KIT & GEAR
AIRSOFT COMMS
NO COMMS,
NO BOMBS
THREE WAYS TO IMPROVE YOUR
RADIO COMMUNICATIONS
USING RADIOS IN AN AIRSOFT GAME IS SOMETHING THAT MANY ASPIRE TO DO WELL BUT IT’S
A PERISHABLE SKILL LIKE ANY OTHER THAT NEEDS CONSTANT PRACTICE AND UPDATING. OUR
“LEGIONNAIRE” SEAN, FROM BLACKLINE SIMULATIONS IN CANADA, GIVES US SOME POINTERS ON HOW
TO ENSURE YOUR COMMS ARE EFFECTIVE AND HOW YOU CAN GET THE BEST OUT OF THEM.
I
t was probably about five minutes into your very first
event when you realized how important communication
was going to be in your new hobby. Organizing units
over long distances, coordinating attacks and calling for
help all require a way to get in touch with your team. Those
messages have to be fast, clear and preferably not yelled
into the air where the enemy can hear them! So it’s no
surprise that airsoft players have turned to radios to solve
that problem.
Dozens of radio solutions get deployed on the field. You
can find low-cost handheld units like the Baofeng UV5R,
fully functional replicas of the AN/PRC 148 MBITR and AN/
PRC 177 radios and high-end professional Motorola models
used by law enforcement. All of these serve their users well,
from simple communications to high-quality impressions.
Unfortunately, as more people pick up communications
tools it becomes clear the problem isn’t always with the
type of radio.
“Can you hear me?”
“Comms check.”
“Someone is hot mic-ing!”
“What did you say?”
*Static*
The best comms gear you can buy will only be good
for Instagram photos if there isn’t a competent operator
behind the microphone. We can’t cover everything in
a couple of magazine pages but we can suggest three
self-study areas you should focus on if you want to be an
effective communicator.
38
JUNE 2020
1. LEARN BASIC PROCEDURES
While different sectors and militaries have different
standards for communication, many share common
fundamentals. Messages clearly identify the sender and
receiver, they use strategies to ensure the message is easy
to understand and they only allow one person to speak at
a time. These fundamentals are often referred to as “Radio
Operating Procedure”.
If this concept is new to you, one of the easiest
procedure formats to use is the “Receiver, Sender, Message,
Over/Out”. Begin your message with who you are trying to
reach, then add your own callsign so everyone knows who’s
speaking. State your message, then finish with “over”
OR “out” (not both!). End your message with “Over” if
you’re finished and ready for the next person to speak.
Use “Out” if you are finished speaking and are ending
that conversation. This simple format makes each message
a clean package that is easy to understand and helps the
listener know when it is OK for them to speak. If you want
to be more authentic, do some research on your local
Military and Law Enforcement units to see how they format
their messages.
Clear messages also rely on clear speech. This can be
challenging when it comes to strings of letters or numbers
that sometimes sound the same over a radio. Confusion
is even more likely if transmissions aren’t perfectly clear.
NATO utilizes the “NATO Phonetic Alphabet” - a system of
words and pronunciations that make it easier to understand
what letters and numbers are being spoken. This system
was designed to work well in English, French, and Spanish.
Your country may have a system of its own, however, if