Am I the only one?

[StoliRaz]

I realize that my aging eyes and ears play a large part in listening to my scanner, but I have difficulty understanding what many dispatchers and others are saying because of their fast talking. I can understand the need for fast communications in the aviation realm, but rapidly dispatching, say to a file, isn't necessary, in my opinion.

For me, it aggravates me and causes me to not cease listening. Repeating the above title, am I the only one?

I notice similar problems with digital. I feel like users either come in booming loud to the point I have to turn the volume down or they mumble their way through their transmission and also when there is a one word transmission like "received" it gets 80% chopped off or doesn't come through at all. I use Unidens so automatic gain control isn't an option, it does seemingly nothing to help. I think it's likely users trying to talk into their lapel unit from too far away or speaking as they're keying up and the radio isn't quite ready. Or is it Uniden's decoding that's lacking? (436hp and 325p2) or maybe it's just me..or all of the above...

 

[jmp883]

I think it's a bit of everything...the equipment used by the dispatcher, the equipment used by the person listening, the skill level of the dispatcher, and the environment both parties are in.

I'm in my 31st year of dispatching. It all started for me when I got a scanner as gift when I was in high school. I most definitely had trouble understanding some dispatchers, and PD/FD/EMS units, while others I had no problem understanding. Over the years I've worked with several dispatchers who insisted that the faster you talked on the radio the better you were as a dispatcher. Must have been coincidence that those dispatchers were the ones most often asked to repeat what they just said!

When I'm at work I have no problem hearing and understanding the units I'm dispatching, and I hope they have no problem with me. While our desk is set up for headset use we don't use them. The Motorola speakers and desk mic have excellent audio. When I'm off-duty and listening to my scanners at home I do prefer to use either earbuds or headphones. Not so much for the privacy factor, or that I have any hearing issues (none that I'm aware of...yet), but they just make listening a lot easier.

Out of all the variables in this listening equation I believe that training dispatchers, and field units, to speak clearly on the radio is key.

 

[Ubbe]

I've worked with both old Motorola Centracom and newer MCC7500 dispatch consoles and I have to say that the audio level processing in them are top notch. They are almost immune to large variations of audio in both the transmit and receive audio chain. What are surprising in Unidens SDS scanners are that they lack any kind of automatic leveling of the audio. At least the 436/536 have some moderate AGC that compensates for users different modulation levels.

/Ubbe

 

[pandel]

I've also seen this problem and thought about it quite a bit. I've used several radios and systems with the same problems ...
My county started out on a 800 mhz P1 system. I was listening with a M/ACom P7100, a GRE base scanner as well as a GRE portable. Then they switched to a Harris 700 mhz P2 system. Same issues.
After a lot of thought and "study" I think I may have found one biggest of the problems.
Our county at my last count is using 6 different Microphones!
Dispatchers are using Plantronics headsets, which may or may not be worn correctly. 1
Deputies are using mobile radios with the standard hand mic. Sometimes not even picking it up out of the hanger to talk, just keying and talking/yelling their response. 2
Portable radios without speaker mics. 3
Portable radios with speaker mics. 4
Portable radios with aftermarket covert (think eBay Secret Service type) mics. 5
District and other offices with desk mics. 6.
Things are getting better. I think they are slowly removing the "covert" mics and issuing a coiled earphone for the Harris speaker mic.
Now, if they can teach the dispatchers how to properly wear their headsets.......

 

[bobw4]

No, you aren’t the only one. I have been listening to police scanners since the very early 1970’s. With analog, most of the transmissions were quite clear and understandable. On occasion the police/fire vehicles would get into a bad reception area where their transmissions would become choppy and hard to understand however, the dispatcher would have the same issue understanding them and would ask for them to repeat their transmission. With the switchover to digital in my area over the last 3 years or so, I now struggle with a combination of issues. A couple of the nearby dispatchers speak 100 mph and my SDS200 simply can’t properly decode a lot of their words. Obviously the radios in the police cars can handle this. Often certain people in the field sound like their mics are stuck half way down their throats (bassy/muddy/muffled sounding to the point where they aren’t really understandable). Also, the SDS200 is sorely in need of some type of automatic gain control; there are transmissions on the same talk group where the volume of the dispatcher is so low that I have to have my ear next to the scanner in order to hear what they are saying while the reply from the person in the field comes in so loud that the speaker rattles. In summary, if I would rate all of the radio communications in my area from the all of the various agencies that use digital, I would say that about 30% comes in clear as a bell. Another 20% I would rate as poor (where they are quite difficult to understand). The remaining 50% of the radio traffic ranges somewhere between these two extremes. I have tried various external speakers to no avail. Admittedly my hearing isn’t as good as it used to be and I find that wearing my hearing aids do improve the clarity of the digital transmissions to a certain extent. Although, I haven’t seen anyone else post this so maybe it is just me, but it seems that when I activate the recording feature on the SDS200 that it slightly reduces the audio quality on the scanner.

 

[Endurordr]

I will say that the current generation of young adults frequently do not open their mouth enough to speak clearly. I’ve asked others if it’s just me making this observation and they confirmed the same thing. Especially true in drive throughs.

 

[CKnobb]

Interesting thread. My wife and I often comment on our current crop of local dispatchers. We have no idea how the field personnel and responders understand them half of the time. There are mumblers, whisperers, and mumbler-whisperers. Every once in a while a first responder will ask for a repeat, but not often. This has nothing to do with my ears, my speakers or my equipment. It has everything to do with basic speaking skills, improper enunciation and technique. As I listen to neighboring counties, I hear mostly professional sounding, properly enunciated dispatchers. I would think "in the old days", the call center manager would train their personnel on basic communication skills. God bless our responders as they have adjusted accordingly.

 

[RFI-EMI-GUY]

Interesting thread. My wife and I often comment on our current crop of local dispatchers. We have no idea how the field personnel and responders understand them half of the time. There are mumblers, whisperers, and mumbler-whisperers. Every once in a while a first responder will ask for a repeat, but not often. This has nothing to do with my ears, my speakers or my equipment. It has everything to do with basic speaking skills, improper enunciation and technique. As I listen to neighboring counties, I hear mostly professional sounding, properly enunciated dispatchers. I would think "in the old days", the call center manager would train their personnel on basic communication skills. God bless our responders as they have adjusted accordingly.

I have to wonder how much of that mumbling and whispering is ignored because responders are seeing the same dispatch on their MDC terminals?

 

[nashscan]

1) When dispatchers and officers (or other responders) say the same type things to each other every day, their minds fill in the gaps on routine traffic, so naturally it speeds up. Especially when it gets busy. It's like playing a musical instrument. You don't think about it, you just do it.

2) As others have said, a lot of info is already on the MDT (laptop computer in the patrol vehicle). Repeating it on the air is a formality for many users.

3) The audio we hear at dispatch and out in the field is always going to be clearer than on a scanner.