Paintball Radio Protocol
by Jayson Orvis aka JOracle on Mar 29, 2005
Expert use of radios can turn your team into an unstoppable paintball legend. With practiced command and fluid communications, you can take on huge groups of opposition and still cut them to pieces.
But there’s a catch: effective radio use is really hard. That’s why barely anyone does it. Once you get the technical aspects of your radio communication worked out (which is a major hurdle,) then you must still learn to use the radios properly. It’s hard enough to get a bunch of hard-headed paintballers to play as a team. With radios, everyone will have to employ maximum discipline too.
And that’s why almost nobody uses radios well in paintball. By the end of the day, most teams have abandoned their radios—sometimes because of technical difficulties and other times because radio discipline has fallen apart.
We address the technical aspects of radio use in another SpecOps Paintball article. Here, we’ll discuss smooth and simple use of Motorola radios by a coordinated team.
The first rule of radio protocol is that everyone must bring their freaking radios to the game. When one meathead forgets his radio, it throws the whole team into confusion. The best way to handle this, and all other gear issues, is to make sure everyone has a paintball gear bag and that the bag makes it into the car. Keep your radio in the bag and you’ll never screw your team over by forgetting your comm gear.
The second rule of radio protocol is to run a radio test before every game. Before the game starts the Team Commander calls a radio check. Everyone turns away and one-by-one, each player transmits his call sign. Then each player responds by saying “copy” and then the player’s call sign. For example, I would say, “Oracle transmitting.” Then, each player would copy me, “This is Irish. Copy, Oracle” or “This is Irish, No Copy, Oracle.” If there is any problem with a player’s transmission, this is the time to fix it. Often, a player will be transmitting a muted or garbled signal. This is usually the result of a throat mic or remote mic that is poorly placed. Get all of the technical wrinkles figured out before the whistle blows each game. Don’t think that, because you tested once at the beginning of the day, your radios will be fine all day. Radios are too important to leave anything to chance. Test at the start of every game.
The third rule of radio protocol is to speak over the radio as little as possible. Communications should be clear and very short. All pleasantries are dropped during radio communication for the sake of brevity. Every time you speak, you block the channel and make it impossible for anyone with a more important message to speak. For radios to be useful, the channel must be kept open and communication must be precise.
Always identify yourself before speaking. For example, before I say anything, I must begin with “This is Oracle. . .” Don’t assume that the other players will recognize your voice over the radio.
When you complete your message, let everyone know that your communication is complete by saying “Over.” For example, a transmission might sound like this, “This is Oracle. I am at the enemy thirty-yard line. Over.” This let’s everyone know that I’m done, that my message is complete and that they can now respond.
When you receive a message from another player and you understood the message, let them know by saying “Copy.” For example, you might respond to my communication by saying, “Copy, Oracle.” Or “Copy, Oracle. You’re at the enemy thirty-yard line.”
If you’re directing your message to a certain person, call for that person and wait for them to respond. For example, you might be a Squad Commander calling your Unit Commander like this, “This is Oracle, come in Pom-Pom.” Then your Unit Commander would reply, “This is Pom-Pom, go ahead Oracle.”
Divide the field into units that everyone can understand. On a simple field, you can use the yardage lines of a football field. The fifty-yard line is the center of the field and you can work your way toward the opponents’ “end zone.” On a large scenario field, you can use a grid system or refer to landmarks on the map. In any case, you should figure out your positioning system before the game begins. Trying to describe your location can be extremely frustrating unless you figure out a system ahead of time.
Get very clear with your team before starting a game as to the directions of the compass. Even if you have to fudge “true north” a little to get the field lined up, everyone on your team should know which direction you’re calling “north” for the game. Make sure that you can describe positions by using the compass. For example, you might describe the position of a hidden enemy player by radioing one of your teammates, “Irish, this is Oracle. You have a sniper thirty yards to your west behind a thick stand of oak. They are on me and you are free to flank. Do you copy? Over.”
It’s very difficult to change channels during play. For teams of fifteen players or less, you should use a single channel. This will require extreme radio discipline so that the channel does get overwhelmed. Squad members will be speaking with their Squad Commander and Squad Commanders will be speaking with their Unit Commander all on the same channel. This means that only crucial communication must be shared. However, it also means that the Unit Commander can listen in on how his squads are doing as they talk back and forth. If your team’s larger than fifteen, the Squad Commanders and Unit Commander will probably have to use at least two radios each. This becomes awkward and difficult, but it may be the only way to keep your super-sized team straight.
During non-scenario play, always report your eliminations and team losses back to your Commander. If you take out an enemy player, call your Unit Commander and report, “Add one.” This means that your team advantage just went up another body. If you take out another player after that, call again and say, “Add one” again. Don’t accumulate your adds. If you shoot two players at once, call “Add two” but don’t keep adding up your “kills” and reporting the total. Only the Unit Commander adds up total enemy eliminations, so keep reporting them one-at-a-time. If you’re all using the same channel, it makes more sense for each player to report his adds individually back to the Unit Commander rather than going through his Squad Commander.
Always report your team losses back to your Squad and Unit Commander. For example, if your teammate gets taken out, you would radio, “This is Oracle. We are DOWN ONE. Irish is out. I repeat, we are DOWN ONE. Over.” Then your Squad Commander might confirm. “Copy that, Oracle. We are down one.” Again, don’t add up your team losses when you make your call. If you say that you are DOWN TWO or DOWN THREE, your commanders will think that two or three players were just taken out. Let your Unit Commander add up the elimination tallies.
During non-scenario play, “add” and “down” counts are absolutely critical to the Unit Commander. Only by knowing how many players are left on the opposition and how many team player remain will the Unit Commander know which plays are viable.
Don’t be disappointed when you discover that your team fails to manage their radios expertly the first few times around. Fluid radio work requires practice, consciousness and preparation. Stick with it and you’ll find that radio communication can be a massive advantage on any paintball field.