Scott EPIC Wirelss/ Bluetooth Communications

[scottab96]

Anyone out there try this setup or currently have it in service. We are looking into doing a grant to improve communications by interior crews and came across this and was wondering how it worked?

Any/ all feedback would be appreciated.

Thanks,

[PRRESCUE]

We have a Live Demo of it, next week. I will let you know more details of it and how it worked.

[okcrescue]

I'm also looking for info from anyone who has used it.
Where also going to try and get a demo set up.

[PRRESCUE]

I must say that I was very pleased with the performance of the equipment. The Scott People brought the cable adapter that matched our radio and our guys when inside the “Smoke House” and did the drill. It worked very well. There are a couple of good things; when you pair the radio and the speaker mic, it will stay paired for ever even if you change batteries or radios. Secondly the speaker mic will work for an every day use, which is a must. The only drawback is that as any other environment. If you are around a noise engine, tools, etc. you will have the same problem hearing them. (We did) once we step inside the command post, the sound clarity was excellent.

The Scott people also demonstrated a new accountability system/PASS device that allows you from a computer to activate the Evac, now the air time remaining on the Firefighters, etc. It provides a full two way communications between the Firefighters and the command post/ IC.

[JMac73]

How easy is it to sync the voice amp to the mic. It seems that everytime you had to swap out a radio or voice amp you would have to reconfigure it somehow. we are supposed to goto these too but I dont know much about them.

[RayVaughan]

Just a reminder about ANY device that connects to your radios... how well does it seal out water? Your radio may meet all water specs but if you get a couple drips between the radio and the speaker mic adapter, there's a real good chance you'll be a stuck mic on the channel.

Also a good time to remind everyone... 30 second time out timer in your radios is good idea... just in case someone does get a wet mic.

I have no knowledge of this product... this advice goes for any speaker mic attachment, made by the radio manufacturer or a 3rd party device.

Ray

[michtfd]

we are doing a live demo next week. was wondering what to look for we are also using isi,msa, and draeger's. very interested in trying the bluetooth.

[WD6956]

Just a reminder about ANY device that connects to your radios... how well does it seal out water? Your radio may meet all water specs but if you get a couple drips between the radio and the speaker mic adapter, there's a real good chance you'll be a stuck mic on the channel.

The system allows your radio with the adapter to be completley protected inside your coat. So it's going to be just as waterproof as the systems out now with a simple speaker mic.

[RayVaughan]

The system allows your radio with the adapter to be completley protected inside your coat. So it's going to be just as waterproof as the systems out now with a simple speaker mic.

I don't think I've ever seen anyone come out of fire dry under their coat. Between the sweat and all the gaps in the bunker gear, it's a very wet environment in there.

We expect our speaker mics to be waterproof, both on their own and at the connection to the radio. We do have failures and it's usually water in the connector. Shipboard fires are the worst. The result on the air is a stuck microphone.

[Conehead222]

We looked at the system this week, although we were not in an actual working environment we did test it with both the vibralert activated and the PASS device activated and all transmissions were understood. I was told OK City F.D. is doing an extensive test on the unit and we will be getting a demo unit to try out prior to purchasing any. It is the best I have seen and is something that is most certainly needed by our department, I only hope it works in an actual fire as it did in the conference room!!

[Firefighter4life91]

Just a reminder about ANY device that connects to your radios... how well does it seal out water? Your radio may meet all water specs but if you get a couple drips between the radio and the speaker mic adapter, there's a real good chance you'll be a stuck mic on the channel.

Also a good time to remind everyone... 30 second time out timer in your radios is good idea... just in case someone does get a wet mic.

I have no knowledge of this product... this advice goes for any speaker mic attachment, made by the radio manufacturer or a 3rd party device.

Ray

I have to agree with Ray on this one. My PASS alert system meets all of the requirements. However, water vapor can get into the PASS and disable the chip. This happened to me once while I was interior on a 2nd alarm fire. I had a 2 1/2 line on the 1st story with heavy fire. I came outside to assist with a unit who couldnt get their line charged. Then I was told to go back inside and continue suppression of the fire. Well, I thought my PASS would alert me when I got low on air (which it usually does). I ran out of air and had to run for the exit cuz I couldnt breathe and obviously all that was availible in the house was SMOKE lol. Come to find out, the water vapor had got into the motherboard or "Chip" and disabled it. I didn't notice it had turned off until I ran out. Yes, this qualifies as my mistake for not periodically checking my pass to check my psi etc, but this is an important thing to remember when making PASS purchasing decisions.

Thanks,
Terence.