How Radios Work in Arma Reforger

Radios in Arma Reforger carry your voice to players on the same radio net within range: you need a radio in your inventory, matching tuning, an active channel, and the correct push-to-talk control. Local voice chat is separate, and hearing a teammate does not necessarily mean you are transmitting back on their channel. Here’s how to get connected, use a radio backpack, and diagnose a failed radio check.

How Radio Communication Works

A radio net is a shared communications channel. Your squad might use one net for its own coordination and another for talking to the wider platoon.

Unlike global voice chat, radio communication depends on equipment and range. Both ends of the conversation need suitable radios and compatible tuning. A working microphone alone is not enough if your radio is off, your transmit channel is wrong, or your teammate is beyond its effective reach.

There are two main equipment choices:

Handheld radios handle ordinary squad communications.
Manpack radios, carried as radio backpacks, provide longer-distance communication and access to a wider frequency band.

Proximity voice does not need a radio. It is for people physically nearby, including enemies.

How to Use a Radio in Arma Reforger

The controls below are platform bindings. If you have remapped your controls, confirm your exact inputs in the game’s control settings.

Choose your equipment according to who you need to reach. These effective ranges are practical estimates, not guaranteed coverage boundaries.

Radio	Typical Effective Range	Best Use
Handheld	Roughly 1.3 km	Routine squad communication without carrying a radio backpack
Manpack	Approximately 2 km	Longer-range faction coordination when a handheld is not enough

Step 1: Equip a Radio and Arrange a Check

Check your inventory for a radio suitable for your faction’s communications. Do not assume that joining a squad automatically means your current loadout includes one.
Agree with a teammate on the Group, Platoon, or custom net you intend to use.
Keep that teammate nearby for the initial radio check. This helps remove distance as a likely cause while you establish that the controls and microphone work.

For your first test, use a teammate with normal faction equipment rather than trying to diagnose captured or unfamiliar radios at the same time.

Step 2: Open Radio Select and Check Power

Open the radial Radio Select Menu: – PC: press G. – Xbox: press LB + X. – PS5: press L1 + Square.
Highlight the channel associated with the radio you want to use.
Check that its radio is powered on. With the channel highlighted, toggle power using: – PC: R. – Xbox: hold LB and press the right stick, RS. – PS5: hold L1 and press the right stick, R3.

These are toggle controls: pressing them again turns the radio back off. A channel on a powered-off radio is not an available listening channel, even if you previously tuned it correctly.

Step 3: Tune the Net and Select Your Active Channel

Tune the highlighted channel to the net your teammate is using: – For predetermined Platoon and Group frequencies, use Q / E on PC or left/right on the D-pad on Xbox and PS5. – For a custom frequency, use the mouse scroll wheel on PC or up/down on the D-pad on Xbox and PS5. Match the displayed frequency to the one your team agreed on.
Select that channel as your active channel.

You can hear both tuned channels when their radios are powered and receiving, but you transmit only on the channel selected as active. That distinction matters: you can hear a squadmate on one channel while accidentally answering on the other.

Use the presets when joining an ordinary Group or Platoon net. There is no need to dial its frequency manually when the appropriate preset is available.

Step 4: Transmit and Get a Reply

Listen for a break in the conversation.
With the handheld radio in your inventory and its channel active, hold the transmit control while speaking: – PC: hold Caps Lock. – Xbox: hold LB. – PS5: hold L1.
Make a short, identifiable call: “Alpha, this is Bravo. Radio check, over.”
Release the control and listen for a reply.

An acknowledgment addressed to your call sign confirms that your teammate received you. Hearing that acknowledgment also confirms the return path.

Avoid repeatedly transmitting “Can anyone hear me?” into a busy net. Address a particular teammate so someone knows they should answer.

Step 5: Switch Channels When Needed

To switch quickly between your two tuned channels, use: – PC: double-press Caps Lock. – Xbox: LB + B. – PS5: L1 + Circle.
Check which channel is now active before making your next call.
Hold the normal transmit control, speak, then release it and listen for the response on the new net.

The quick-switch action changes your active channel; it does not lock your radio microphone open.

How to Use a Manpack Radio

A manpack is useful when you need greater reach than a handheld provides. It also supports frequencies below and above the handheld’s tuning range. If your group uses a mixture of handhelds and manpacks, choose a frequency that both types can tune.

To establish a manpack voice link:

Equip the manpack, open Radio Select, and make sure its radio is powered on.
Tune its channel to the intended net.
Choose the appropriate transmit method: – Manpack selected as active: hold Caps Lock, LB, or L1 as applicable. – Manpack carried alongside a handheld: use L-Ctrl + Caps Lock, LB + A, or L1 + X to transmit through the manpack. This leaves the ordinary transmit control available for the handheld.
Make an addressed radio check, release the controls, and wait for a reply.

Carrying both types is helpful when you need separate squad and longer-range communications, but it also creates an opportunity to transmit through the wrong equipment. Before a call, identify both the radio you intend to use and the net tuned on it.

A manpack does not fix mismatched tuning or a microphone problem. If a nearby teammate cannot hear your handheld radio check, establish a working voice link before treating range as the problem.

Local Voice, Text Chat, and Enemy Listening

Use proximity voice or text chat for nearby coordination, while remembering that enemies can hear local speech and captured radios.

Proximity Voice

For nearby conversation, hold T on your keyboard and speak into your microphone. Double-tap T to toggle local voice communications instead of holding the key.

This is separate from handheld-radio transmission. Use it for immediate coordination with people beside you, such as asking someone to move, identifying a nearby threat, or arranging a radio check without occupying the squad net.

If you toggle local voice on, toggle it off again when finished. Otherwise, you can leave nearby players listening to unintended microphone audio.

Text Chat

To open the text-chat window, press:

PC: /.
Xbox: LB + Y.
PS5: L1 + Triangle.

Type and send your message through the chat window. Text is useful for sharing a frequency accurately or arranging a voice test when your microphone is not getting through.

Enemy Listening

Enemies can hear your proximity speech and the words you speak locally while transmitting into a radio. They can also listen through captured radios. However, an enemy standing beside you cannot hear your teammates’ incoming radio audio merely because you are receiving it, per Bohemia Interactive.

That makes transmitting and receiving different tactical risks. Receiving can stay quiet, unlike transmitting.

Do not treat a radio channel as automatically secure.

Why Your Radio Is Not Working

Test local voice before changing radio settings; it separates microphone problems from radio-link problems.

Ask a teammate to check your proximity voice, then place a radio call. The difference between those results helps you choose the next action.

What Happens	Likely Cause	What to Check or Change
You hear teammates, but they do not hear your reply	Wrong active channel or incorrect transmit input	Select the intended transmit channel and use its radio push-to-talk control
Local voice works, but radio does not	Radio power, tuning, equipment, or range	Confirm a radio is carried, powered on, and tuned to the same net as your test partner
Radio works nearby but fails after separation	The radio link is beyond effective reach	Move closer and test again before changing microphone settings
Neither local voice nor radio reaches a nearby teammate	Microphone mute, input selection, voice permissions, or bindings	Check the headset mute state, the game’s microphone/input options, and voice-control bindings
A handheld works, but the manpack does not	Wrong radio selected or incorrect manpack transmit input	Check the manpack’s tuning and use the transmit control intended for it

If party chat works but in-game voice does not, test the game’s own proximity and radio push-to-talk controls rather than treating party-chat audio as proof that the radio works.

For microphone checks, begin with the simplest items:

Make sure the microphone is not physically muted.
Confirm that the game is using the intended input device.
Check any platform microphone permissions or communication restrictions.
Make sure your actual bindings match the controls you are pressing.

Do not change several audio and radio settings at once. Make one change, repeat the test, and keep the setting that resolves the failure.

Confirm the Fix

After an adjustment, have a teammate confirm that your radio call gets a reply. If local voice works but radio still fails, keep the microphone settings unchanged and concentrate on the radio link.

If nobody answers, try a specific available teammate before assuming a technical fault. A silent net may simply contain players who are busy or listening to another conversation.

Keep the Connection Reliable

Run a fresh radio check after changing equipment, switching to a different net, or altering voice settings. Release push-to-talk as soon as your message is complete.

Once the check succeeds, return to your squad’s intended channel and make your next call concise: who you are calling, who you are, and what they need to know.

Frequently Asked Questions

How Do I Show My Location Using the Radio?

Give your location in the spoken message using a map grid, an objective’s assigned phonetic code name, or a recognizable landmark. A radio listener may be far away, so “here” or “over there” is not enough without a shared reference.

Where Can I Find a Radio?

Check your starting inventory and any equipment or arsenal access provided by the scenario. Custom campaigns and servers can use different loadouts and equipment arrangements, so there is no single radio pickup location that applies to every session.

What Are the Best Communication Settings?

For ordinary squad play, use your Group net as the main talk channel and keep the Platoon net available when your role needs wider coordination. Set voice playback so speech is intelligible over game effects, and use push-to-talk to keep background microphone noise off the net. There is no universal volume percentage that suits every headset and audio mix; adjust it during a teammate’s radio check.