Don’t try this with your $35 Baofeng. :) The news here is that NIST has not only tested units at high temperatures, but has developed a methodology and a chamber for testing radios at high temperatures. This should help radio manufacturers develop more reliable radios for firefighters. This item is from the December 16, 2014 issue of NIST Tech Beat…Dan
New test results* from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) confirm that portable radios used by firefighters can fail to operate properly within 15 minutes when exposed to temperatures that may be encountered during firefighting activities.
A portable firefighter radio is instrumented for testing in a NIST-designed apparatus that consistently creates thermal conditions representative of typical fire environments. Data and performance measurements recorded with the equipment are furnished to the National Fire Protection Association, which is developing a performance standard for portable radios used by emergency personnel.Credit: NIST |
Firefighters rely on the radios to report their location and to communicate with other first responders as well as the incident command post or communications center. Performance problems with portable radios have been identified by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health as contributing factors in some firefighter fatalities.
All seven of the firefighter portable radios tested by NIST failed to perform properly within 15 minutes when exposed to temperature levels encountered in “fully involved” fires, as when all the contents in a room or structure are burning. Four of the handheld radios stopped transmitting, and three experienced significant “signal drift,” rendering the radios unreliable for communication.
The failures occurred while the radios were subjected to a temperature of 160 degrees Celsius (320 degrees Fahrenheit), termed Thermal Class II conditions.** The temperature is representative of a fully involved fire or conditions outside a room when its contents burst into flames simultaneously, a phenomenon known as flashover.
During the post-test cool-down period, three of the radios did not recover normal function.
Funded by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the NIST tests further ongoing work to develop performance standards for firefighter portable radio equipment, which includes radios, wearable combinations of speakers and microphones, and related items. The existing standard provides only general guidance—that portable radios “be manufactured for the environment in which they are to be used.”
NIST researchers are furnishing their test data and performance measurements to the National Fire Protection Association, which is developing a performance standard for portable radios used by emergency personnel.
As important, the NIST team designed a prototype apparatus to electronically control testing equipment intended to consistently create thermal conditions representative of typical fire environments.
All radios tested by NIST performed reliably when exposed to a temperature of 100 degrees Celsius (212 degrees Fahrenheit) for 25 minutes, or Thermal Class I conditions, akin to a small fire in a room or fighting a fire from a distance.
No tests were conducted under more extreme fire conditions (Thermal Classes III and IV).
“Realistic and reliable performance tests provide clear design targets for portable radio manufacturers,” explains NIST fire protection engineer Michelle Donnelly. “Standards incorporating these tests provide firefighters with the assurance that their equipment will perform as expected under specified thermal conditions.”
*M.K. Donnelly, W.F. Young, and D. Camell, Performance of Portable Radios Exposed to Elevated Temperatures (NIST Technical Note 1850); September 2014.
**See NIST Technical Note 1474 at http://fire.nist.gov/bfrlpubs/fire06/PDF/f06001.pdf.
Neil - G7AQK says
It does seem to be a bit of a pointless test when you consider that the person carrying the radio would have expired long before the rig in such conditions!
Dave, N8SBE says
Not necessarily. I don’t recall seeing (at least in the description above) how long the radios are exposed to 320 degree conditions (it says they failed within 15 minutes, but they could have been removed from the heat source prior to failure), but please remember that the firefighter may be wearing a considerable amount of protective gear, including breathing mask, etc. that can provide them protection for short intervals in such conditions. The key is that if the person survives, then the radio should as well. The article seems to infer that was not the case.
larry says
not just for radios. but all eletrioncs fail in our cars do to heat build up.
is there going to be testing on dash cams?
in the state of northern ca it can be 110+ F at 2am.
oven temps during even a hot winter day with no clouds.
would be great if they tested more than fire fighters radios and published the results.