Electronic whistle or whistle mask?
 

Will be officiating in June for the first time since the pandemic started. What is more commonly being used - the electronic whistle, or the "whistle mask"?

One Man's Opinion ...
 

I only worked an abbreviated season of about two dozen games this past season here in my little corner of Connecticut and I was only official (while masked) using an electronic whistle, everybody else wore a mask. Nobody used those little whistle pouches that only protect the blowees, not the blowers.

I stuck to my electronic whistle because I liked it, and it only took a few minutes for me to get used to it (signals, whistle hand strap, etc.).

It worked well for me because almost all of my games sites limited fans to one, or two, parents per player, so the sound volume of my whistle was never a factor.

I used the Fox 40 "Full Size" Electronic Whistle. It was the the only one that used a powerful nine volt battery. All the others seemed to use a less powerful 1.5 volt AA, or AAA battery (some even used "button" batteries). It took some shopping on my part, but I was eventually able to find a black Fox 40 "Full Size" Electronic Whistle instead of the more common red Fox 40 "Full Size" Electronic Whistle.

All my partners seemed to like (tolerate is a better word) their masks, didn't hear a lot of complaints.

I've seen whistle pouches used for basketball games in Virginia. I used a whistle mask in the winter season and for camps, after I tried the Fox-40 full size electronic whistle in the fall at a camp and people complained that they never heard it. I also saw some other officials using a whistle mask. Now that I'm fully vaccinated, I'm debating whether I should still use the whistle mask at this very late stage of the pandemic.

Neither is predominant where I work. A majority of the officials are back to normal, unmasked officiating with standard whistles. They are some who are using whistle masks. Haven't seen anyone with an electronic whistle.

The only thing I used was a whistle mask and never used an electric whistle. Worked with a couple of people that had the electric whistle but it sounded horrible. But for the most part did not have to wear a mask during most games. When the Illinois season started that was a requirement but that seems to be going away. Like Raymond said, that seems to not be the case anymore but I will tell you this weekend after my camp.

Peace

Neither.

You can't hardly hear the electronic whistles at all in a noisy gym