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Radio 101
Techniques for the Field
Although I've dedicated The Break Room to dispatchers, all members of the Public Safety community are welcome - and after all, the folks in the field are half of the reason our jobs exist, anyway. This section, while it may be extremely useful as a training review for communications personnel, is intended as a Primer For The Field Folks.
You see, field personnel - and law enforcement officers, particularly - spend nearly all of their Academy training on laws of arrest, physical methods of arrest, how to shoot, how to drive, how to do building and vehicle searches, how to write a report, yadda yadda yadda: All very important stuff for their jobs. They MIGHT be expected to memorize their agency's aural brevity codes and shown how the microphone works.... but most of their radio training is On The Job - and provided by an FTO whose radio training was also received on the job.
Dispatchers, on the other hand, are trained to communicate on the radio. So we have an advantage over them in this arena.
I refer to this as the "They do Law Enforcement; We Do Radio" Syndrome. In THIS endeavor, we're the Professionals, so we're expected to know the techniques of proper broadcasting, all the methods of information exchange, etc. WE know it's more than "push to talk."
So, here are some Radio Techniques for Field Personnel - a "primer," if you will, of information to assist officers with effective communications via their radios.
~Handy Mnemonics~
mne-mon-ic \ni-'mahn-ik\ adj 1: assisting or intended to assist memory. 2: of or relating to memoryAn Alphabet Soup - the "Nuts & Bolts"
- KHT = Key, Hesitate, Talk
Using this technique will avoid "front end clipping" of your transmission. What is usually clipped or lost at the beginning of radio transmissions is WHO is being called or the radio identifier of the person CALLING, or sometimes the REASON for the transmission.
Simply depress the microphone key, hesitate to the count of "one thousand one" and then talk.
- SHR = Stop, Hesitate, Release
Well, there's "rear end clipping" too, ya know. This technique will prevent that annoying loss of often vital information at the end of your transmissions.
- ABC - Accuracy, Brevity, Clarity
The ABCs of radio communications relate directly to the composition of any message broadcast over the radio. Before transmitting a message, think about what you want to say and make sure you're presenting accurate information. Try to use short sentences with a single idea in each sentence; avoid "thinking out loud." (Otherwise, everyone listening may very well get a really good view of your thought processes and that can be pretty scary, sometimes!)
If you lose your train of thought, or "talk yourself into a corner" stop transmitting! "Ummms" and "ahhs" sound unprofessional and should be avoided. Break your transmission with a "stand-by" alert, work out what you want to say, and start again. Basically, remember KISS, or Keep it Simple, Stupid.
Remember how Mom always said, "Don't talk with your mouth full?" Well, in the radio broadcast environment, ANYTHING in your mouth will interfere with the clarity of your transmission. That means chewing gum, toothpicks, sunflower seeds, a cigarette, ANYTHING.
Don't talk louder just because the Dispatch Center is farther away, either. Don't mash the microphone up against your mouth; tilt it slightly at an angle and talk ACROSS the face of the transmitter portion (usually indicated by a grill-type effect on the body of the hand-held radio or the remote microphone). If you're dealing with a lot of outside or background noise, turn to FACE the source of the noise. This will put the sound on the "wrong" side of the microphone and your mouth on the "right" (or receiver) side. Don't make the mistake of turning your back on the source of extra noises, because those sounds will funnel right into the microphone along with what you have to say.
Don't shout. Don't whisper. Speak in a normal, conversational volume. Trust me on this.
Shouting over-modulates the electronic circuitry and your message will be lost in a garble of noise. Whispering simply creates a susurration of sound and transmits no valuable information.
- SHR = Stop, Hesitate, Release
(Thanks to many of my online peers for suggestions on this section of The Break Room. I am particularly indebted to Sergeant Andrew J. Brill, Training Manager, NZ Police Northern Communications Centre for a hefty chunk of information I'll probably plagarize in other areas, as well.....)
