Finally tried a different comms setup on a murky river job

I was working a salvage op in the Mississippi near Baton Rouge last week, visibility was maybe 2 feet. My team lead had us switch from our old hardwire comms to a wireless system he'd been testing. The difference was crazy. With the wireless, I could move around the wreck without worrying about a cable snagging on every piece of rebar. We finished the lift in half the time it usually takes. Has anyone else made a switch like that on a low-vis job?

4 comments

4 Comments

lucast812mo ago

Yeah, wireless in that soup sounds like a great way to lose your team and start talking to catfish. But honestly, if the cable was the biggest snag risk, I get the switch. Lily_cooper has a point about signal loss, but getting tangled in a wreck seems like the bigger immediate problem. Sometimes you just have to trade one headache for a smaller one to get the job done faster.

amy_martin11d ago

I remember my first time diving in zero viz like that off the coast of Galveston. We had to switch to wireless because the cable kept snagging on an old sunken shrimp boat. Honestly, the signal loss is a real pain but I'd rather deal with that than get tangled up and have to cut myself loose. You're right, sometimes it's just picking the headache that won't kill you instead of the one that might. It's a trade off, but I totally get why they made the call.

lily_cooper2mo agoTop Commenter

Wireless in that murky water sounds risky for signal loss.

patricia322mo ago

My buddy in commercial diving said their wireless units cut out if the water gets too silty.