Introduction

Radios, and in particular Private Mobile Radios (P.M.R.s) are the life blood of REVCOM. The aims and objectives of REVCOM are to provide radio communications services to other public organizations - which would be a little difficult without radios.

This booklet covers all the information you will need to know about setting up and operating P.M.R.'s. Included is setting up the radios, where and when they can be used; and using the correct operating procedures. This booklet is aimed very much at the novice. If your only radio experience is listening to the breakfast show on Radio 1 you will be at home here. If you are an experienced radio operator, you may simply want to read the appendices and in particular Appendix 4 Voice Procedure In A Nutshell. I would still suggest that you flick through the booklet. You never know what little snippet you've forgotten or maybe never knew.

It is very important that the procedures described in this booklet are followed. The Radio Agency (RA) who issue our license can monitor our transmissions without our knowledge, and can turn up at any time to inspect our sets. They have the power to remove any equipment that they think may be faulty, interfering with others, or not within the license conditions. They can even revoke the entire license if we misbehave.

P.M.R. sets are not private CB's. They can not be used for informal chit-chat.

This booklet is split into three chapters covering the three areas of having and operating a P.M.R. set.

Chapter 1 covers the P.M.R. license, giving details of what the license is and what it gives us. The main points covered here describe when the sets can be used and what they can be used for. Probably more importantly, it covered when the sets cannot be used.

Chapter 2 discusses what P.M.R. radios are. It covers what the different bits are, what they do, and how they go together.

Chapter 3 illustrates how we actually operate the radios, walking through the procedure of actually talking over the radios so that they are used correctly, efficiently, and making sure that what you want to say is what is actually heard at the other end. Also, touched on a little are the steps involved in preparing for an event.

Finally, we have four appendices containing useful reference information.

Appendix A contains technical information about the P.M.R. sets and about the license conditions relating to those sets.

Appendix B contains the Phonetic Alphabet. This alphabet is used to ensure that important or complicated information can be transmitted over the radios without losing accuracy. It is basically a way of speaking letters and numbers clearly and in a standard way.

Appendix C contains useful contact information. It includes details for contacting REVCOM national officers, as well as listing the national and regional R.A. offices.

Appendix D is Voice Procedure in a Nutshell. It provides a quick reference to the voice procedure described in Chapter 3.