O2O radios

[ElvisLives]

Speaking of radios...

Over the three full seasons I had my last set of radios, I don't think we ever consciously set, or changed, the channel that we used. As far as I remember, we just used whatever they were set to when I got them. Once in a while we'd get some interference on them, but only a handful of times, and nothing that made us do anything differently. Otherwise, we just "plugged and played."
Well, for reasons I won't get into, I sold my previous radios. I recently received a new set of radios - technically walkie-talkies - and, while 'testing' them in my living room, I keyed the mic on a radio and made a comment of some kind - probably something like, "Can you hear me? Can you hear me now?" I could hear it clearly through another radio. OK. All good. But, a moment later, I hear somebody saying something. Although generally unintelligible, it had the inflection as though it was a reply to my transmission. Oh, crap.
So, this brings me to my questions.
1) Those walkie-talkies were set to channel 1. It looks like I have 36 channels available. What channel is most likely not to have much traffic on it?
2) Exactly what are privacy codes? Should I use a privacy code? Is there a 'best' privacy code?

I welcome any 'education' anyone can give me.

Thank you.

Robert Cameron
Lubbock, Texas

[Maineac]

Robert,

Good discussion on it here:

https://www.twowayradioforum.com/t/setting-up-privacy-codes/4935

Should answer some questions for you.

[ElvisLives]

Yes, helpful.
Privacy codes don’t prevent others from hearing us, but eliminate others not on our privacy code from bothering us.
What I don’t know is: Is the privacy code independent of the channel? In other words, will the privacy code continue to work if we change channels?

Thank you!

[dammitbobby]

I've always thought of privacy codes as being channel 1.1, or channel 1.13, or whatever, instead of just channel 1... It's just a way of further obfuscating what actual channel you are talking on. IMO they are largely unnecessary (subchannels), I don't know any WHs in our chapter who require their use (we've still got a fair amount who don't want to use radios, ever, for any reason). I've had multiple games over the last several years, and at least one this season, where crew pretty much told WH you don't want to use it, that's fine... but we are going to. And we did.

[MAFBRef]

An issue we ran into here in New England was that training staff were using Midland radios, too.  Found out the hard way in the middle of the 1st quarter that we were all using the same channel. Easy fix but it became a topic during my pregame meeting with the trainers.

[ElvisLives]

I've always thought of privacy codes as being channel 1.1, or channel 1.13, or whatever, instead of just channel 1... It's just a way of further obfuscating what actual channel you are talking on. IMO they are largely unnecessary (subchannels), I don't know any WHs in our chapter who require their use (we've still got a fair amount who don't want to use radios, ever, for any reason). I've had multiple games over the last several years, and at least one this season, where crew pretty much told WH you don't want to use it, that's fine... but we are going to. And we did.

Radios are helpful, when used well and properly. But they are just a tool, and shouldn’t be considered essential. IMHO, radios should only be used by officials with at least two full seasons of officiating, so they learn to move to the R to report fouls, and they learn manual forms of communication, for when the radios are unavailable/inoperative.
The worst mistakes officials make with radios is to yell, and speaking too fast or excitedly. Speak normally, calmly, and distinctly, even more so than you would in face to face conversation. And keep communications to essential info only.

[ElvisLives]

An issue we ran into here in New England was that training staff were using Midland radios, too.  Found out the hard way in the middle of the 1st quarter that we were all using the same channel. Easy fix but it became a topic during my pregame meeting with the trainers.

Good reason to change channels frequently, like per game, or even per half/period. That’s why I am wondering if the privacy code is independent of the channels, so, it still works when we change channels. ?

[Maineac]

I believe if you change the radio channel on which you are operating, you will also need to change the privacy code. That is what my quick research has turned up.

[Kalle]

Over here, where we use frequencies which are very popular, we agree on one channel at the start of the pregame, and also agree on a backup channel. Then, if we hear interference while doing field checkups etc, we can then move to the backup and agree on a second backup before the kickoff. That way you always have a quick way of switching to a hopefully less crowded channel.

[ElvisLives]

Over here, where we use frequencies which are very popular, we agree on one channel at the start of the pregame, and also agree on a backup channel. Then, if we hear interference while doing field checkups etc, we can then move to the backup and agree on a second backup before the kickoff. That way you always have a quick way of switching to a hopefully less crowded channel.

Great tip, Kalle. We’ll definitely have that contingency plan.