Team member Communications Training includes:
Jon Robertson - Radio-Communications Training
- Communications Tools
- Radios - SAR Truck, Base, Field, FRS (Family Radio Service), Aircraft, MMSA (Mammoth Mountain Ski Area)
- Repeaters - Sheriff, County Mutual Aid, Amateur (Ham), Portable Repeaters
- Cell Phones
- Internet - Google Earth maps and 3D, e-mail, subject pictures & information
- Satelite - Delorme InReach Explorers
- Radio Stuff
- Team radio usage is the most evident sign of our ability as a team when we work with other agencies. If we are unprofessional on the radio, they will assume that we are unprofessional in general.
- Everything you transmit can have an effect on the final outcome of the operation. Learning waht's important and what's not takes time.
- It's NOT a TELEPHONE, and you're NOT having a conversation. You're sending messages.
- Be factual in your transmissions, and very conservative with words. think out what you are going to say before you say it. Remember that base camp can only act on what you tell them.
- Remember that everything you say on the radio is likely to be heard by anyone (Lots of local scanners).
- All communications devices work best with normal speaking volume, about one inch from the microphone.
- Don't be a RADIO WHISPERER.
- Don't be a RADIO SCREAMER.
Jon Robertson - Radio-Communications Training - Wind noise into the microphone can act just like screaming which will make you unreadable. Face downwind and shield the radio, speak very close to the microphone in a normal voice.
- Sheriff Channel Use
- Minimize Sheriff repeater use.
- Don't ask Dispatch any questions about the operation unless you are the Operations Leader.
- Use MRA or MRA2 for talking to members enroute, or Mammoth Ham if necessary.
- Callsigns - follow the instructions given at training class to identify yourself, SAR base, SAR vehicles, SAR field teams, helicopters.
- Procedure
- Listen before you transmit. Be sure it's clear.
- Give your own callsign LAST. E.G. MONO ONE (this is) RESCUE BASE
- BE BRIEF
- Always acknowledge a message
- With another message
- With Copy (replaced 10-4 - meaning received and understood, not YES)
- Breaks and Pauses
- You may notice a tendency towards "pregnant pauses" (Break) between radio transmissions.
- So you can think about what you will say before you say it.
- To allow Base to ask for a repeat of what you just said.
- For others to break in with urgent or emergency traffic.
Rick Dodson instructing on how the team radios work
Rick Dodson answering a question - Radio operating at Base
- Accuracy - Be careful to relay a message accurately
- Don't be offended if the OPS Leader or assistant wants to by-pass you and talk on the radio directly.
- Radio Codes Ten-codes, officially known as ten signals, are brevity codes used to represent common phrases in voice communication, particularly by law enforcement and in Citizens Band (CB) radio transmissions.
The codes, developed in 1937 and expanded in 1974 by the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials-International (APCO), allow brevity and standardization of message traffic. They have historically been widely used by law enforcement officers in North America, but, due to the lack of standardization, in 2006 the U.S. federal government recommended they be discontinued in favor of everyday language. This Wikipedia article gives the history of Ten-codes.
Replacement with plain language - While ten-codes were intended to be a terse, concise, and standardized system, the proliferation of different meanings can render them useless in situations when officers from different agencies and jurisdictions need to communicate.
In the fall of 2005, responding to inter-organizational communication problems during the rescue operations after Hurricane Katrina, the United States Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) discouraged the use of ten-codes and other codes due to their wide variation in meaning. The Department of Homeland Security's SAFECOM program, established in response to communication problems experienced during the September 11 attacks also advises local agencies on how and why to transition to plain language, and their use is expressly forbidden in the nationally standardized Incident Command System, as is the use of other codes.
The Mono County Sheriff's Department is moving away from using 10 codes to plain language in radio communications. This was done years ago for fire departments. You'll still hear it on the air, but dispatchers will be using more plain language (over time as old habits are hard to break).
How it impacts SAR - we don't have to remember the most common codes we use:
Old Plain Language - USE THIS 10-1 Reception poor 10-2 Reception good 10-4 Copy or Affirmative 10-8 In service ("Rescue 3 is in service") 10-9 Repeat 10-10 Off Duty or Out of service ("Rescue 3 is out of service") 10-20 What's your location 10=22 Mission cancelled 10-33 Don't transmit (channel reserved for urgent traffic) 10-36 Sensitive Traffic* 11-44 Request coroner or Possible Dead Body Code 4 Situation under control (Officer safety) Code 33 Don't transmit or Emergency traffic only (channel reserved for urgent traffic) (Officer safety) *MONO SAR will continue to use 10-36, which is basically used only between field teams and SAR base when confidential radio traffic is requested.
- Communications resulting from finding an injured victim
- Make Certain no family or friend is likely to hear your transmission
- Inform base camp of the find, that there are injuries, the location, the extent of injury, and what resources are needed to effect rescue.
- Carefully compose the message to avoid confusion.
- Position Reports
- GPS poitions are usually in UTM, consisting of a six digit Easting coordinate, followed by a seven digit Northing coordinate. For example: "My position is 351 905 East, 4159 013 North"
- Aircraft Lat-Lon positions SHOULD be given as Latitude 37 degrees 43 POINT 87 minutes North, Longitude 119 degrees 64 POINT 67 minutes West.
- BE SURE the other party knows we are using degrees and DECIMAL minutes, NOT seconds.
- Aircraft will sometimes give degrees, minutes, and seconds, and not even know what format they are using.
- If they say something like Lat 37 45 58, be suspicious and verify that the sender means 37 degrees, 45.58 minutes.
- The difference can be a half mile error.
- Amateur Radio and SAR
- The Team currently has a number of licensed hams.
- The Team can use the amateur radio repeaters for field ops, but NOT FOR TRAINING.
- Consider getting an Amateur License if you are interested in communications.
- 55 word multiple guess test.
- Given by the Bishop Amateur Radio Club 4 times per year.
- Radio Fundamentals
- Radio use is pretty much line-of-sight. Two people on flat ground could communcate to only about 7 miles due to the curvature of the earth.
- The radio waves can bend around some objects so the distance can sometimes be much more.
- Objects, the direction antenna points, and all sorts of other things can affect the distance you can transmit.
- If you are having a hard time communicating, try moving a foot or two or pointing the antenna in the direction of base/other team.
- Antennas and Radio Repeaters
- Generally, the higher the antenna the better, and the more in the clear of rocks, trees, human bodies, etc., the better
- Extendable antenna - not while walking
- Get radio away from your body
- Use a speaker mike and hold the radio vertically over your head to get some increased performance
- The Team has a number of tools to improve radio communications which you will be instructed on at the Communications Class - such as Truck Extenders, Base Antenna, Portable Repeater, Wifi Hotspot, Cell Phone booster,Sheriff and other agency Repeaters, etc.
Delorme inReach Explorer - Satellite Phones - inReach Explorer
- The Team has four Satellite Phones. You will be instructed on their use in the Communications Training class.
- inReach Explorer - Instructions in the use of the Team owned DeLorme inReach Explorer units will be provided in the Communications Training class. The Team units have been programmed to:
- Automatically send GPS points to base through satellites - Base knows where teams are at all times.
- Provides 2 Way text messages to cell phones, email addresses, other inReach Devices - Communicate when there is no cell phone or radio reception.
- Basic GPS Functions (no base map).
- More information in the Communications Training class.
- NOTE: Delorme is now part of Garmin which sells newer versions of the inReach Explorer.
