Radio protocol

Revision as of 15:37, 23 March 2025

Introduction

Everyone wants a radio - they're exciting and cool. We use somewhere between 150-200 radios at the event and they an be a vital tool to coordinate teams or call for help, so it is important ensure that everyone uses proper radio protocol.

Allocation

Radios are loosely allocated to teams in advance of the event - please check with your team leader or head of department if you need a radio or if you need any radio equipment e.g. headsets.

Radios and charged batteries are available at GOD, if you are taking a radio please sign it out so we can track how many radios each team needs.

Depending on stocks there may be headsets available at GOD. During 2025 stocks will likely be limited to over the ear G type headsets and you should contact your team leader or head of department if you need another type of headset.

Radio Protocol & Use

When you want to speak to someone on a radio, press the speak button, wait a second (it takes a moment to engage) and then say your name clearly and your message. You are limited to 60 seconds so make your message clear and concise

Take care you do not accidentally lean on the transmit button or allow the headset lead to work loose - this can tie up the channel. If this occurs the person transmitting cannot hear any radio calls so check neighboring radio holders rather than try to use the radio to find them.

Several channels have high levels of use - do not hold a conversation with another radio user on any channel that is for contact purpose. Use the contact channel to locate the person you want to talk to and then then go to an adjacent conversation channel to communicate with them.

Avoid swearing on the radio and do not make personal comments, radio is not the place to have 'sensitive' discussions.

Emergencies

Any emergency at an event should be reported by radio to the relevant head of department. If your radio channel is being used to convey emergency information then you do not use that radio channel for any other reason. Keep the channel clear so that the crew who are responding to the emergency can use it.

Radio Channels

Channel	Use
1	Site Contact / Emergency channel
2	Site Conversation
3	God/Gate
4	Traffic Management
5	Ref Contact
6	Ref Conversation
7	Plot + Plot Production
8	Matt Cave
9	Egregore contact
10	Egregore Conversation / Academy
11	Skirmish Command
12	Battle 1
13	Battle 2
14	Civil Service
15	First Aid
16	Security / Conduct / Participant Welfare

Site Contact

Site contact is the primary contact channel for all site team. It includes sparkies, hygiene and the people controlling vehicle movements.

Banksmen

When individual crew are operating vehicles like tractors or the hook loaders, they should operate their conversations on one of the higher channels - ideally one of the conversation channels which is unlikely to be busy before time-in.

Radio handsets

Our current handsets are mostly Baofeng model BF-888S (old radios) or Baofeng UV-5R (new radios). Their headset connector is a Kenwood K1 (sometimes sold as K01, K001, etc.): any headset with that connector should work with them or search for headsets compatible with one of the model numbers.

Voice prompts

UV-5R (New radios) These do not have a channel selector knob and instead you use buttons on the front to switch between channels, the instructions below are also on the channel lammy attached to the radio

Change Channel – Press and hold the # key (bottom right) until lock symbol disappears, then use up and down keys
Avoid tapping the # after unlocking as this changes the power. Power will reset when switching channels
Frequency Mode (to be avoided) – VFO/MR button is pressed while unlocked, press this button again to exit.

BF-888S (Old radios) Your radio should tell you which channel you're on; if it's beeping instead, follow this procedure to get voice prompts back:

Turn it off
Switch to channel 10
Hold down the push-to-talk button and the orange button with two pips on, next to the push-to-talk button
With these held down, turn the radio on
The radio should greet you with "Power on, ten"
You can let go of the buttons now

This is a toggle; if you actually prefer the beeps, follow the same procedure.

If you find your radio is speaking Chinese, follow the same process but use channel 15 instead of 10.

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 ==Introduction==
-Everyone wants a radio - they're exciting and cool. They're also expensive and we tend to lose one an event, costing a thousand pounds a year to replace. The more people who have radios, the harder it is to keep track of them, and the harder it is to use them with more people on each channel. For these reasons it is important to limit the number of radios we use and to ensure that everyone uses proper radio protocol.
+Everyone wants a radio - they're exciting and cool. We use somewhere between 150-200 radios at the event and they an be a vital tool to coordinate teams or call for help, so it is important ensure that everyone uses proper radio protocol.
 ==Allocation==
-Radios are allocated to crew in advance of the event - There are a number of heads of department who are assigned a number of radios to allocate as they see fit to their department(s). Do not take a radio without referring to your radio monitor.
+Radios are loosely allocated to teams in advance of the event - please check with your team leader or head of department if you need a radio or if you need any radio equipment e.g. headsets.
-* ''' Beth Charlton - Plot Team, Plot Production, NPC's, Set Dressing'''
+Radios and charged batteries are available at GOD, if you are taking a radio please sign it out so we can track how many radios each team needs.
-* '''Faith Lilley and Chria Roberts - Battle Team & Skirmish Team'''
-* '''Morgan Wilkinson, Site Team, Sparkies, Traffic Management, Site Infrastructure, Camp Coordinators.'''
-* '''Adam Dinwoodie, Erin Knott  - God, Gate, Drivers, IT Team, Crew Welfare, Participant Welfare, Toilet Team , Tavern Team, Weapon Check, Event Managers, First Aid, Photographers.'''
-* '''Clare Evans - Academy, Civil Service, Magistrates, Egregores, Bards'''
-* '''Steve Tiernan - Security'''
-* '''Emma Woods and James Crollie - Field Refs, Skirmish Refs'''
-Radio allocation is done through the teams - if you believe that you need a radio then speak to your team leader. It is the responsibility of the team leaders to ensure that they have enough radio users in their teams.
+Depending on stocks there may be headsets available at GOD. During 2025 stocks will likely be limited to over the ear G type headsets and you should contact your team leader or head of department if you need another type of headset.
-{{CaptionedImage|file=JamesLittlewood.jpg|align=right|width=250px}}
 ==Radio Protocol & Use==
-When you want to speak to someone on a radio, press the speak button, wait half-a-second (it takes a moment to engage) and then say your name clearly and ask for the person or department you want to talk to.
+When you want to speak to someone on a radio, press the speak button, wait a second (it takes a moment to engage) and then say your name clearly and your message. You are limited to 60 seconds so make your message clear and concise
+Take care you do not accidentally lean on the transmit button or allow the headset lead to work loose - this can tie up the channel. If this occurs the person transmitting cannot hear any radio calls so check neighboring radio holders rather than try to use the radio to find them.
 Several channels have high levels of use - do not hold a conversation with another radio user on any channel that is for contact purpose. Use the contact channel to locate the person you want to talk to and then then go to an adjacent conversation channel to communicate with them.
-In particular, please do not swear over an open radio channel, as this is illegal. I appreciate nobody ever gets done for it, but swearing and playing games on the radio risks getting us into trouble and is a pain in the ass for those people who are trying to work.
+Avoid swearing on the radio and do not make personal comments, radio is not the place to have 'sensitive' discussions.
 ==Emergencies==
@@ Line 30: / Line 25: @@
 <table>
 <tr><th>Channel</th><th>Use</th></tr>
-<tr><td>1</td><td>'''Site Contact'''</td></tr>
+<tr><td>1</td><td>'''Site Contact / Emergency channel'''</td></tr>
 <tr><td>2</td><td>''Site Conversation''</td></tr>
-<tr><td>3</td><td>'''God/Gate Contact'''</td></tr>
+<tr><td>3</td><td>'''God/Gate'''</td></tr>
 <tr><td>4</td><td>''Traffic Management''</td></tr>
 <tr><td>5</td><td>'''Ref Contact'''</td></tr>
 <tr><td>6</td><td>''Ref Conversation''</td></tr>
-<tr><td>7</td><td>'''Plot + Plot Production Contact'''</td>
+<tr><td>7</td><td>'''Plot + Plot Production'''</td>
-<tr><td>8</td><td>''Plot Conversation''</td></tr>
+<tr><td>8</td><td>''Matt Cave''</td></tr>
 <tr><td>9</td><td>'''Egregore contact'''</td>
 <tr><td>10</td><td>''Egregore Conversation / Academy''</td></tr>
@@ Line 45: / Line 40: @@
 <tr><td>14</td><td>'''Civil Service'''</td></tr>
 <tr><td>15</td><td>'''First Aid '''</td></tr>
-<tr><td>16</td><td>'''Security / Weapon Check / Participant Welfare'''</td></tr>
+<tr><td>16</td><td>'''Security / Conduct / Participant Welfare'''</td></tr>
 </table>
@@ Line 56: / Line 51: @@
 == Radio handsets ==
-Our current handsets are Baofeng model BF-888S.  Their headset connector is a Kenwood K1 (sometimes sold as K01, K001, etc.): any headset with that connector should work with them.
+Our current handsets are mostly Baofeng model BF-888S (old radios) or Baofeng UV-5R (new radios).  Their headset connector is a Kenwood K1 (sometimes sold as K01, K001, etc.): any headset with that connector should work with them or search for headsets compatible with one of the model numbers.
 === Voice prompts ===
+'''UV-5R (New radios)'''
+These do not have a channel selector knob and instead you use buttons on the front to switch between channels, the instructions below are also on the channel lammy attached to the radio
+* Change Channel – Press and hold the # key (bottom right) until lock symbol disappears, then use up and down keys
+* Avoid tapping the # after unlocking as this changes the power. Power will reset when switching channels
+* Frequency Mode (to be avoided) – VFO/MR button is pressed while unlocked, press this button again to exit.
+'''BF-888S (Old radios)'''
 Your radio should tell you which channel you're on; if it's beeping instead, follow this procedure to get voice prompts back:
 # Turn it off