Mobile Radio - how to use it

[TheDonNJ]

Hey guys, new EMT here, I tried searching the forum for an existing thread on using the two-way radio on our ambulances but didn't find anything. I finished the EMT course and they taught us nothing on how to operate the radio - and I just spent 2 hours online to search and am more confused than before. Here in Jersey we have just 3 channels for us BLS ambulances.
1. BLS ambulance-to-Emergency Department
2. Statewide EMS coordination
3. Statewide public safety coordination for police, fire and EMS

So what's expected of me from these channels? Which ones can I use to communicate with in case of emergency? And how? There's a DTMF microphone in the patient compartment - and I have a list of 4 digit numbers to call hospitals there, but no clue how to do that. Please let me know where I could read up about this.
I probably will never use the radio but I should know how to use it

 

[OnceAnEMT]

I strongly, strongly suggest that you talk with the service that you work with. Either your partner or your supervisor. There is very little universal about radio operation other than "hey you, its me". Knowing which radio to use and when and on what channel will vary by service and city. Unless you get lucky and find someone here in your service, you really need to ask that question to someone you work with.

 

[Akulahawk]

Don't worry about learning to use the radio in EMT school. They expect that you'll learn that after you get employed. That's more of an operational thing than a medical thing... and each radio system is different, so it's best that they leave it to the employer to teach you this stuff.

 

[cprted]

Radio communication isn't covered in the EMT program because it can be completely different from one agency to another. When you get hired, you employer will teach you how they want you to use their radio system.

 

[mycrofft]

Despite every after-action report since the WTC attack, there are no universally/uniformly applied radio systems and procedures.
Some tips:
1. Don't eat the mike.
2. Practice thinking for a second before you transmit about what you need to say, then say it. You can graduate to "thinking as you speak" with practice.
3. Keep slang, jargon and mickymouse tens codes out of it.
4. Shouting in the mike doesn't make your voice louder, it makes it Heavy Grunge Metal. Pretend its someone about fifteen feet away and speak clearly.
5. Treat your handheld radio like someone you might marry: handle it gently, test it thoroughly. And carry extra batteries.
6. Before you transmit, listen for a second, and hope others do that for you.

 

[Brandon O]

There is very little universal about radio operation other than "hey you, its me".

Sometimes, in fact, it's "it's me, hey you"

 

[OnceAnEMT]

Sometimes, in fact, it's "it's me, hey you"

I've only ever heard arguments against that, never for it. The reason you announce the receiver's callsign first is to get their attention. That is when you then announce your (sender's) callsign, initiating the dialogue. If you say "Alpha to Command", Command was not listening because they have 4 other teams to worry about in addition to Alpha, so Command did not here the "Alpha" part and will either ignore your transmission or ask that the last transmission be repeated. Same goes with the flip side. As a radioman in a squad, you are having to filter through all of the transmissions in order to hear what is for you. If I don't hear my callsign immediately, I'm not focused on the transmission.

As well, I believe it is mentioned this way in NIMS.

 

[Brandon O]

I prefer it your way, although I'm not real passionate about the subject. I think perhaps some services use me-you because they find it simpler. And there may be a lot of habit/culture involved; a bunch of the New England fire departments use it, for instance.

The only argument I've heard in favor is that it helps avoid cutting off the callsign you're hailing when you don't wait long enough to talk after keying the mic. I guess cutting off your own callsign is preferable, but not by much.

 

[OnceAnEMT]

I prefer it your way, although I'm not real passionate about the subject. I think perhaps some services use me-you because they find it simpler. And there may be a lot of habit/culture involved; a bunch of the New England fire departments use it, for instance.

The only argument I've heard in favor is that it helps avoid cutting off the callsign you're hailing when you don't wait long enough to talk after keying the mic. I guess cutting off your own callsign is preferable, but not by much.

I'm glad you agree. I'd say to them that assumption of user error isn't a good basis of protocol. There ought to be some re-education (or a company-wide e-mail) that incorporates proper radio usage. Its a basic thing, yes, but makes a huge difference. When you start talking large scenes or MCIs (or both), if communication is not effective on the radio, everyone's job just got a lot harder.

 

[EMDispatch]

Despite every after-action report since the WTC attack, there are no universally/uniformly applied radio systems and procedures.
Some tips:
1. Don't eat the mike.
2. Practice thinking for a second before you transmit about what you need to say, then say it. You can graduate to "thinking as you speak" with practice.
3. Keep slang, jargon and mickymouse tens codes out of it.
4. Shouting in the mike doesn't make your voice louder, it makes it Heavy Grunge Metal. Pretend its someone about fifteen feet away and speak clearly.
5. Treat your handheld radio like someone you might marry: handle it gently, test it thoroughly. And carry extra batteries.
6. Before you transmit, listen for a second, and hope others do that for you.

I'll add:
7. When you key up to transmit, wait a second or 2, the beginning of your transmission will be cut off if the radio isn't ready to transmit.
8. Watch where you place the radio, keep it in a location where it is accessible, but hard to accidentally key up for transmission.
9. Do not stand next to other active radios when talking, turn them off or down, or it will create an echo effect that is annoy and jumbles the message.
10. Keep the microphone a reasonable distance away, greater than a foot, and you're likely unreadable.
11. Make sure you take the radio off scan before transmitting, else you'll likely be transmitting on the wrong channel
12. You vehicle radio will likely be stronger and more reliable, if you have access to it, use it instead of a handheld.
13. Always make sure there is some alternate form of communication available, preferably 2, radio systems can and will fail.

 

[Tigger]

Hey guys, new EMT here, I tried searching the forum for an existing thread on using the two-way radio on our ambulances but didn't find anything. I finished the EMT course and they taught us nothing on how to operate the radio - and I just spent 2 hours online to search and am more confused than before. Here in Jersey we have just 3 channels for us BLS ambulances.
1. BLS ambulance-to-Emergency Department
2. Statewide EMS coordination
3. Statewide public safety coordination for police, fire and EMS

So what's expected of me from these channels? Which ones can I use to communicate with in case of emergency? And how? There's a DTMF microphone in the patient compartment - and I have a list of 4 digit numbers to call hospitals there, but no clue how to do that. Please let me know where I could read up about this.
I probably will never use the radio but I should know how to use it

How do you talk to dispatch and ALS on just those channels?

 

[EMDispatch]

How do you talk to dispatch and ALS on just those channels?

I'd assume those are just the statewide medical channels, or at least I'd hope.

@ the OP: I'm sure there are several other channels locally when you start working on a rig. They'll explain it better when that happens.

 

[Akulahawk]

During the course of my work day, I may use both simplex and repeater systems to communicate with other people. One such repeater system is a trunk radio system that has thousands of users spread across about a hundred talk groups. This system runs about 30 channels simultaneously. Most of the stuff is invisible to the user.

I've also dealt with smaller trunk radio systems with maybe 8 channels and maybe 30 users. In any event, the basic use of those is identical. You key up the radio, wait for it to beep, take a deep breath and then speak. This is to allow all radios that are listening to your talk group time to change over to the correct channel. This way your message isn't cut off. With non-trunk repeater systems, your radio won't beep at you... you just key up, take a deep breath and speak. This is to give the repeater time to key up and the other user radios time to actively listen to you.

With simplex systems, there are no repeaters, so you just key up and speak... but those systems are only for very close-in communications.

As a Ham Operator, sometimes I get on a statewide repeater chain and just by following the above steps for repeaters, the entire chain has time to key up so I can get clear communications throughout the entire chain.

 

[mycrofft]

Right on, Akulahawk, Brandon, and EMDispatch. Honorable mention to the rest.

PPS: If you somehow wind up driving and using a hand mike, steer with hand-shuffling instead of hand over hand or you WILL wind up…the mike cord, around the steering column.

Or am I dating myself here?

 

[Christopher]

The trick to radio operations is to minimize their usage. Every time you key up the radio you may be impacting the ability of somebody to get out an emergency message.

 

[DrParasite]

Hey guys, new EMT here, I tried searching the forum for an existing thread on using the two-way rances but didn't find anything. I finished the EMT course and they taught us nothing on how to operate the radio - and I just spent 2 hours online to search and am more confused than before. Here in Jersey we have just 3 channels for us BLS ambulances.
1. BLS ambulance-to-Emergency Department
2. Statewide EMS coordination
3. Statewide public safety coordination for police, fire and EMS

So what's expected of me from these channels? Which ones can I use to communicate with in case of emergency? And how? There's a DTMF microphone in the patient compartment - and I have a list of 4 digit numbers to call hospitals there, but no clue how to do that. Please let me know where I could read up about this.
I probably will never use the radio but I should know how to use it

ok, first of all, you're not correct. you have bad information. I would normally just say speak to your agency (or whomever is your boss), but since you asked, I will help you get some correct information.

1) Statewide, NJ has 4 VHF JEMS (Jersey Emergency Medical Services I think) channels, not 3. JEMS1 is typically your ALS dispatch channel, although some ALS agencies use that as their primary operations channel too. If you need to request an ALS unit, speak to an ALS unit, or speak to the ALS dispatch center, you can do so on this channel. JEMS2 is BLS ambulance to hospital, usually the ED, but sometimes to a monitored area elsewhere (such as the ALS dispatch center), who can relay information to the ED. Some places use it more than others. JEMS3 is intragency communication, or a isolated incident interagency TAC channel which (IIRC) isn't repeated. So if you are all operating on a major incident (emergency or preplanned, like the county fair), where you have people from all over, they can all share a common channel. JEMS4 is simliar to JEMS3, but it is repeated, and is the same as SPEN4, which is the State Police Emergency Network. in theory, every public safety vehicle has this channel, and can talk to each other, but I stress, this is only in theory.

2) JEMS2 uses the DTMF channels. in a nutshell, when you want to call a particular hospital, switch the radio to JEMS2, press the DTMF numbers, and you will alert the receiving hospital that you are calling and only speak to them. there should be a list of the 4 digit hospitals in your area, and they are usually broken down by county (ie, all 62xx were middlesex county hospitals).

3) most people DON'T operate on the statewide channels; the agency has it's own frequency (VHF, UHF, 800mz, trunk system, the list goes on) which means you may or may not be able to talk directly to your neighbor. but you should be able to call your other units and dispatch with minimal problems. You will use the local channels much more than the statewide ones. To get them to work, put the PTT button, and talk. very simple. your agency should teach you how to do all this.

The trick to radio operations is to minimize their usage. Every time you key up the radio you may be impacting the ability of somebody to get out an emergency message.

with all due, the trick to radio operations is to minimize chatter. radios are designed to be tools of communications. use them as such. Delivery your message, ensure it was recieved, and move on. you don't need to minimize what you say, but make sure it needs to be said, and said it clearly over the radio so the other person gets the message. oh, and only use it for professional reasons.... you'd be surprised how often people forget that the radio is public safety equipment and should be used for public safety related stuff only.

 

[Christopher]

with all due, the trick to radio operations is to minimize chatter. radios are designed to be tools of communications. use them as such. Delivery your message, ensure it was recieved, and move on. you don't need to minimize what you say, but make sure it needs to be said, and said it clearly over the radio so the other person gets the message. oh, and only use it for professional reasons.... you'd be surprised how often people forget that the radio is public safety equipment and should be used for public safety related stuff only.

We no longer routinely use radios to check enroute, on scene, transporting, or even arriving at hospitals. Why? Useless communication in the age of mobile data terminals. Moving to minimal radio usage frees up the channels for truly important communication. If you don't have an out-of-band communication channel to keep off frivolous chatter then you must keep everything absolutely short and sweet. Not that we disagree on that point.

 

[DrParasite]

We no longer routinely use radios to check enroute, on scene, transporting, or even arriving at hospitals. Why? Useless communication in the age of mobile data terminals. Moving to minimal radio usage frees up the channels for truly important communication. If you don't have an out-of-band communication channel to keep off frivolous chatter then you must keep everything absolutely short and sweet. Not that we disagree on that point.

The vast majority of EMS agencies in NJ don't have MDTs..... even the really busy ones..... wish they did, it would help things out a lot....

 

[Christopher]

The vast majority of EMS agencies in NJ don't have MDTs..... even the really busy ones.....

It always surprises me when my State--which doesn't even believe you need to take math each year of high school--somehow stays ahead. Apparently backwater/backwards NC is out in front of technology! (I'm cringing saying that)

 

[irishboxer384]

I probably will never use the radio but I should know how to use it

Comms and voice procedure is one of the most boring subjects (to me) but one of the most important. Getting a 'hands on' with this equipment with someone who knows what they are talking about will go far...maybe your dispatcher can give you an adequate run through. If you aren't technically minded then at least learn proper voice procedure...

-dont transmit unless you are 100% sure what you are going to say (nothing worse than some idiot blocking up the net with "ummmmmm errrrrr"
-hold pressel for 2 seconds before talking
-dont speak for more than 10 words at a time without pausing to confirm your msg is recieved clearly- allows the person on the other end to process the info properly and means you wont have to repeat 60 seconds of talking nonsense
-double clicking the pressel doesnt mean anything, you aren't hiding from the viet cong trying not to give your position away by talking
-speak half the speed you normally would for conversation and a little louder
- dont mumble into the mic, its just laziness and doesn't make you look cool or like you know what you're doing
- ask more experienced guys if there are any areas of difficult comms, so you can save time playing around with the radio set and just use cell phone instead