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Design for Firefighters
Hi! My name is Samantha and I am not a firefighter.
I am however a college student at the Columbus College of Art and Design. I am in the Industrial Design department. What we do is design/redesign products to be more efficient, more ergonomic and just basically more user and earth friendly.
What does this have to do with you? Well we are currently working on a Walkie Talkie project, and I have decided to redesign a walkie talkie set for a firefighter. I am really excited about this, but like I said I know nothing about firefighting.
That is why I am asking if you could respond to this post with information that could help me make a design you might actually like! A few questions you could respond to are:
•What current issues do you have with your current walkie talkie systems?
•Are they hard to use with your gloves?
•Could they be designed more efficiently for ease of use?
•Where do you usually keep them? On your arm? In your pocket?
•What other devices do you use that has a design/function that you like?
•Do you know what plastic they are made from? Is it good at heat resistance?
•If you could make the walkie talkie any color, which color would you want it to be? Easier to see?
ANY help would be GREAT! I really appreciate it, and keep up the good work saving lives and keeping us safe!
Samantha
I am however a college student at the Columbus College of Art and Design. I am in the Industrial Design department. What we do is design/redesign products to be more efficient, more ergonomic and just basically more user and earth friendly.
What does this have to do with you? Well we are currently working on a Walkie Talkie project, and I have decided to redesign a walkie talkie set for a firefighter. I am really excited about this, but like I said I know nothing about firefighting.
That is why I am asking if you could respond to this post with information that could help me make a design you might actually like! A few questions you could respond to are:
•What current issues do you have with your current walkie talkie systems?
•Are they hard to use with your gloves?
•Could they be designed more efficiently for ease of use?
•Where do you usually keep them? On your arm? In your pocket?
•What other devices do you use that has a design/function that you like?
•Do you know what plastic they are made from? Is it good at heat resistance?
•If you could make the walkie talkie any color, which color would you want it to be? Easier to see?
ANY help would be GREAT! I really appreciate it, and keep up the good work saving lives and keeping us safe!
Samantha
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by jeff on
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i wish they would make a radio that is VHF and 800mgtz all in one our county uses both so if you help one dept you might use vhf and another one on the same scene might be on 800s i would just be nice to have both in one so you dont have to use 2 radios on you gear at times to make sure somone hears you. just a thought
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Permalink Reply by Firefighter95_pence on
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as far as the color maybe a reflective color would help out great.
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Permalink Reply by Teddy on
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our county uses hi-vis yellow radios and there a lot easier to see than the standard black ones. i would aslo like to see a headset of sorts incorporated in the SCBA for hands-free radio trasmissions. but only when you talk it turns on.
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Permalink Reply by Mick Mayers on
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I'd like to help you out and I'll also get some feedback from my personnel. I'll e-mail you off the thread instead of posting a laundry list of stuff.
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Permalink Reply by Firegal77 on
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I have been thinking about the issues we have with our radios and changing channels, and what I came up with is that maybe you could have a seperate button to push and voice activate the channel change, then you aren't clicking through channels so much..of course, i don't count on computerized things as much as I do manual, so to have a back up would be necessary in case it wasn't working. Maybe(and this could be way out there) You could have a remote channel display lit up in the face mask, near the air level lights, so you could glance down at it in your mask and be sure you were on the right channel. Also I like to put reflective tape on my radio, then if it gets dropped it glows when a light hits it, maybe you could add reflective strips to the design as well. I could go on and on, but it looks like most of the other issues have been covered. Good luck, and I look forward to seeing your idea.
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They do have headsets for them, I use them when I am operating a loud pump. They are the best! Love them! Wish we could all have em, they are so much easier to deal with, except you are sort of cut off from the rest of the world as they cover your ears...maybe they could design a one ear type....;)
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Permalink Reply by Mason on
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well, i would have to say a 1. back lit lcd screen, 2. flourescent colors, and 3.the ability to switch from analoge and digital frequencies.
i honestly wouldn't change the size, because i don't want to have to pat myself down to find the pocket my radioes in. and for safety you could even add 4.a pass system into it.
i know a lot of you guys are probably looking at this and saying what?
but how many of you have an activated pass system on you at car accidents, brush fires, or half the other stuff we respond to that are potentially hazardous. better safe then sorry.
5. background noise cancellation would be top notch
6. shock resistance
7.raised reply button
thats all i got. enjoy.
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Permalink Reply by Greenman on
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Samantha,
From a strictly design perspective, one improvement I would make is making the Push To Talk (PTT) button on both the walkie-talkie body and on the mike easy to use with gloves on, and easier to see in low-light or no-light situations. So a self-limunious (glow in the dark) PTT button, or a LED inside the button would be helpful.
The other thing that might be good it include a spring-load window punch in the bottom of the radio chasis, so poeple quit using them like a hammer to break-out a window.
When doing your research, get a pair of firefighting gloves and try your design ideas with the gloves on to see how easy they are to use.
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Permalink Reply by Allen Wahlstrom on
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HOw about a radio that is integrated with our SCBA, of course that runs into manufacturer specific features, but a voice activated, with override button.
Ear bud attached to the webbing, cover, etc...
Our standard walk arounds are not that bad, too expensive, but the afformentioned integrated deal would be outstanding.
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Permalink Reply by Dan Hoey on
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Voice command like my cell phone would be great. I should be able to say switch to channel 2 and it would and have it react if I say may day!!1 it would go to a mayday channel and give me direct clearance to command,
If you can find away to block people who scream into it thanks..lol..
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Permalink Reply by Randy Macey on
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Currently we are using the Motorola HT1000 portable, some of the issues with this radio is.
Very hard to operate with gloves, if you require to hit the emergency button. I do not think it could be done with gloves on. Think if you where to mount a flip up cover, then access the emergency button would help out.
I also find that the antenna being so long gets caught, if it could be mounted along the body. Think this would solve some issues for the antenna.
I don't know if it's age or just the fact that we run on Channels. Channels from 1 to 8 as well using channel 9 for training. But once you jump in the truck, and trying to figure out what channel your to be on. It can be a pain! There is a display on the top, but not well lit and trying to read the small numbers on the display as well on the know it a little tough.
We just added mikes, as most of us carry the radios in our radio pocket on our jackets. The mikes help out so that we can attach them to our collar. The mikes are only for the officers as there is an issue if doing any fireground operations. That if you move the wrong way, you can key the mikes.
All our radios are tagged, as dispatch can see which radio is being keyed. The cases are good, we have not yet melted any of the cases, but have melted the antennas. They are going to the next generation of radios. They come in a yellow case which seems to be a lot better than the black.
Any colour is better than black!
Your scba mask kind a limits your view, must have more user friendly controls on the radio. So that when using with gloves, you are not hitting more than one button. Or not blocking the view so you can see what your doing.
Hope that helps out.....
Something for the future, would be nice is either built into your SCBA Mask or Helmet.... Something that is in your glove or easy to control when you require. Pros and Cons would be that one would have to always wear there helmet ( What a concept ) . Take a look at what fighter pilots use when they are communicating....
There is always some way to improve, just making everyone happy with the ideal that the improvement is good....
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Permalink Reply by Glenn on
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i personally like using an extension mic. so i can put the radio in my pocket and clip the mic on my collar so its easier to hear. the two bad things i dont like is first i still have to change the channel/volume by the radio. mabie if you could move the controls to the extension mic it would be alot easier esp. if the mic had an lcd display to see the channel. second i have melted the cord going from the mic to the radio so maybe going wireless would be perfect
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