911:: Re: Newbie...

[Guest guest]

At 10:10 AM 2/5/01 -0500, Amy G blasted the following out into the ether:

>Earl,

>It definitely takes a little time to develop a " radio ear. " It sure took me

>longer than 3 weeks!! The one thing that helped me more than anything else

>was a loaner radio the department gave to me. I listened to that thing ALL

>the time. I would concentrate on what the officer was saying and think about

>what CAD commands I would be executing if it was me dispatching. It really

>made a difference. Although not everyone will develop a " radio ear, " it

>sounds like you are already part way there if you can understand ham

>radios!!

Shucks, those are EASY! Of course, I've been doing that for 18

years! <G>

>Really just try to relax. Understand that it won't come to you immediately.

>If you don't understand what an officer says, ask them to repeat it - NEVER

>acknowlege them if you didn't copy the transmission - that is PARAMOUNT!!!!!

Yes, I've got that, and I DON'T. I had some tendency to do so last

week, but I chewed myself out for that over the weekend and I don't do that

now. Problem is, I must have irritated the DAYLIGHTS out of several

officers last night by asking for so many repeats. Probably around 75% of

all calls I had to get a repeat on the unit #. Things are going through my

head like " Am I really cut out for this? " and " Is my hearing ruined by

those darned F-16's? "

>Type as you listen, and finish typing before you acknowlege them. If you

>typed too much you can edit it or delete the extraneous stuff - but if you

>didn't type enough you may not have a chance to add what you missed - if you

>remember it!! If they give you a lookout or something too quickly - tell

>them to slow down - after all, how many times do they ask us to give them a

>return more slowly or to repeat something???

>If it's something you are meant to do - trust me - one day it will all just

>click into place. You'll go to work, sit down at the radio, and everything

>will suddenly be clear to you and you'll know just what to say/do. But give

>yourself a chance to learn it. Don't let the frustration of not

>understanding them throw you off. Give it time.

Thanks, Amy. As I'm sitting here doing email, the scanner is going,

and I have my headset for my cell phone all connected. In another hour or

so, I'm going to run down to Radio Shack and get the adaptors so I can plug

my cell phone into the scanner so as to replicate the headset at

work. Hope that helps!

Earl

Earl Needham, KD5XB mailto:KD5XB@...

Clovis, New Mexico DM84jk N34d 25.446m W103d 12.700m (or so)

Pet peeve: breath is a noun, breathe is a verb (When you take a breath,

you breathe...)