Using your radio

[lawdawg]

I see it all the time on COPS, an officer is out of his car, and calls back to dispatch. But instead of using his handheld mic up by his shoulder, he pulls his radio out of its holder and uses it instead.

Any ideas as to why one might do that? Is there some benefit in doing that?

[Norm357]

Originally posted by lawdawg
I see it all the time on COPS, an officer is out of his car, and calls back to dispatch. But instead of using his handheld mic up by his shoulder, he pulls his radio out of its holder and uses it instead.

Any ideas as to why one might do that? Is there some benefit in doing that?

Yeah, better reception.

[sparrow803]

Looks better on TV. More dramatic. LOL Shows off his duty belt.

[EHStaley]

Hmm, the only time I have noticed that was last night. The officer did not have a mic on his shoulder.

[Scruit]

IIRC, The mic on the shoudler is the mobile extender which relays radio transmission between the weaker handheld and longer-reanged cruiser radio. Reception should be the same, technically, but I'm not a cop so I can't comment on that.

[Stump]

Reception is better with handheld mic rather than the mic sitting on the shoulder.

[greenlead]

Related question: Has anybody else had a problem with the emergency button on the HT-1000 or MT-1000? I hit it once on a ride while I was trying to adjust the volume without looking down and my finger found the wrong spot. It was a rather embarrassing experience. Thankfully, the officer covered my butt when he called it in. Could have been much worse. I know a few of the regular officers on the department have had similar problems.

[DeputyMadMax]

Our packsets don't relay to the car, they shoot right to the repeaters. A lot of times dispatch can't hear us with the packset on the belt. I have to take my radio out and hold it up to hit dispatch a lot of the time.

[mcsap]

We use the Motorola HT-1000 5 watt radios. I have the speaker/mic on my left shoulder and it works fine. We have a great VHF 155 mhz radio system based off of a repeater. I don't have any reason to pull the radio from my belt.

There is a claim by Motorola that your body can absorb/block some of the signal when worn on the belt but I can't say I have ever had to pull it off for better reception or transmission.

We have some bad areas for our portables that we cannot reach main dispatch but with 16 channels and two side channels that both have repeaters, we can almost always get to someone.

Our car radios push 100 watts and we have absolutely NO dead areas. I have been as far away as 60 miles and still been able to hit the repeater ( although it was scratchy) .

[rdp]

With the growth here, the radio system needs an upgrade. The lapel mic's cord is up against the antenna and the antenna is against your body (well the way mine is). This is not good for transmission.

In some areas I have to pull the pax set out for a better transmission.

[gdowkpc]

I think some guys just do it for fun...or something like that. My partner is old school and doesn;t use a geek mike. He HAS to take his out to talk. He has been known to throw it at fleeing suspects.

Me, on the other hand, am the exact opposite. My partner says I look like robocop when my shirt is unbuttoned because of all the wires.

We use a Motorola trunked radio system. I never was comfortable with the coiled mic. I always thought it could be used as a weapon (choke me out), or it gets snagged on things. Once, in a fight with a suspect who wouldn;t get out of his car, the guy reached up and pulled the mic right off my shirt and into the car with him. Luckily, he clicked the mic a couple of times. When I didn't answer (computerized dispatch systems show the unit the keyed up on a marquee even though there is no audio), cover was sent. I decided that was the end of that type of mic.

You say, just take the radio out of the carrier. The other problem was I never hear the radio without the use of an earpiece. I love them and can't live without it. It's also an officer safety issue. The wire that goes under my shirt from the radio down not have enough slack to allow the radio to come more than 6 inces out of the carrier.

The new setup I have is a concealed mic and earpiece. I clip the mic (the size of a pinky) to the front of my vest just below the neck (imagine the wires underneath). The wire for the earpiece goes around the back, through a plastic clip attached to the back of the vest, then up to my left ear (again, imagine the wires).

I have 3 ways to key up. There is a key on the mic itself, which I can squeeze even fromn outside the shirt, there is a button on the adapter on the radio which keys the concealed mic, and the pacset mic itself which keys the internal mic on the pacset.

If you can handle all the wires, I think it is the best setup out there. And I look just as cool as my partner, with no goofy coiled microphone hanginf off me somewhere. :D

[P01IC3M4N]

We're on an 800 MHz system now with the Motorola 1000s and get awesome reception; MOST of the time.

when i worked in the boonies, i used to have to pull the radio out of the holder, hold it up over my head, and use the mic to talk into so i could get my radio up high. otherwise, i wasn't transmitting.

[gdowkpc]

They just "honk". I have found my self calling 9-1-1 on a cell phone to contact dispatch. And that was right in the middle of the city. We have fought for better equipment, and it is slowly coming, with the aid of OSHA.

[EXCOP2000]

That officer maybe suffered from CNS...(Crooked neck syndrome) a common affliction for patrol officers after they have to move their neck to one side and key the shoulder mike. Over time this can lead to this debilitating disease and so they are forced to abandon the shoulder mike and use the hand held.:D

[lawdawg]

Hmmm, this CNS you speak of, is this a relative of the much debated "taco neck"? lol.. wow, that was way too funny.