What the licence actually changes
| Licence-free (PMR446) | Licensed business radio | |
|---|---|---|
| Transmit power | 0.5 W, fixed by law | Typically 4–5 W handhelds — roughly double the real-world range |
| Channels | 16, shared with everyone nearby | Coordinated business frequencies; dedicated channels available |
| Interference | Take your chances | Ofcom coordination keeps co-channel users apart |
| Repeaters | Not permitted | Permitted — the key to covering big or awkward buildings |
| Handsets | £15–£120 consumer/prosumer | £120–£600 business-grade: audio, batteries, IP-rated build |
| Digital privacy | Codes filter, don't hide (why) | Digital (DMR) systems offer genuine privacy and unit IDs |
| Cost of entry | £0 | £75 / 5 years (Simple UK Light) + hardware |
The honest five-year comparison
Six-radio shop team on decent licence-free kit: ~£500, all-in, done. The same team on entry business radios plus the licence: ~£1,000–£1,800 over five years. What the extra buys isn't a spec sheet — it's that the radios recede into infrastructure: they reach the stockroom basement, nobody else appears on your channel on market day, batteries last double shifts, and a dropped handset is picked up rather than swept up. Operations that use radios all day feel the difference within a week; occasional users never will, and shouldn't pay for it.
The three signs you've crossed the line
- Coverage complaints have a pattern. Same dead corners, every shift — you've hit PMR446's power ceiling and no new handset fixes physics. Licensed power (or a repeater) does. See the range guide for what's fixable first.
- Strangers on the channel have become operational noise. A busy high street on a Saturday can make shared channels genuinely unusable. Coordinated frequencies end it.
- A missed call now costs real money (or safety). When radio failure means a lost sale, a security gap or a near-miss, consumer kit and shared spectrum are the wrong foundation — this is the point where £15 a year is not a cost, it's an insurance premium.
And the third option that resets the question
Licensed radio's power still obeys line-of-sight physics — it stretches a site, it doesn't connect towns. If the real problem is people in different places rather than a bigger yard, the upgrade isn't more watts, it's network radio: no licence, no range limit, monthly SIM instead. Plenty of businesses run the sensible hybrid — licensed on-site, network radios for whoever leaves the gate.