As part of our needs for safety and general coordination radios are a must for an event the size of Maker Faire Orlando. Up until 2018 MFO was renting Motorola Radios from an out of state source. With the availability of higher power “temporary use” radios available now, we purchased radios for the 2019 faire.
Radios Owned by TMEF
Thanks to the help of our HAM Radio operator community we decided to go with the Retevis RT22. These radios are readily available from amazon and other sources and our ROI vs renting was almost immediate. The bigger gain was having radios earlier and later during the event as rentals were per day, and ease of adding radios down the road.
Configuration
These radios are configurable, since we share radios with other events, to ameliorate the costs a volunteer went through every radio and made sure they were all configured identically and legally for our region. Programming is through a simple USB interface and free software.
Ham Operators
We have a wonderful HAM Radio Operator community here in central Florida, they typically set their exhibit up in the center of our event and can help radio in case of emergency.
Radio Procedures & Etiquette
We will go through some basic etiquette and procedures for using radios during the event.
Normal chatter
If you are going to have a quick 5 second question and answer its ok to stay on the main channel. When starting on the radio start by introducing yourself, if you are trying to get someone specific ask for them. For example if Bob was trying to get Carly he would start his radio call with “Bob for Carly” if there is no response he might call again. Also it is good to note, radios take a second to connect, so take a breath before speaking after hitting the button. If you’re not sure who to ask, generally it works to call dispatch.
Longer talks
If there is going to be some back and forth between yourself and either dispatch or a specific person please move to a different channel. Its difficult to hear through all the noise already, so keeping radios quiet helps everyone out.
Dispatch
In the crew office we make sure someone is always there, someone in there will need to be the dispatcher as it’s typically the center of operations for your the event.
Dispatch serves as the “operator” for your radio communications. The person who servers as dispatch doesn’t need to know all the answers, but should be know enough to make decisions, provide answers, and most of all, try to help during the event. Don’t be afraid of not knowing everything! As radio dispatch, If you don’t have an answer, it’s your job to try to get an answer. You won’t always be able to answer every question, and you might find that often issues get resolved, or stop being issues as others get involved. Sometimes you’ll get a call for help moving tables. It’s not your job to run out and move those tables, it’s your job to let others know that tables need to be moved, and if you have crew or volunteers available, to let them know where the person who needs help is located. We typically locate the dispatcher in or very near the crew office, as they’ll either need to interact with the crew and producers constantly during the event. If you’ve got enough people, don’t be afraid to give the dispatcher a helper who can get answers for you while you stay on the radio.
Radios are for who? Crew? Volunteers? Others?
Most of the crew will have a radio. If you don’t need one or there are multiple crew members in the same area you can share a radio.
- Crew
- EMS
- Parking
Channels generally used
These are generally the channels we use, there is some fluidity year to year depending on the needs of the event.
- Ch 1 general
- Ch 2 Tac 1
- Ch 3 Tac 2
- Ch 4 Producers 1
- Ch 5 Producers 2
- Ch 6 Robot Ruckus
- Ch 7 Robot Ruckus 2
- Ch 8 EMS
Venue Radio
It’s common for the venue to have their own radio system. In some cases the venue manager will give you a radio to keep in the crew office that can be used to call security, or EMS, or deal with issues a level above your own event. Typically one of the lead producers is assigned to the use of this radio to prevent just anyone calling the venue staff for non-emergency issues.
In the last few years we have issued a radio to EMS so anyone with a radio can get in contact with them.
Radio sign-out
Radios all are tagged with numbers or letters, you must sign them out and in every day. In case a radio goes missing we can at least find who was supposed to have it. If you don’t need a radio don’t take one.
Code words
Parents lose children, not children losing parents. Don’t discuss movement of money from hands on booths. Keep your cool man.
Reference Card
We try and make a small business size card with important info on it, this is the card from 2017, sometimes we add more schedule, or some important venue info.
Hardware
Radios
Retevis RT22
Mics / Earpieces
Generic ear piece with mic, we had some that were better than others, from amazon
Charging
Each radio charges via USB, and comes with a wall wart, so we have big like 20 position power strips for this purpose.