By Mark van der Feyst
On the fireground, being able to communicate with each other and incident command is critical. When wearing a SCBA, it can be very difficult to communicate through the face piece and through the radio.
All SCBA manufacturers have built into their face pieces either speaking diaphragms or an amplification device. Sometimes these devices make the communication clearer and sometimes they produce feedback.
One way to increase the quality of your communications is to hold the radio microphone directly to the SCBA face piece. By making contact with the face piece lens, the radio microphone will pick up the voice and transmit it much clearer than it does when the radio is held two inches away from the speaking diaphragm. Try this technique in training to see if there is a noticeable difference.