Had a close call with my comms line during a bridge inspection in Tampa

I was 60 feet down checking a piling when my helmet mic cut out, leaving me with just the backup handset. I signaled my tender with the old rope pull system, and we switched to the secondary comms channel after a tense five minutes. What's your go-to check for comms gear before a dive these days?

3 comments

3 Comments

drew_reed623d ago

Honestly, that's playing with fire. My go-to is a full systems check on the surface, not just a quick mic tap. I submerge the whole comms unit in a bucket of water before I even suit up. If it can't handle a dunk in fresh water, it's not going to last at sixty feet. I've seen too many guys skip that step and pay for it.

the_richard3d ago

Read an incident report where a diver's comms failed at forty feet because a seal looked fine on a dry check. The pressure change found a tiny crack. Bucket test seems like the bare minimum, honestly.

emery_white3d ago

Yeah, that line about the pressure change finding a tiny crack is what got me. I used to be the guy who just did a quick function check on land and called it good. Hearing about a real failure that started from something you couldn't even see dry changed my whole routine. Now the bucket is non-negotiable for me too. It's a few extra minutes that just makes sense.