Whats the deal with LAPD and no speaker mics?

[chrismol1]

I've been watching a bunch of LAPD bodycams and I've noticed officers in incidents, shots fired etc, fiddling with their radio while holding their gun on a suspect etc, and then I realized, many of them taking the radio in and out of the holster. They don't like them?

 

[avascan522]

Shot in the dark here, just speculating, but maybe after transitioning to APX handhelds from the XTS line, the speaker mics and accessories are not compatible, and the dept just hasn't rolled out enough new accessories for all officers to use.

 

[mbnv992]

As far I know, LAPD going as far back as the Astro Sabers, never really used speaker mics. Some specialized LAPD units did but typically patrol officers never did.

What the actual reason behind that is ? I have no idea. Hopefully someone with more knowledge will chime in. But I do know it’s been known that LAPD ( uniform patrol ) does not use speaker mics

 

[prcguy]

I’ve been around LAPD since they first got handheld radios and I can’t remember any speaker mics. There were the 1980s ROVER units using a handheld with a convertacom and a speaker mic would have complicated its use.

 

[nd5y]

Maybe they are smart enough to know that keeping the radio on the belt with antenna up against the body is a stupid idea.
It's like mounting antennas on the bottom of a vehicle or putting a 100' tower in a 150' hole.

 

[wtp]

too expensive ?

 

[prcguy]

too expensive ?

Maybe not needed. LAPD has a lot of cops with radios and they seem to be doing just fine without speaker mics.

 

[jtech48]

Tradition and personal preference mostly. There are still several officers who use lapel mics but its just not as common.

 

[prcguy]

Tradition and personal preference mostly. There are still several officers who use lapel mics but its just not as common.

When LAPD got Astro Sabers I also got one and used a short stubby antenna. I had an incident in my hood one day where LAPD responded and I was off to the side with my radio and one officer asked where I got the short antenna because all of theirs were bent in the middle from their vest or fat or ?? I offered to trade my short antenna for one of their long ones and one officer took my offer and we traded. It seems some officers would use certain accessories if they were made available.

 

[Opfor2]

Another issue is that the officers are not issued their own radios and the get them issued before they go on the streets and turn them into the kit room at EOW time.

 

[12dbsinad]

It's because they probably want their radios to actually work as intended.

It's the same reason you mount the antenna on the roof of the vehicle and not under the hood.

 

[Peter_SD911]

Some folks don't like the idea of a suspect wrapping that cord around an officers neck.

It's happened before.

 

[vagrant]

Using the Motorola BT speaker mic with my 7000xe is superb. Unsure if their radios have BT and if a speaker mic is allowed. I would buy my own if it was.

 

[Eng74]

Sure it is probably one of the two reasons, someone never liked them so they did not get them or they saved a few dollars by not getting them and made the budget people happy.

 

[billyfromhill]

Were RSMs ever compatible with a convertacom/vehicle adapter? Up until 2008? 2009? they were still using vehicle adapters and no mobiles. My guess is they got used to using the portable without and it has stuck all these years later.

 

[cg]

Maybe they all are marked as such:
WARNING: This product can expose you to [name of chemical], which is known to the State of California to cause cancer.

 

[BoxAlarm187]

Maybe they are smart enough to know that keeping the radio on the belt with antenna up against the body is a stupid idea.
It's like mounting antennas on the bottom of a vehicle or putting a 100' tower in a 150' hole.

A bit off-topic, but has there been a verified study on the transmit and receive difference when an HT is used on the belt versus head-level?

 

[nd5y]

A bit off-topic, but has there been a verified study on the transmit and receive difference when an HT is used on the belt versus head-level?

Yes. Several. The actual loss varies a lot depending on the frequency, type of antenna, how far the antenna is from the test "body", and other factors. I don't remember exactly but I think it can be anywhere from about -6 dB to -30 dB. Probably more than that when you do stupid sh*t like use broken antennas or use the antenna for coiled cord storage.

 

[prcguy]

A bit off-topic, but has there been a verified study on the transmit and receive difference when an HT is used on the belt versus head-level?

Verified by me, belt mounted with speaker mic can reduce tx/rx levels 6-10dB, maybe more depending on direction. I see a huge difference where hand held at head level can be full quieting into a distant repeater and belt mounted can be scratchy and actually fade out if turned the wrong direction using the same repeater. Simplex point to point where both sides are at ground level can be worse.

If a public service radio system is used in a small city only covering a few sq miles using high site repeaters then belt mounted radios with speaker mics can work fine. Large cities, ham and GMRS repeaters covering a large area, not so much.

 

[KC3ECJ]

Maybe they are smart enough to know that keeping the radio on the belt with antenna up against the body is a stupid idea.
It's like mounting antennas on the bottom of a vehicle or putting a 100' tower in a 150' hole.

I used my icom T90 with the speaker mic, but I was mainly just using it for listening. The mic came with the radio and I was wearing shirts with epaulets often at the time to put the speaker there.

That's a small radio though.
At some places I've worked, I was often using large Motorola radios.
I disliked the weight.
If those had the mic, I was frequently disconnecting them.