Whats the deal with LAPD and no speaker mics?

[es93546]

LAPD is the third largest police department in the entire US and they have over 10,000 hand held radios. They have been using hand held radios for well over 50yrs and probably closer to 60yrs. I would venture to guess they know exactly what they are doing and what they need and apparently a speaker mic is not it.

But there will be some who think different. I guess a speaker mic must be a nice thing to use on a hand held from your couch.....

I don't remember the year, but sometime between 1979 and 1981 the LAPD rolled out their UHF radio system. They had been on VHF High for a for a couple or more decades. The new feature of the UHF system was what they called "ROVERS" or Remote Out of Vehicle Emergency Radio System. This was the first time their was wide use of handhelds by the department. In the VHF days handhelds were used only by sergeants and up, plus vice, narcotics and similar organizations within the departments. The ROVERS were issued to each officer.

 

[es93546]

I speak from my unique experience using hand mikes or not using them. I was an unarmed forest protection officer working as a field supervisor in frontcountry recreation (not backcountry or wilderness). I wrote about 100 tickets a year, 20-50 of those parking tickets and the rest for a wide variety of reasons. I worked a very busy ranger district with visitation in the millions. Handheld coverage was pretty good due to some well located repeaters, but still we had marginal coverage in some areas, one of which was a developed site with a high law enforcement component. A hand mike is attached to a radio that remains on your belt. This is not the formula for reaching the nearest repeater. The body absorbs or deflects a lot of signal and can make communications difficult. Plus, and this never happened to me, individuals can grab onto the long cord on your back and put you at a disadvantage. It also gets in the way when you are fixing signs, digging signpost holes. cleaning restrooms, repairing plumbing, repairing fencing and all the misc. tasks I had.

Now on firefighting duties I used the hand mike. My highest qualification on fireline duties was as a crew boss. I would place my radio in my line pack, not on the belt where it could get damaged by the constant motion of digging fireline and mopping up. Comms in this case were mainly on tactical or simplex channels with other crews and the division supervisor relatively close by, The pain in this setup is when you had to switch to another channel, like air to ground or to the tactical of an adjacent division. You have to remove your line pack, manage to not tangle your hand mike cable, put the pack on the ground to get to the top of the handheld and its channel dial. Sometimes you had to hold your radio with an upward extended arm due to signal problems. In this case the hand mike allowed you to do this, something you could not do without the hand mike.

So there are both advantages and disadvantages to using a hand mike or not using it. Circumstances make it a coin toss on which is better.

 

[marcotor]

Just because a department has been doing something the same way for 50+ years doesn't mean they should continue doing that.

Conversely, just because someone on a hobbyst site claims "most departments are doing it" isn't a reason to do it at all.

 

[nd5y]

Some "departments" have to copycat whatever the big city nearby does.

 

[APX8000]

Many of you will never understand that tacticool feeling we get rotating our worn out never polished leather radio holster 180 degrees to unlock that D-clip and present said radio like we are drawing a weapon from our support side (never say weak side) ! And the radio is NEVER held in front our face straight...you always have it slanted dammit.

 

[prcguy]

Many of you will never understand that tacticool feeling we get rotating our worn out never polished leather radio holster 180 degrees to unlock that D-clip and present said radio like we are drawing a weapon from our support side (never say weak side) ! And the radio is NEVER held in front our face straight...you always have it slanted dammit.

And slant that gun to one side like they do on TV cuz it looks cool. Never mind it wont hit anything.

 

[Engine104]

Conversely, just because someone on a hobbyst site claims "most departments are doing it" isn't a reason to do it at all.

From one person "on a hobbyst (sic) site" to another.. Point taken. You're right.

 

[billyfromhill]

Could it be a holdover from the convert-a-com days where you couldn't have a speaker mic attached to use the vehicle adapter?

 

[DeoVindice]

I speak from my unique experience using hand mikes or not using them. I was an unarmed forest protection officer working as a field supervisor in frontcountry recreation (not backcountry or wilderness). I wrote about 100 tickets a year, 20-50 of those parking tickets and the rest for a wide variety of reasons. I worked a very busy ranger district with visitation in the millions. Handheld coverage was pretty good due to some well located repeaters, but still we had marginal coverage in some areas, one of which was a developed site with a high law enforcement component. A hand mike is attached to a radio that remains on your belt. This is not the formula for reaching the nearest repeater. The body absorbs or deflects a lot of signal and can make communications difficult. Plus, and this never happened to me, individuals can grab onto the long cord on your back and put you at a disadvantage. It also gets in the way when you are fixing signs, digging signpost holes. cleaning restrooms, repairing plumbing, repairing fencing and all the misc. tasks I had.

Now on firefighting duties I used the hand mike. My highest qualification on fireline duties was as a crew boss. I would place my radio in my line pack, not on the belt where it could get damaged by the constant motion of digging fireline and mopping up. Comms in this case were mainly on tactical or simplex channels with other crews and the division supervisor relatively close by, The pain in this setup is when you had to switch to another channel, like air to ground or to the tactical of an adjacent division. You have to remove your line pack, manage to not tangle your hand mike cable, put the pack on the ground to get to the top of the handheld and its channel dial. Sometimes you had to hold your radio with an upward extended arm due to signal problems. In this case the hand mike allowed you to do this, something you could not do without the hand mike.

So there are both advantages and disadvantages to using a hand mike or not using it. Circumstances make it a coin toss on which is better.

I absolutely know where you're coming from regarding using an RSM while working. I carry a portable on my mine belt and have resorted to Velcro one-wrap to hold the mic cord tight to the belt suspenders. This has to be worn while drilling, operating mobile equipment, repairing equipment, digging out lifters, taking samples, doing overhead utility work, barring down, surveying, and more. Leaving the mic off is certainly easier and presents less of a snag hazard, but adds the extra step of removing the radio from its belt pouch and makes it impossible to hear while running a machine. Even a muffled jackleg drill is around 110dBA, for a sense of the noise levels we deal with.

I've come to appreciate Bluetooth audio accessories from all that, especially headsets. We mainly use corded cap lamps for their superior battery life, and I don't like having more than one cable around my head if I can help it.

 

[nokones]

I don't remember the year, but sometime between 1979 and 1981 the LAPD rolled out their UHF radio system. They had been on VHF High for a for a couple or more decades. The new feature of the UHF system was what they called "ROVERS" or Remote Out of Vehicle Emergency Radio System. This was the first time their was wide use of handhelds by the department. In the VHF days handhelds were used only by sergeants and up, plus vice, narcotics and similar organizations within the departments. The ROVERS were issued to each officer.

And if I recall, when they went to the T-Band System, the "Radio Cars" (that is what they called the Black & White Patrol Units) used Converta-Comms, the Jerk and Runs, as their main mobile radio setup for many years.

 

[K6GBW]

Just for clarity sake, LAPD calls their patrol cars "units" or "shops" and LASD calls their patrol cars "radio cars" and deputies believe their "units" are built in.

 

[d119]

Plenty, and I mean *plenty* of LAPD speaker mics here.

 

[Eng74]

That is an old show.

 

[d119]

That is an old show.

Still proves the point that they used them.

 

[nokones]

The cars were the 95/96 Caprices and 90s Crown Vics, and the Saber radio also mid to late 90s era. The MDC PT-T ID squawk was the old analog squawk. The Astro Sabers were the digital MDC squawk.

 

[Eng74]

Still proves the point that they used them.

The show ran from 1996 to 2000. I bet it is more of an officer’s preference if they want to use the nut knocker mic as we called them. In my county fire department it was hit or miss if the radios had one until we switched from the UHF to the VHF system.

 

[nokones]

I stated incorrectly in my above post. The believe the analog PT-T ID feature was called Modat not MDC PT-T ID. Orange County used Modat on their UHF system not only for PT-T ID, also for status messages such as 10-97, 10-98, etc. in the 70s and 80s before they went 800 Meg Trunking