Radio & Communications
"Radio" in Kestrel actually covers two separate, independently-enabled features. This page is mostly about the first one — read the split below before you set expectations for either.
- Real two-way voice radio — dispatchers and officers actually talking to each other over channels, using real microphone audio. This is the main subject of this page.
- The signal-quality HUD — a corner readout on the officer's screen
(
RADIO: 82% GOOD) that simulates coverage based on your community's towers and zones. It carries no audio at all and is already covered in the Officer Field Guide and FAQ & Troubleshooting — this page only cross-links to it.
Real two-way voice and the signal-quality HUD are independently enabled. A community can run either one, both, or neither. The HUD showing good signal doesn't mean voice radio works, and voice radio working doesn't mean the HUD is configured — check each one separately.
Real two-way voice radio
This lets a dispatcher and any officer on the same talkgroup hear each other live, the same way a real dispatch channel works.
Voice radio is a recent addition. The dispatcher-side controls and backend have been verified working, but it hasn't yet been confirmed against every live FiveM server setup. Before relying on it for real operations, have a community admin run a full test transmission — dispatcher to officer and back — the same way you'd verify anything else before going live.
Voice radio currently supports GTA V Legacy only. GTA V Enhanced is not supported yet.
For dispatchers
The dispatch console has a Radio panel:
- Pick a talkgroup from the list of channels your admin has enabled for you.
- Press and hold the push-to-talk control to transmit. Your browser's own microphone is captured only while you're holding it down — release it and transmission stops.
- Everyone currently listening on that talkgroup hears you, the same as any other radio call.
Your browser will prompt for microphone permission the first time you use the panel. If you don't see the prompt, check your browser's site permissions rather than Kestrel's settings.
For officers
There's nothing new to learn: use your existing in-game radio push-to-talk key, through the game's normal voice system. There's no new keybind and no separate in-game microphone prompt — if your in-game voice already works, transmitting on a talkgroup works the same way.
For admins
Manage talkgroups from Admin → Radio:
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Name | The label shown in the dispatcher's channel list. |
| Scope | Restrict the talkgroup to a specific department, or make it org-wide so every department can use it. |
| Enabled / disabled | Toggle whether the talkgroup is currently usable. Disabling one removes it from dispatchers' channel lists immediately. |
Create one talkgroup per department at minimum, plus an org-wide channel for cross-department traffic if your community needs it.
Signal-quality HUD
The signal-quality HUD is a simulation of radio coverage — it doesn't carry any audio and isn't required for (or affected by) real voice radio above. Officers see it automatically as a corner readout once your admin has towers/repeaters and coverage zones configured; full behavior is documented in the Officer Field Guide.
Admins configure it from its own admin screen:
- Towers/repeaters — position, range, power, and which talkgroups each one covers.
- Coverage-modifier zones — areas that boost or degrade signal, for terrain, distance, or story reasons (a dead zone in a tunnel, weaker coverage far from the city, and so on).
None of this configuration affects whether real two-way voice radio works — they're unrelated systems that happen to share the word "radio."