Learn How: Talk Clearly on the Radio

Emergency? Call 911. On a search, follow your team’s emergency radio procedure.

Why it matters

When several teams and agencies work the same search, everyone needs to understand every message. SAFECOM notes that under the National Incident Management System (NIMS), plain language is required at multi-agency, multi-jurisdiction and multi-discipline events. SAFECOM also warns that people who train with codes will likely fall back on codes under stress, so practice plain language every time.

Step by step: a clean radio call

1. Listen first. Make sure nobody else is talking, so you don’t “step on” their message.
2. Plan the message. Know what you will say before you press the button. Make it brief, concise and complete.
3. Press, pause, speak. Wait one full second after pressing the transmit button before you start talking. Use a normal tone of voice.
4. Call in the right order. Name the person or unit you are calling, then your own name. Example: “Base, Team 4.”
5. Answer the same way. When someone calls you, give your name, then the caller’s name or “go ahead.” Answer calls promptly.
6. Say it in plain words. “We found a backpack at the trail junction” beats a code. No CB talk.
7. Close the loop. Write down important messages you receive and repeat them back word for word when needed. When you relay information, confirm it was received and understood.

Common mistakes

• Keying up and talking the moment you press the button, instead of waiting a full second.
• Using 10-codes or team-only shorthand on a channel shared with other agencies.
• Thinking out loud on the air instead of planning a brief, complete message first.
• Hearing an important message but never acknowledging it, writing it down or reading it back.

Practice this week

• Write three short field messages (a clue found, a position report, a request for help), then say each one out loud as a short, complete radio call.
• With a teammate, practice the call order and a word-for-word read-back. Log each call in the radio log on the Radio Communications tool.
• Team leaders: list any codes your team still uses and the plain-language phrase that replaces each one. SAFECOM recommends exactly this kind of list.

Watch

“Basic Radio Operations for Search and Rescue,” a lecture from the Umatilla Search and Rescue Foundation (UMASAR), the mostly volunteer team that serves as the Umatilla County Sheriff’s Office search and rescue unit in Oregon (about 47 minutes). It introduces radio use for search operations and covers the academic requirements in the Oregon State Sheriff’s Association core competencies for field searcher certification. On YouTube from UMASAR Foundation.

Sources

• National Wildfire Coordinating Group (NWCG), S-130 Unit 15: Radio Communications (planning messages, one-second pause, call and answer order, clear speech, normal tone, prompt answers, writing down and repeating messages).
• NWCG, Communications (LCES) (brief, clear-text messages; confirming relayed information is received and understood; acknowledging messages).
• SAFECOM (U.S. Department of Homeland Security), Making the Transition from Ten Codes to Plain Language (the “10-88” example; making a list of plain-language phrases to replace codes).
• SAFECOM, Plain Language FAQs (plain language for multi-agency, multi-jurisdiction and multi-discipline events; coded training carrying over under stress).
• Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, Marine VHF Radio: The Basics (listen before you transmit so you don’t “step on” someone).
• Umatilla County Sheriff’s Office, Search and Rescue (who UMASAR is).

Keep learning

• Radio Communications tool: phonetic alphabet, procedure words and a radio log
• Incident Command quick reference
• Research library · All Learn How lessons

For learning only. Follow your team’s training, protocols and communications plan.