quality of reception often depends on the environment, other RF activity in the area
there are requirements for out of band transmission levels. RF transmission at nearby frequencies will bleed into a frequency/band your equipment is operating on. This background noise can affect the operation of your device (i.e. signal/noise ratio)
The PSR club stopped using wireless NCE devices because they became unreliable; sometime working sometimes not. I brought a spectrum analyzer from work and configured it to capture the max levels in the unlicensed ISM band NCE operates in. Things looked fine and then there was a burst of interference for several seconds (~10). Have no idea of the source, but that was the problem. Nothing we could do about it (it’s an unlicensed band).
it’s too bad there isn’t something you could use to test your environment before purchasing such equipment.
Downside of them using the 914MHz band. With 2.4GHz there are plenty of ways to test without expensive equipment.
There are just too many factors that can affect the signal. Using old style wire screen scenery base is almost certain to attenuate radio signals. Also if you house uses plaster and lathe walls instead of drywall. My house has a strange mesh impregnated extra thick drywall finish on the walls - my wifi is horrible, drops off VERY sharply outside the room where the router is. But go through the floor down to the basement and there’s still a strong signal. Nothing but ordinary wood between the router and the device in that case.
I worried about reception because I have a full height backdrop that separates the layout. Put the antenna on the ceiling near the command station on one edge of the 17 x 26 foot space; went to the other side of the basement outside the layout room and everything worked fine much to my relief.