Walkie Talkie radio agreement / etiquette

[manamaga2512]

Hi all, we will be taking delivery of our new radios tomorrow and I wanted to ask, of thoes of you who use them, did you get your staff to sign for them when handing them out? Much like an agreement when giving staff laptops etc. I was thinking of doing this so that they know and agree to what equipment they have taken, how to use it and radio etiquette. A peek at your agreements would be great, if you were willing to share :-D

[unixman_again]

We had them at the last school. We didn't sign anything. Etiquette was mainly switching it off when in a class room full of students; this was to prevent them from hearing "Senior management to room x". We in IT also had our own codes, derived from knowing the routine. So if I asked for the location of the other techie and he "checking the bins", I knew he was on a ciggie break and "Upper or lower?" asked which equipment the other person was setting up or packing away.

[mukz]

We have a walkie talkie comm protocol which i can share on monday when i am back from holiday

[forkies]

We also didn't sign out radios. However we provided training to staff on "how to turn the volume knob to a suitable level" and "how to press the ptt key" because everyone is scared of technology apparently.

 

The main issue for us initially was users immediately starting their message and not performing a challenge/response. I.e. They were: Reception can you give forkies assistant call. Instead of: Reception this is forkies... forkies reception go ahead. The first would result in either nothing happening or a whole bunch of people calling over the radio "where you calling me?".

 

Also a note, unless you have digital radios with encryption then you should not allow your staff to communicate any information that may fall under DPA on the radio as it would be a breach, as the frequencies are public.

[manamaga2512]

We have a walkie talkie comm protocol which i can share on monday when i am back from holiday

 

Fantastic, thanks. We've had radios for a number of years but never had anything in concrete, so to speak, in terms of use. We have a number of new staff too so it would be good for them.

 

Many thanks.

[manamaga2512]

We also didn't sign out radios. However we provided training to staff on "how to turn the volume knob to a suitable level" and "how to press the ptt key" because everyone is scared of technology apparently.

 

The main issue for us initially was users immediately starting their message and not performing a challenge/response. I.e. They were: Reception can you give forkies assistant call. Instead of: Reception this is forkies... forkies reception go ahead. The first would result in either nothing happening or a whole bunch of people calling over the radio "where you calling me?".

 

Also a note, unless you have digital radios with encryption then you should not allow your staff to communicate any information that may fall under DPA on the radio as it would be a breach, as the frequencies are public.

Thanks. I have ordered licensed digital radios ;-)

[rad]

We have radios here, I am not sure anyone signs anything for them. All SLT and Pastoral team have them as so heads of faculty.

 

Used mainly for managing students truanting lessons.

[hardtailstar]

We have radios, not signed for but you get assigned a radio and this list is kept by the HR woman so if radios are found laying about she knows exactly who's it is.

 

Our staff are told to say 'Mr Corbyn to Mrs May' then Mrs May will say 'go ahead Mr Corbyn'

[elsiegee40]

Moved to School Policies forum

[AJWhite1970]

Radios here, just Reception, Site Team, NM, Bursar, First Aider (if not reception) and HM carry one. Nothing has ever been signed for and etiquette is a common sense rule that if any students are on site then everyone (including HM!!) behaves on the radios as you never know who is stood next to who.

 

Formality is relaxed during school holidays though when the airwaves have been known to turn a little bluer.....