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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 kevin on
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hi samantha, outside of firefighting i run heavy equipment, the other thing about the name of your firefighter, name him kevin, Ha HA Ha.
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Permalink Reply by jpzxzp47mmhn on
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make a portable(walkie talkie) that you can speak through you scba like built in and make them smaller then make a bigger button for esaier use in a smokey enviroment
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Permalink Reply by Terry Kimmel on
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jed need's to be a fire fighter that can cry when he has done everything he or she has done when trying to save a life.
Laugh and rejoice when he or she has saved a life.
Remain calm under pressure which is always.
Tell what kind of fire it is by smell, willing to be ready at a single notice and most Important love his JOB like we all do and remeber your always making a change in the people we serve and call family... thats all i got to say about that :) (forest gump ) good luck
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Permalink Reply by Justin Nugent on
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What current issues do you have with your current walkie talkie systems? poor signal in my area... too many hills... Something with a better range, or something... half the time all i can hear is static...
•Are they hard to use with your gloves? Yes... knobs are too small
•Could they be designed more efficiently for ease of use? larger knobs smaller overall size
•Where do you usually keep them? On your arm? In your pocket? Chest pocket for my department.
•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? Ours, relatively good... still have a tnedency to melt every once and awhile
•If you could make the walkie talkie any color, which color would you want it to be? Easier to see? fluorescent orange, yellow... something of that type.
Also, Tony on page 2 has a good point... try using your cell phone with thick winter gloves on... it's rather difficult... sometimes that's how a lot of firefighters feel... Another thing that i thought of... a better cord for the Mic's... a buddy of mine just about severed his due to a piece of debris and his 2 left feet. A material that is flexible, but also tear resistant... if there even is such a thing
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Permalink Reply by Damon Dyer on
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Hard to add much more i agree with brighter colors like orange or lime green. I have lost radios before black and dark grey just aint right.
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Permalink Reply by Paul H on
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Chris: MSA makes a mask with 'Clear Talk' that is totally awesome - push a button on the mask, and a little microphone inside the mask turns on, and people can hear you like you were talking without a mask on.
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Hard to use: Impossible to use with gloves on
Designed more efficiently: absolutely - once my radio is turned on (and it's on before I put my gloves on), it's turned up loud, and I don't need that button/dial anymore - make it smaller and out of the way so it won't turn on/off without me really wanting it on. Use the extra real estate on the radio for a bigger display that one can read WITH A MASK ON, a selector knob I can manipulate with my gloves on.
Keep them? In my bunker on scene, in a charger otherwise
Design function needed: 10 - 20 second playback like on Minitor III's
Color: Make em neon yellow/glow in the dark
And while your at it, make the speaker LOUD for crying out loud. I'm almost deaf in one ear and can't hear out the other. Put on my hoodie, and my mask, I can't hear a darned thing.
Just my 2 cents worth... good luck with your project
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Permalink Reply by Guillaume Morneau on
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Hi Samantha,
In my FD, we used the Kenwood tk-2202 with extension mic. We have also some older Motorolla's radio ht-1000 i think ! I like the size of kenwood but one thing is about the extension: when you clip the extension on the, if you pass the wire behind the neck, the mic are expose to the insertion of water because it's to be in the other sense. I know then i a near FD, they use the Telus (Motorolla) Mike i325, it's a numerik cellphone talkie-walkie but expensive. but this is intrinseque and though built.
One thing maybe good... maybe check with some military communication, i mean something like Navy S.E.A.L. You know, the system of mic on the throat and earphone, it fit under the nomex hood...
Sorry for the english, i'm a french Canadian ;)
Take care
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Permalink Reply by jdstamp on
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The problems I see with the radios we use are, the same as described by everyone else, egonomics. If a radio could be remotely intergrated (pluged-in) SCBA mask with a heads up display, and a seperate remote for volume, channel and power control that could be controlled with gloves on. That would be a Radio system for the fire service,
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Permalink Reply by Jim Brunelle Jr. on
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The speaker mic needs to be easier to activate with the bulky more than not wet structual firefighting gloves that have to be worn inside a burning building. The speaker mic is an extention of the radio that we hang from a clip on or front chest near our shoulder to broadcast transmissions.
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Permalink Reply by Paul Montpetit on
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Small, controls designed to be used with gloves and maybe a "panic" or auto mayday feature siniliar to pass devices...and of course waterproof...not Firefighter proof (as if that even exists)...maybe a small stobe or something......Paul
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Permalink Reply by Brian on
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We just upgraded our SCBA units to the new MSA's with the HUD's (Heads Up Display), they also have a batter powered/amplified microphone built in that allows you to talk much clearer into your radio. Still doesn't eliminate the need for the extra radio and having to push the talk button, but its once step closer. Sorry to hijack your thread Samantha, good luck on your project though :)
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