Best Practice

As an all-industry organisation, FCS believes the industry should get the maximum benefit from the investments it makes in common standards and intelligence gathering. So we work pro-actively with specialist industry organisations to avoid duplicated effort, re-invented wheels and wasted resource.

Best practice starts with each individual business. As a condition of membership, all FCS members are required to sign a code of ethics which includes treating customers fairly and training and developing employees.

Where a business’s trading patterns and customer profile fall within the scope of General Condition 14, FCS can provide an Ofcom-approved Consumer Code of Practice and Complaints Code wording, along with free access to the Ofcom-approved Communications Ombudsman alternative dispute resolution service.

In response to industry demand, FCS operates two specific best-practice schemes: FITAS for vehicle electricians, installing radio-frequency equipment to FCS1362, and SEAS for radio mast site engineers, installing and servicing equipment and antennas in accordance with FCS1331.

Business Radio best-practice documents

FCS 1331 – Code of Practice for Business Radio Site Engineering 2022.

FCS 1362 – Code of Practice for Installation in Motor Vehicles 2022.

FCS 1331 – Code of Practice for Radio Site Engineering 2013.

FCS 2020 – Resilience Levels in Business Radio Systems. The FCS 5-Level Resilience Assessment Scheme.

MPT 1306 – Continuous tone controlled signalling system (CTCSS) for use in the Land Mobile Services.
MPT 1315 – Requirements for duplex operation in the Land Mobile Services.
MPT 1316 – Code of Practice for Selective Signalling for use in the Private Mobile Radio Services.
MPT 1317 – Code of Practice for transmission of digital information over Land Mobile Radio Systems.
MPT 1318 (large) – Engineering Memorandum on trunked systems in the Land Mobile Radio Service.
MPT 1351 – Code of Practice for Repeater Operation at Communal sites.
FCS 1362 – Code of Practice for installation of mobile radio equipment in land based vehicles -previously known as MPT 1362 Updated 2010.
MPT 1381 – Digitally Coded Squelch Signalling (DCSS) system for use in the Land Mobile Services.

FCS Short Term Hire Code of Practice

NEW Light Licence Code of Practice – for suppliers and licensees with Ofcom light and simple business radio licences.

NEW Intrinsically Safe Radio Equipment – practical best practice guidance from the Australian Radio Communications Industry Association.  Contains solid practical guidance and industry best practice principles. Please note this is not a definitive legal document for UK users.

Information sheets

FCS-BR53 – Remote control of base stations by landlines.

FCS-BR55 – Signalling systems.

FCS-BR56 – Telephone interconnect on PBR channels.

FCS-BR59 – Talkthrough facilities – use by wide-area and on-site PBR licensees.

FCS-BR70 – Reverse frequency working for PBR.

FCS-BR72 – Alarms on PBR.

FCS-BR73 – PBR wide-area distress alarm licence.

FCS-BR74 – Trunked systems for PBR.

FCS-BR75 – PBR licence requirements for Watchschemes (Shopwatch etc.)

FCS-BR76 – Local authority PBR – use by independent contractors.

FCS-BR77 – Business Radio communications for Tower Cranes.

FCS-BR116 – Short range business paging.

FCS-BR119 – Public access mobile radio (including TETRA).

FCS-BR130 – On-frequency repeater stations for use by PBR.

If you have any difficulty finding what you require please send an enquiry by email to [email protected]

For a full list of MPT codes of practice please visit the Ofcom website

Technical standards are devloped and published by ETSI- for a list of technical standards relevant to business radio please click here

Installers best-practice documents

FCS1362:2022 (UK CODE OF PRACTICE for the installation of mobile radio and related ancillary equipment in land-based vehicles)

FCS1364:2019 UK CODE OF PRACTICE ADR ‘FL’ & ‘AT’ VEHICLE RADIO COMMUNICATION

Become an FCS Member

12 Days of Compliance

FCS provide it’s 12 top tips for keeping Communication Service Providers compliant in the run up to Christmas.

Welcoming Stefanie Norman, Head of Regulation and Public Affairs

FCS welcomes Stefanie Norman to the team with her experience trying to persuade people to “do the right thing”, working across organisations and externally to gain consensus and get things moving.

Has the business radio sector permanently changed?

Changes in business radio customer demand volume and nature of solutions sought has left business-critical questions. FCS Comex 2023 can help with the answers.