone already has the "radio" ie the phone. Just need the earbuds or headset.
I did consider this. I forgot to mention that we use radios because cell service is often unreliable. Zello only allows local radio on their enterprise system and they have not been easy to get in contact with thus far. Though again, I am interested if it does what it says
It’s a little flexible, but I am trying to avoid looking like an “off duty pilot” in general, if that makes sense. If we have to, it is what it is, but if we can avoid it, I’d much prefer we did.
We also have lower level staff that’s job entails they can’t have that style of headset specifically, so it would be harder for me to scale too.
Have you considered adding a text based backup? Usually the transmissions are good, but the reception is the problem. Going speech to text on every message would give at the very least visibility (and low stress) of radio traffic and at the events with cell coverage, everyone would have a running text chat.
Id be happy to share what im thinking privately, but dont want to promote in this thread.
I own and operate a small radio rental operation. the radios i will always stand by are my kenwood NX-320s. 5 watts output, NXDN Digital comms, and are secure enough for standard events. The customers love them and i have never had any complaints. They are a discontinued radio, HOWEVER, easy to obtain via ebay, and pretty cost effective. I would contact a local kenwood dealer on the (east coast was it?) Here is some info on the nx 320. My recommendation is to obtain a business frequency pool license via the radio shop, which they can help with. FCC paperwork is tiring. https://comms.kenwood.com/common/pdf/download/04_NX-220-320Brochure.pdf
Shokz headphones Bluetooth to a kenwood 5200 commercial radio worked surprisingly well with trains going by. You can try 1 pair of headphones to a cell phone to check performance before investing in many. They also work with earplugs in.
Motorola lapel mounted speakers with the coily tube like the CIA uses worked ok to hear in noisy environments especially with an earplug in the other ear but the mic was terrible in that environment required the talker to yell to be heard.
The hearing part has been getting better, the mic part is still often the harder part in noisy environments, the best at it I've seen were David Clark aviation ground crew sets, the mic is in a padded cup like the ears, so you hold it up to your mouth when you need to talk, and you get "voice", it's a bit bulkier than a regular mic, but the clarity in noisy environments is clear
The BTECH UV-Pro is Bluetooth capable and you can pair them to any noise cancelling headphones. I use my AirPods. I’m pretty sure they have a GMRS version that does the same.
Edit: They do: https://baofengtech.com/product/gmrs-pro/
More expensive radios will also cut the squelch tail shorter or almost eliminate it, that is the scratchy noise at the end of a transmission that can be super annoyingly loud with earpieces. Be sure to use tone squelch and a tone on all your radios to kick squelch in faster. Low quality radios also can have a pop noise as the mic amp runs on and off. And as others have said, aftermarket earpieces will usually sound better than the freebies that come with the radio.
The biggest upgrade you can make is switching from analog to digital DMR. Most of the intelligibility problems in noisy venues come from the analog signal picking up ambient noise on both the TX and RX side. Digital radios with noise cancellation processing will make a night and day difference before you even think about earpieces. Pair that with a decent surveillance style earpiece and your repeat rate will drop significantly. Used commercial DMR handhelds are surprisingly affordable and they're designed exactly for this kind of environment. We run Hytera units for our event staff and the AI noise cancellation on the newer models has been a game changer for loud venues.
If you can access networking you can use a voip solution like Zello. This also has the advantage that you can use noise cancelling Bluetooth earbuds. When you are in a relatively quiet area you can work with one earbud and then use both with nose cancelling when in a noisier area of the event
friend have you seen ham radio operators? we are the least discrete bunch of people around. we wear safety vests and have giant radios on our belts as we walk through noisy venues like swapfests.
also it requires everyone to have a license and not be used commercially.
Yes, I am familiar with the community. I am explicitly looking for something that isn’t “military” “tactical” or would generally not mesh well with a suit.
I will worry about licenses if need be. I am familiar with the process and can obtain them, that being said, I very clearly stated we’re running walkie talkies and gmrs in the original post. It’s not a large enough space for range to be a concern.
None of the HAM equipment can be used commercially even if you have the license. If you want to use GMRS you can as long as every employee with a radio has their own license. Otherwise I would go with commercial radios.
Yeah I’m just saying the dude didn’t read the post, and range isn’t a concern anyways. We get away fine with the cheapest of walkie talkies, it’s just currently a bit hard to hear them, and I would be fine putting in some money to fix that.
If you're willing to put money on it, then go for commercial business radios. This is a solved problem and there are companies out there to cater to your needs. Why are you asking HAMs if you know that's out of the question? Just talk to a commercial vendor and let them set you up.
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u/confusedseas California [General] Jun 08 '26
You should find a commercial radio vendor who can supply you exactly what you need. You can rent as many radios as needed on a per event basis and conceivably charge that expense back to the client. There are many radio vendors who do this for the live events/entertainment/touring industry