Are your accessories the right fit?

Much thought, research and consideration is put into selecting the right radio for the job. Will it be rugged enough? Is it intrinsically safe? Do the controls, buttons and knobs work well with gloves on? But do you give the same amount of consideration to the accessories you use with your radios?

One area of concern, especially to fire agencies, is the remote speaker microphone. Many agencies have not given much thought to speaker mics, treating them as "disposable" items. But is that speaker mic up to the harsh environment of firefighting or law enforcement?

The Shaker Heights Fire Department recently experienced problems on the fireground with a radio that would continually key up and block other traffic, only to discover the problem was with a speaker mic that had gotten wet. Although they had purchased "water resistant" mics, they in fact needed "water proof" mics.

Shaker Heights did internal testing of their current speaker mics and confirmed their theory: water proof mics are preferred on the fireground. CLICK HERE to read a copy of their report.

Training Video - Clear Communication

Motorola has provided an update training video entitled "Say no to background noise. Say yes to clear communication" Clear, coherent communications are mission-critical to all first-responding agencies. Motorola has been working with the International Association of Fire Chiefs (the IAFC) to test, track and pinpoint the best practices for firefighters to maximize communication intelligibility and overcome background noise, whenever they use a portable or mobile radio. No matter where they are. No matter if it’s analog or digital.

Watch the video below to learn how to incorporate best practices and discover the difference intelligible communications can make when lives are on the line. 


If you ever have any questions or concerns about your walkies, mobiles or the system, please don't hesitate to contact any technical committee representative. We are here to help!

Digital Systems and the Fire Ground

Over the past two weeks, several articles about Hamilton County firefighters and the problems they've reported with fire scene communication have circulated throughout the media. We wanted to take this opportunity to address the concerns brought forward in these articles, discuss some best practices, clarify misconceptions in the media reports and let you know what we as your COG Technical Committee are doing to address concerns.


Two articles in the January 15^th edition of the Cincinnati Enquirer that were reposted by several Columbus area media outlets allege the system used by Cincinnati firefighters failed during recent fires. The articles speak in generalities about these failures when, in reality, they are speaking of very distinct and separate issues. These issues include:

News Article - Dublin City Council

Jennifer Noblit of This Week News reports on Dublin City Council's vote to join the DDW800MHz Council of Governments. CLICK HERE to read the story.

COG Agreement featured in "This Week"

"This Week News" reporter Candice Preston-Coy reports on the Delaware County Commissioner's approval of the Council of Governments. CLICK HERE to read the article.

In addition, Candice also reports on Worthington City Council's approval in an article posted today. CLICK HERE to read more!

Project Makes "Dublin Villager"

Today the Dublin Villager featured the DDW800MHz project in a lead story by reporter Brittiny Dunlap. CLICK HERE to view the article. Unfortunately, she was only able to use one quote from Lt "Hollywood" and had to settle for some basic information from another Technical Committee representative.

"This Week" Article Features Proposed System

Reporter Candy Brooks of This Week News wrote a feature article about the prposed DDW800MHz system. CLICK HERE to read the entire story, including quotes from the incomperable Lt. "Hollywood".

Delaware Gazette Features New System

On September 10th, the Delaware Gazette featured information about the DDW800MHz project in a front page article. Along with the article was a picture of our own Patrick Brandt inside the system prime site.

CLICK HERE to read the entire article.