Finally found a way to keep my comms from cutting out below 60 feet

I was getting so frustrated with my through-water comms cutting out around 55-60 feet on a salvage job off Galveston last month. Tried swapping batteries, different headsets, the whole deal. Then an old diver named Ray told me to try taping the mic element to my cheek instead of letting it float, and it made a massive difference. Has anyone else found little tricks like that for older gear?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_beth22d ago

Ray's trick with taping the mic is solid. What nobody talks about is how the salinity and temperature gradients stack up against older gear. I had a buddy run a salvage in the Gulf where the comms dropped around 45 feet every time, turned out the salt content was so variable from fresh water runoff that it scrambled the signal path. He fixed it by switching to a different type of conductive grease on the contact points and wrapping the connector ends in a bit of rubber hose to keep the salt out. Also, check your ground plate. If it's got any corrosion pitting, that'll cause drops way earlier than you'd think.

lee_bailey6522d ago

Expand on that ground plate thing @the_beth because corrosion pitting is something most people don't catch until it's too late. I've had luck hitting the plate with a brass brush and a dab of dielectric grease before each season to knock off that micro-pitting before it gets bad. That alone kept my comms clean down to 60 feet even with all the river silt mixing in with the salt.