GRN earpiece

[mengcfs]

Do any Brigades have/use earpieces on thier GRN portables. This earpiece plugs directly into the 3.5mm audio jack on the remote speaker microphones. When plugged in, the audio is muted from the speaker and the audio is heard through the earpiece.
Any thought......

[5271rescue]

If its as crap as the hand mike I would not waste my time using it....

[mengcfs]

What problems have you had with the hand mic Bill?

[bajdas]

Many SES Units have a few ear-piece's and some have remote mikes. In a noisy environment (V8 race concert, chainsaws, flood pumps) they are the only way you can hear the radio.

Because of the cost (Unit charged) of each ear-piece, they are normally issued to Team Leader & Incident Controllers.

They have also been used by crew that are monitoring relatives at a life threat situation (eg land search). Then the relatives cannot hear the radio conversations.

[5271rescue]

have found that the hand mike's will not transmit as good as PTT button also have had lots of feed back when using the mike's and in a few cases have been unable to understand people talking when they use the hand mike's....

[bittenyakka]

Personally the ability to have more than 1 person listen to radio traffic is a useful tool to assist communication amongst crews as it means instructions and information doesn't need to be repeated.

[bajdas]

Personally the ability to have more than 1 person listen to radio traffic is a useful tool to assist communication amongst crews as it means instructions and information doesn't need to be repeated.

Agreed, that is why I believe they have a specific use for individuals in noisy or sensitive environments.

The preference is for each SES foot team to always have two handheld radios. The minimum is a handheld + spare battery. If two or more radios, then one has the ear-piece and the other is speaker.

[Camo]

have found that the hand mike's will not transmit as good as PTT button also have had lots of feed back when using the mike's and in a few cases have been unable to understand people talking when they use the hand mike's....

Same as the GRN radio you need to make sure there noise reduction opening isnt covered.  Pretty sure its at the back at the top of the hand mike.  I have noticed it quite often becomes covered by the clip.  Take a look and see if that isnt the problem.

[RescueHazmat]

If its as crap as the hand mike I would not waste my time using it....

Ive never had any mic issues in a few years of use now..

Can't say I would use an ear piece..