Radio Communication
 

Does any one out there use a 2 way radios to communicate with your other officials while on the field. With ear pieces? What do you use? How helpful is it?

Our state at this point does not allow these to be used. Maybe in the future, but I honestly do not see the point. I heard they are very distracting.

Peace

We had a few guys test them out this past season, although they were not officially approved, which led to some minor drama. That being said, all reports I got were positive. There is some concern that if you buy the cheaper sets, you are not getting secure comms which means any yahoo in the stands with a scanner can listen in.

The college level guys are used to them and are ok with them. Our state leadership understands but for every college level guy still working Friday nights, many more are not and some percentage of them won't/can't handle it.
(See non-secure comms above).

I can see the usefulness and expect that someday they will be prevalent.

Not only that but I've read a couple of reports of somebody with an FRS actually talking on the same channel. Made for some interesting times I'm guessing.

The D-1 and NFL guys that I've talked to all love them now, although it took them a season or so to get used to them and work out the kinks.

I don't see them coming to the D-III or high school level any time soon though, mainly due to the cost. Most of our HS games don't even have a field mic for the R, and I get the feeling that about 2/3rds of our small colleges wouldn't either if not for the NCAA mandating it.

We use them and we love them. We got a set of 6 radios and earpieces for about $150. Early on we were using them too much and it messed up some of our mechanics. Once we started using them only as an additional communication tool and not a replacement for our mechanics, things got so much better. There was only one time that we couldn't use them and that was because the home team band was playing so loud during dead ball periods (every single dead ball period), we couldn't hear each other.

We are allowed to use them if our state organization approves the radio when a crew asks. Right now there are guidelines in our mechanics manuals for what features the radio has to have in order to be approved. The funny thing is that someone with actual radio knowledge (not me by ANY stretch) saw that some of the requirements were inconsistent and even contradictory. The other problem, at least so far, is that a list of approved radios hasn't been published.

It is clear to me that the use of radios is being discouraged in Texas for whatever reason (and it sort of reminds me of how black pants were treated when they first appeared on the horizon in the 2006-8 time frame).