K4.5 - 3 police radio suggestions + optional idea. (ideas 48-51/151)

[Krzeszny]

Topic: Radio transmission turning off automatically and alternate radio channel for less urgent things.
2 simple ideas, one complicated and one optional.

Short explanation (in points):
1. Radio transmission (icon) should turn off automatically after 1 or 2 minutes of not transmitting
2. Radio mute key should turn off transmission
3. Second radio channel you can change to for a short amount of time to discuss less urgent but important things
4. OPTIONAL: text under radio icon showing IC name and job of the person speaking

Detailed description (why should they become added/...):
1. To prevent accidental spam, obviously. It happens to everyone that you have your transmission turned on, forget about it and start talking. It should toggle off after 1 minute of not transmitting. Or 2 minutes if 1 is too short.
2. Same as the one above, it had even happened to me that I muted the radio and started talking to a suspect. It annoys people. And then you realize after a few minutes that you were spamming and feel like an idiot.
3. With a press of a button or something like that you should be able to change to a different radio channel to discuss things like what happened, question an officer about something or coordinate tactics as S.W.A.T.
After changing channels the radio icon should change to something highly visible so you don't forget you're on a different channel.
4. When someone speaks, text under your radio icon should appear like this: [job name] [IC name]. It would help with spammers, in general to identify who needs help and whether it's S.W.A.T. calling the helicopter or lieutenant giving orders.


Optional additions:
-n/a

 

[Krzeszny]

I've just read Freddy's post about radio showing names on HUD about 3 minutes after suggesting it myself.

 

[StephenPuffs]

1) You can turn it off yourself manually, trying to keep track of whether it is on or off because of an automated system would get rather annoying.
2) Again, just switch transmitting to off yourself. There's no reason to have it not transmit when muting the radio. Just pay more attention to what you are doing.
3) Additional channels have been discussed but requires multiple changes to do so properly, because we don't want anyone essentially turning their radio off so they never respond to reports over the radio. Although this idea is constantly in discussion and more than likely will be added at some point.
4) As you already noted, this is now slated for next update.

 

[Nasul]

SWAT HAVE TO BECOMME A SWAT CHANNEL ONLY SWAT AND LT CAN HEAR/SPEAK!

 

[Krzeszny]

Comments are too short.

Stephen, I know but in real life you don't mute a radio because it's too loud and you don't transmit every time you speak.
Disabling transmitting after 1 or 2 minutes would be useful (but not essential) and there would not be any disadvantages. After all when you are to speak on the radio, you always look if transmitting is turned on. However the time it would take could be configurable - 1 to 5 minutes for example. But again, it's not necessary.
Turning transmitting off automatically when muting the radio is necessary. As I've said, it would prevent accidental spam. Any disadvantages here? Or advantages of remembering to do it yourself? And the second idea is very easy to code.

 

[StephenPuffs]

If you're muting your radio and talk in government radio (via voice) it will not transmit to other units, but keep in mind sometimes there is a delay in muting becoming active, so it is still advised you first check to be sure you are not talking in government radio when you don't wish to be.

Automatically turning off radio will not be added, so just be sure you have it set to transmit if you want it to be and not if you don't.

As for subchannels they will be added another time when we overhaul how units are assigned tasks/roles within the emergency services, so I'm going to mark this as done as this is a known idea and will be added in the future.

TL;DR
Other emergency services won't hear you transmit if you talk while muting your radio at the same time, regardless of your current transmit status.