How to Select Portable Radios For Emergency Service Personnel?

Answer 1

Portable radios are designed to be hand-held. More importantly than allowing you to take your music through your home, to your garden or outside, portable radios allow emergency personnel to stay in contact and share information. They're critical. Due to their size, they are less powerful than larger units. Here are several considerations for portable radios used by emergency personnel.

• National Fire Protection Association standards exist for radios, which will typically cost between $800 and $2500.

• They must be rugged to accommodate the pressures of search, rescue, suppression or overhauling: if a unit is dropped, it should bounce. Water resistance is a must.

• Portable radios must withstand extreme conditions. Knobs and other controls should be large and displays should be functional. The unit should be able to be powered-up and down, transmissions made and channels changed, with a gloved hand.

• Portable radios should fit securely into pockets or come equipped with a durable holster. A collar microphone and rapid charge batteries are also recommended. Special adapters, such as throat or “bone” microphones which mean communications can be made even when wearing breathing gear.

• Hazardous materials teams and others who work in venturesome atmospheres will require explosion-proof sets.

• Vehicle-mounted sets shouldn't interfere with normal in-cab activities. Correct mounting will keep the unit in place in the event of a collision. There should be enough power for volume, so transmissions can be heard above engine noise, sirens or horns.

• Firefighters often find themselves in situations with extremely high temperatures. At such times, radio operation is crucial.

A major fire at a car dealership in Hackensack, NJ, left three firemen dead. Their calls for help had gone unanswered. It was discovered that their radios contained F1 and not F2 transmit crystals, so while the firemen received communications, they were transmitting to F2, the general channel, to which the on-scene crew weren't listening. This shows that selection of portable radios for emergency personnel can be a matter of life and death.