A Buff?

[GoHardOrGoHome]

Alright, looking for some opinions here ...

In my department there are only two portable radios for the backstep. One goes to the officer and the other to the Irons.

I was looking to get a scanner w/a lapel mic. Two schools of thought ...
I feel that everybody one the fire ground should have a radio, moot point here, but at least if I had a scanner I could listen ...

Second, Radio feedback. God forbid I get lost or trapped, pass alarm doesn't go off, radio feedback can be used to help find me ...

The scanner lapel mic will cost roughly 140 with shipping.

What do you guys think about this?

[TRUCK1LT]

Buy a used radio on ebay.....

[Ex-Capt371]

Address your concerns with your captain.

A) Bringing unauthorized equipment with you to the fireground is never a good idea. Granted, your reason is valid, but will create an issue if you dont ask first.

B) Being proactive is not easy these days, trust me, i just got back from my company meeting and am ready to chain smoke. But be persistant, you sound like you have the right intentions, but there is a process you should follow.

[Fire51Marshal]

loo371 said:

Address your concerns with your captain.

A) Bringing unauthorized equipment with you to the fireground is never a good idea. Granted, your reason is valid, but will create an issue if you dont ask first.

B) Being proactive is not easy these days, trust me, i just got back from my company meeting and am ready to chain smoke. But be persistant, you sound like you have the right intentions, but there is a process you should follow.

Ahhhh, tradition.. The biggest hurdle in the fire service today!

[GoHardOrGoHome]

115 people view this thread and all I got was three replies - WTF?

Either way I found a few radios on e-bay, I have spoken to my caption and he is going to address this with the department chiefs. Thanks to those that replied.

How many guys out there actually went out and bought there own radios? How do your chiefs office feel about it?

[newsnick175]

What fire district doesn't know how liable they are if a firefighter dies in the line of duty because he didn't have a radio to call for help?

[wqce207a]

sorry, we're still using dixie cups with the string.

[GoHardOrGoHome]

Just an update, I found a used HT1250 on ebay. Spoke to my caption and chief, the are good with me carrying my own radio.

Thanks again for those who offered up some advice. I would still like to hear from those buffs who bought their own radios, I know you're out there, don't be shy.

[TRUCK1LT]

We have six per truck, but your lucky if you can find one that is 100 %. Some have bad, near-dead, or even just dead battery's, bad speakermic's etc. I also have my own (HT1000) which is programmed identical to the ones on the trucks. I trust my own stuff as I maintain it. BUT I use both.

Be careful with that series of radio. They are not the best for our line of work. They aren't the most watertight, epically the old speakermic. (Moto has made a more durable speakermic for the line).

[XCAPT1]

If you go to the BTRTF meeting tonight ask my guys. We have some guys with their own radios. The BOFC put a ban on them for now. They are researching liabilities.

Stay Safe

[Ex-Capt371]

it changes from district to district. Some give their captains and lieutenants radios. Others feel it is taboo. I have a CDM-1250 in my POV and people flipped out, until I showed my chief that the personality for our HB freqs were RX only and that I had a license for it. Yeah, Im a buff. Looking to sell the CDM for an HT though, if anyone is interested. Ill even program it for you.

[irons4life]

I am looking for the same thing as gohardorgohome. I need a radio this is good for highband so is that uhf? So would this be a good radio.

Motorola HT1250-LS UHF 16 channel two way radio with a speaker mic
Model number is : AAH25RDH9DP5AN

[TRUCK1LT]

irons4life said:

I am looking for the same thing as gohardorgohome. I need a radio this is good for highband so is that uhf? So would this be a good radio.

Motorola HT1250-LS UHF 16 channel two way radio with a speaker mic
Model number is : AAH25RDH9DP5AN

That is a Low split radio as referenced by the "R" in the Model number. It will not work above 470 Mhz. To get 450-512 you need an "S" Model. It is also a trunking radio. Try and find one w/o the LS. The LS will restrict you to 16 Channels Whereas a regular 1250 is 128 channels I believe.

[GoHardOrGoHome]

truck1lt said:

irons4life said:

I am looking for the same thing as gohardorgohome. I need a radio this is good for highband so is that uhf? So would this be a good radio.

Motorola HT1250-LS UHF 16 channel two way radio with a speaker mic
Model number is : AAH25RDH9DP5AN

That is a Low split radio as referenced by the "R" in the Model number. It will not work above 470 Mhz. To get 450-512 you need an "S" Model. It is also a trunking radio. Try and find one w/o the LS. The LS will restrict you to 16 Channels Whereas a regular 1250 is 128 channels I believe.

PM me your e-mail address and I'll out put you in touch with the guy
who I purchased mine from. He is in Queens, sells the radios on e-bay. If he's got them he sell it to you direct. I got a ht1250 (450-520) , reburbished, full key pad, new case and a lapel mic for little over $400.

[dave3825us]

gohardorgohome said:

Second, Radio feedback. God forbid I get lost or trapped, pass alarm doesn't go off, radio feedback can be used to help find me ...

Scanners do not transmit hence there would be no feedback.

[bfd732]

dave3825us said:

gohardorgohome said:

Second, Radio feedback. God forbid I get lost or trapped, pass alarm doesn't go off, radio feedback can be used to help find me ...

Scanners do not transmit hence there would be no feedback.

Pagers dont transmit either but if you key up a radio next to someone with their pager on what do you get - feedback. No different with a scanner it has nothing to do with RF it is audio feedback from speaker to mic. I have read advocates of keeping you pager on loud while operating so that (GFB) you are trapped searchers could find you using this type of feedback. Seems like last chance to me but hey, if it saves one person it's worth it.

[dave3825us]

True

But what I was getting out of the post was if he had a scanner with a lapel mic only , that he could key up the mic and create feedback.
That will not work.

If he had a radio and keyed it up next to the scanner there would be a ton of feedback..But he could just call for help on that radio..

[bloomtruck42]

thats true but if he has a scanner then a ff looking for him could key up the mic and listen for the feedback

[Ex-Capt371]

Um, call me old fashioned, BUT

THATS WHAT PASS DEVICES ARE FOR!

"Second, Radio feedback. God forbid I get lost or trapped, pass alarm doesn't go off, radio feedback can be used to help find me ..."

If you are in an environment where your PASS wont activate, youre dead anyway and your scanner has melted into your skin.

Grasping at straws, my man. What if the battery in your scanner isnt fully charged?

[GoHardOrGoHome]

Well, this turned out to be a pretty good conversation after all. I knew from the beginning that the scanner route was not the best option. It was basically plan B if my department had a problem with me getting my own radio. Turns out they are OK with it. Just to reiterate my first thought on this, my whole intention was to be able to hear what was going on around me, whatever the case may be. (Lost water, partial collapse, lost FF , etc ...)

The scanner option is moot now.

Be safe.

[Ex-Capt371]

Well, I am glad that there are some progressive firefighters and officers out there.

Good luck.

[Pride373]

Just to add to the discussion above:

If he had a scanner on him, the "Radio-Feedback Assisted" method to search for a downed firefighter could be used.

It requires everyone to switch to a different frequency. A FF on the outside takes TWO radios, and keys one up while holding the other close by create the feedback. The feedback will then be transmitted on the radio/scanner being carried by the downed FF.

This is a real search and rescue evolution. It could come in handy in a collapse situation, especially if there is a malfunction in the FF's PASS alarm. It isn't useful in most situations, but I can think of a few spots where it could play a role.

[Ex-Capt371]

There are a million reasons why you would want to do that. Its mostly for the reasons we cant think of.

[pccomms]

My personal recommendation for a personal radio is the Kenwood TK-272G in these VHF splits (136-150 MHz or 146-174 MHz.) or the TK-372G in these UHF splits (403-430 MHz., 450-470 MHz., 470-490 MHz. or 490-512 MHz.)

The radio is 32 channels, has an alpha numeric display and is narrow band compliant. They hold up extremely well for use in the service and the generally cost about $310.00 or so, brand new in the box with charger, battery, antenna and belt clip. We've sold more than I can count over the last few years and have had only 2 come back and both were for physical damage. Just my $0.02

Chuck
Pike County Communications

[Pride373]

Nice radio, good price, bad for our region.

If you want a UHF radio to work with more than your dept, you need to get a radio with a split of 450-512. You would need 3 different radios to transmit in the range of frequencies with the Kenwood listed above.