Ups And Downs In Underwater Communication

[philip damore]

Hi Guys

I'm new to the field of underwater communication and would like to get an idea of how people other than my self feel about the issue.

I've heard some divers who wouldn't trade the peace and quite they experience when diving for any type of communication gadget, others who are greatly exited about the possibility to speak with their buddy during dives.

Therefore I would like to ask you what you think

If you have 2 min. I have set up a poll with 3 simple questions where every response would be greatly appreciated, and if you you don't any comment would also be great!

Link to poll: Wireless Underwater Communication

 

[TMHeimer]

I have no FFM with communication, but can't think of a downside. Most of my dives are solo anyway, but FFM is too expensive. It would come in handy if you exceeded the max depth on nitrox and risked convulsions and loss of 2nd stage from mouth.

 

[g1138]

I use FFM's with communications for work. Love it in practical use but in theory I can be not a huge fan.

The good:
It fixes all your problems with on the fly decisions that may come up on a dive, even with the most detail orientated planning & backup planning. You can now sort everything out with both the Topside crew & your UW Team by verbal communication.

Topside, I hear the boat but I can't see it.
_"Topside here, we're 20ft away from the Anchor buoy; you're good to surface"
Or
Topside, we took a wrong heading and lost the dive site
_"Topside here, Head East 50yds."
Or
Diver A to Diver B, I think we just hit a thermocline
_"I don't feel anything"
Well let me waft it a little and see if you feel it then .
_"Gross!"

The bad:
Exactly the same as above. The convenience can create a a correlation of tending to sly to the very lax side of things and just not doing very detailed orientated backup plans. Being able to sort things out to the detail on the fly with vocals can make all that Pre-Dive OCD planning stuff seem unnecessary for those that don't enjoy that aspect of diving.
Talk about hand signals, Turn-Around Time/PSI, pathway/direction of travel on the site?

Sometimes the main plan can come up pretty lax and it can go as far as to poor buddy contact since the vocal comms is just a mic away. "If my buddy has a problem, they'll call me"; is the thought.
*Well if your buddy swims out of range or their battery goes dead then that changes things; you're now back to hand signals but with no dive plan or backup plan in place*

That correlation to becoming lax can come back to bite you. Not my preference but not a huge risk factor for recreational diving in my opinion. This stuff already happens without Comms.


But if we're speaking fun dives at recreational depths, the cost isn't worth it IMO.
If you utilize the gear correctly it is a great advantage. Scuba is very similar to aviation. You can look at how aviation improved with the use of radio. Now if only Divers can be taught about the importance of Dive/Flight Plans and Pre-Dive/Pre-Flight Gear Checks & Descent/Departure Checks.

 

[philip damore]

Wow, thx for the feedback! really didn't expect it.

Most of the experienced divers I know are very keen on putting the basics in first priority. Being well prepared, always following good buddy practice overrules any other technical skill. This would mean that should a comm or similar gadget fail, one will still be well equipped to handle a unexpected situation.

I can easily see the advantage of voice comm in relation to commercial diving, and assume that it's already pretty widely used, but how about recreational diving?

From the reports I've been able to find the stats say that the majority of diving incidents occur within recreational diving....(http://www.diversalertnetwork.org/medical/report/AnnualDivingReport-2015Edition.pdf)

Is this because people or unprepared/un-alert compared to commercial divers?

 

[Neilwood]

Wow, thx for the feedback! really didn't expect it.

Most of the experienced divers I know are very keen on putting the basics in first priority. Being well prepared, always following good buddy practice overrules any other technical skill. This would mean that should a comm or similar gadget fail, one will still be well equipped to handle a unexpected situation.

I can easily see the advantage of voice comm in relation to commercial diving, and assume that it's already pretty widely used, but how about recreational diving?

From the reports I've been able to find the stats say that the majority of diving incidents occur within recreational diving....(http://www.diversalertnetwork.org/medical/report/AnnualDivingReport-2015Edition.pdf)

Is this because people or unprepared/un-alert compared to commercial divers?

Commercial divers are a different breed to recreational divers.

Most recreational divers dive for fun with little or no plan of what the dive is for. A dive plan for rec can be as simple as "dive to the site, swim around for 20mins or until one of us hits turn pressure and surface". We are also in varying states of fitness and varying ages.

A commercial diver has a number of constraints that force better planning:
a) laws regarding health and safety
b) insurance requirements (insurers don't want hefty bills due to bad practise)
c) fitness of divers - commercial divers tend to have to do annual fitness checks.
d) they are diving with a specific purpose in mind - "rig that object for recovery" or "patch that hole in the hull". The more efficiently they can carry out the task, the less it costs and the more money they make.
e) diver costs are often the smallest part of the outlay for a project. In order to dive they might have to run a ship with a large amount of personnel, equipment, compressors etc which all cost money. The diver might cost $$$ per day but the cost of the set up to get him underwater might be 10 to100 times that depending on the type of diving.
f) the simple recognition that an emergency underwater costs time and money that could be generating profit.

 

[MattPSI]

I have been using communications with OTS Guardian full face mask. So far it has been great. I don't actually use it very often. Sometimes its biggest benefit is simply getting the attention of your buddy or perhaps having a brief simple discussion. It takes practice, and doesn't always work perfectly depending on your orientation to each other. Also the bubbles are loud enough that they can make hearing your buddy a challenge upon exhaling even if the transmission came through totally clear. The other day, while diving in Grand Cayman I could hear people on the same channel having conversations from a live aboard dive boat that was probably 2 to 300 yards away. So it is cool tech, but when you fingure in cost and imperfect reliabiliy, the decision to jump into it or not is complicated for sure.