Classic radio operator mistake

[whacker]

I wonder if anyone else in my part of the state (Berrien) has noticed (assuming you listen to this stuff) the comms on 461.600. It's the school bus freq for Berrien RESA (formerly I.S.D.), now run, I assume, by First Student, the privately run bus outfit.

For lack of anything else better to monitor in the hours between ~6:30a - 8:30a, I check out the school buses. This one has a dispatcher that sounds like she's sitting about five feet from the mic in a reflective room. You can barely understand her sometimes, and the mobiles are quite clear. Sometimes even they comment on not understanding her and ask her to repeat something. It almost sounds like a CB radio that's been modded to up its modulation, or maybe has a linear amplifier. Just awful audio.

I've heard this before in other types of base station operation. Too much distance from the mic, and all you're picking up are the reflections of the room. Sometimes I feel like sending them an anonymous letter commenting on it; maybe they'll realize how it marginalizes their radio communications.

[Flintstone4680]

Originally Posted by whacker

I wonder if anyone else in my part of the state (Berrien) has noticed (assuming you listen to this stuff) the comms on 461.600. It's the school bus freq for Berrien RESA (formerly I.S.D.), now run, I assume, by First Student, the privately run bus outfit.

For lack of anything else better to monitor in the hours between ~6:30a - 8:30a, I check out the school buses. This one has a dispatcher that sounds like she's sitting about five feet from the mic in a reflective room. You can barely understand her sometimes, and the mobiles are quite clear. Sometimes even they comment on not understanding her and ask her to repeat something. It almost sounds like a CB radio that's been modded to up its modulation, or maybe has a linear amplifier. Just awful audio.

I've heard this before in other types of base station operation. Too much distance from the mic, and all you're picking up are the reflections of the room. Sometimes I feel like sending them an anonymous letter commenting on it; maybe they'll realize how it marginalizes their radio communications.

I know what you mean.It happens around here with some police base people and EMS dispatchers. Really annoying. I don't understand why they can't just use headsets so their hands are free.

[tekshogun]

Typically this happens because there is another radio close by receiving the same audio being transmitted. Typical feedback of a receiving device being too close to the transmitter's input but not so close that you get the high pitch tones. Some radio operators have monitor speakers nearby with the audio source being the transmitting radio it self (a monitor input allowing one to hear both received and their own transmitted audio) or on another radio set to the receive frequency.

This may also happen with improperly implemented or faulty audio circuits and or gain of the input being too hot (too high). They could even, interestingly enough, be using microphones popular with CB radio (unacceptable in ham radio) that have echo/reverb effects that is turned on.

I'm sure they know about the problem and either don't know how to fix it or won't pay for somone to remedy it as I am sure they don't have a radio expert keeping their system in check.