Brain Block - Need the Name for a Police CB Thingy

Handset.

I've got the same problem with my cops and forest rangers. I'm calling them hand-helds. Geeze, I've the National Guard out there and I say they're using field phones. Hope I'm right. Close only counts in horseshoes.

Tri

microphone or mic

triceretops said:

Close only counts in horseshoes.

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And hand grenades, and drive-in movies. (Ah, summer camp. What wits. What wags.)

*follows Poet quietly around AW...plotting his demise*

What?

Isn't that what a stalker is MEANT to do?

So anyways, JJ, I thought they were called car radios. LOL...so don't ask me!

JJ Cooper said:

So a police officer leans into his car to run a license check back to base. He grabs the (CB handset? - the thing he speaks into).

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As a former deputy sheriff in Southern California I see two problems. If this is a big city (and some small ones), and any time in the last 20-30 years they would not reach into the car as they would have a radio with a hand set on them. Radio is on the belt, handset is on the shoulder or belt.

And when we called the station, we called "dispatch," not "base." This can be different for different police/sheriff offices.

Have Fun,
Jeff

JJ Cooper said:

Nice pick up Jeff - I should have mentioned that they're Aussie cops.

Brings up an interesting point. Although my WIP is based in Australia, I'll be seeking representation in the US first. I wonder if I get picked up by a US agent whether I'll need to change the novel and base the scenes and setting etc in the US. Mmmm - food for thought.

JJ

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The agent Donald Maas, in his book on writing a bestseller, mentions an interesting location as a key element. Just my opinion, but I would qualify Australia as an interesting location, and an especially unique one for a cop story. So I say, keep it and play it for all it's worth.

BTW, I would call the radio a clip-on, or a clip-on mic, as in "he keyed his clip-on mic and called it in". And, I would call it a police radio (or a two-way, or just the radio) rather than a CB. But what really matters here is what an Australian would call it.

My first thought was radio.

It's definitely NOT a CB radio. That's a completely different thing. I would just say he keyed his mic and spoke. I think most people would envision him talking on his shoulder mic, since that's what most police agencies carry now. Unless you say, "He leaned into the car and keyed his mic." Either works.

triceretops said:

I've got the same problem with my cops and forest rangers. I'm calling them hand-helds. Geeze, I've the National Guard out there and I say they're using field phones. Hope I'm right. Close only counts in horseshoes.

Tri

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Tri,

The answer depends on when your story is set. However, if it's fairly modern, the below answer should help.

Field Phones (TA-312s) are actual phones linked together by wire, sometimes through a switchboard, but usually point to point. Those are primarily used when the situation is static as it provides good security, but they're a bear to use as someone (called a line doggie) has to run the telephone wire(s) from Point A to Point B (hoping people don't trip over it, run over it with a vehicle, etc). Once it's in place, it's just turn a crank to generate some electricity and hit the ring button.

If it's modern National Guard, they're using SINGARS radios (frequency hopping radios) that have been synched together. The Army got rid of the old VRC-46 single-channel VHF radios back in the early 90s and the NG probably got rid of theirs in the mid-90s as stuff filtered down to them.

If you have specific questions, give me a buzz. I was one of the main troubleshooters for my platoon's radios from 1989-1994.

JJ Cooper said:

Man I know I'm gonna feel like a git when this gets answered.

So a police officer leans into his car to run a license check back to base. He grabs the (CB handset? - the thing he speaks into).

Feel free to mock me after it is answered.

JJ

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I think with modern technology there's more than one way this could be done. It might be the traditional police (definitely NOT CB) radio handset or microphone, but if he's at his patrol car he might just as quickly get into the driver's seat and type in the license number on a computer keyboard to do the license check. This would communicate directly and nearly instantly to the license database and give the fastest response. Surely he can still call the license in from the small radio that's attached to his belt and mic/speaker on his shoulder (or even a cell phone - wouldn't police use them more and more thesedays?) in case he's walked away from his partrol car, and it's faster to call in than to walk back to his car.

There are a lot of officers that carry cellphones but rarely use them for things like license checks. It's generally in their best interest to use the radio because, one: it's quicker and two: their dispatchers get pissed when they're calling on the phone all the time. We have enough damned phones to answer and when you have to put a 911 on hold to grab another line and it's an officer calling when he could have used the radio, it puts us in a bad mood. A really bad mood. And cops know better than to piss off his dispatcher.

And though there are a lot of police agencies that use computers in the cars now, there are a lot who don't. They're becoming more popular but there's a lot of rural agencies that just can't afford them yet. Neither county I dispatch for have them. Nor do our surrounding counties.