Official With Electronic Whistle

[Hornets222003]

I'm out of town and decided to take in a high school playoff game. On the first call that the C makes, the players hear the whistle pretty easily, but I don't hear anything a few rows up in the stands on the opposite side. After a few minutes of wondering why I didn't hear the whistle, the crew goes through a few rotations and the same official is now C on my side. And I see why I didn't hear it. He doesn't have one. Or rather, I see a gadget in his hand and I realize that it is an electronic whistle with a medium volume and not-so-sharp tone. It was set to give a 5 second blast of tweets.

This was a first for me. Have any of you ever seen an official use an electronic whistle? I've searched the Rules book and I couldn't find any, but are there rules against an official using this type of device during a game in your own associations?

[grunewar]

I'd never heard or it or seen it until this thread. No one here uses it.

Fox 40 Electronic Whistle

[Mark Padgett]

Hmmm - electronic scoreboards, electronic whistles. I guess next is electronic referees. I hope they don't let coaches program them.

[BillyMac]

Originally Posted by Mark Padgett

Hmmm - electronic scoreboards, electronic whistles. I guess next is electronic referees.

Originally Posted by Hornets222003

It was set to give a 5 second blast of tweets.

5 seconds of tweets??

[Hornets222003]

Originally Posted by AremRed

5 seconds of tweets??

It was similar to the sound that is made when you give mutiple short, quick blasts (i.e. tweets) with the whistle. And it lasted about 5 seconds each time he pressed the button.

Originally Posted by Hornets222003

It was similar to the sound that is made when you give mutiple short, quick blasts (i.e. tweets) with the whistle. And it lasted about 5 seconds each time he pressed the button.

I feel sorry for those players who had to listen to this official 25-tweet everything.

[Dexter555]

I was intrigued by this product in the context of "solution looking for a problem." It's not as bad as represented in the thread. It's not supposed to "pulse"--it does that when the battery is low and the button is held down. It should work just like any other whistle, just push button instead of blow. And it supposedly replicates the Fox 40 sound well. Apparently it breaks easily if dropped and the lanyard is not that robust. I can't imagine a hand-held device the size of a Snickers bar helps with signaling mechanics.

All that said, there were only two reasons I could see using it. (1) It is somewhat directional and can be used away from the ear by any officials/coaches for whom a regular whistle causes them ear pain. (2) The other is best explained by a product review from Amazon: "I have been officiating high school basketball for 50 years. Because of a recent dental issue I am no longer able to blow a whistle and my career as an official appeared to be over. Then I discovered the Fox-40 electric whistle. It far exceeds any other in sound. The lanyard works just fine. I have not had any issues with it. I highly recommend this whistle to any officials who have problems blowing the standard Fox-40. My State Officials Association requires that I use a Fox-40 with a lanyard. This whistle meets all the criteria. I think it just added at least another 20 years to my officiating career.... Alright, maybe only another 15."

[bainsey]

[Jay R]

I had never heard of it until I saw one in a Phys Ed class at school. The Phys Ed teacher says there nice there because you can multiple users (teachers and students) and not worry about germs etc....

[grunewar]

Thanks for posting the video Bainsey.

I could definitely see a use on some weekends in gyms where you have multiple games on adjacent floors and sometimes the players get confused on which whistle sounded on which court.......

Other than that. Shrug.