Should the spotter have a radio as well?

Here's a question for all you spotters and snipers: Do you think the spotter should have a (throat)mic/radio setup along with the sniper? Maybe only the spotter should have one? Maybe only the sniper should have one? What do you all think?

I personally think both should have a throat-mic and radio for best communications to each other and to the rest of their squad/platoon/team. I've also heard several different sniper/spotter teams say that only the sniper has the radio comms, and the spotter's role is to simply follow the sniper's commands. I'm not really sure how I feel about that. I like the idea of both sniper and spotter having full communications with their team, and in case they get split up, each other.

i say both as it is just far easier to comm. and stay on the same page.

I have to agree with stormtrupr BUT I think the argument against is a good one too

The spotter's role in the team is solely for aiding the sniper... he should be aware of the sniper's condition at all times. It is also crucial in my opinion that the two be able to communicate in a logically, effective, and QUIET manner. This may not be radios...
If the sniper/spotter team learn some basic hand signals I think the use of radios could be limited which will go a long way to helping the group stay quiet and hidden.
Even with the above described relationship between the sniper and spotter, I think it is helpful for the spotter to have a radio. This will allow him/her to keep tabs on the rest of the team.
Just my $0.02 worth

I am not a sniper or a spotter, but I would say both because as mentioned already it is a VERY effective way of the sniper and spotter communicating with one another. After BF4, I would say have the captain of the team (unless its the sniper or spotter) on the main frequency with the teams commanding officer to get orders, if your team is split into 2 squads - have 2 different frequency's for both squads - this way they can communicate effectively without interruption. The sniper and spotter in my opinion should be on their own dedicated frequency... this way they communicate effectively without interruption as well. If they had their own dedicated channel, they could easily setup whatever kind of attack / defense strategy they wanted while in play. That sounds kind of confusing... here is what I am saying:

Frequency: ------- People on Frequency:
12.0 --------- Commanding officer and squad leader of team
12.1 --------- Squad 1
12.2 --------- Squad 2
12.3 --------- Sniper and Spotter

The frequency's probably wouldnt really be those, but I am just trying to show a good way for them to communicate without interuption. This past year at BF4 every single person on the field was trying to talk on one channel and it just got extremely annoying. I eventually just turned mine off.

With this setup you would have to make sure everyone knew which frequency the other team members were on incase they needed to regroup, or get reinforcements, but I think this is going to be the most effective way to play. Chances are your team would destroy just about anybody they saw due to good communication.

Seabass_9000 wrote:

The frequency's probably wouldnt really be those, but I am just trying to show a good way for them to communicate without interuption. This past year at BF4 every single person on the field was trying to talk on one channel and it just got extremely annoying. I eventually just turned mine off.

With this setup you would have to make sure everyone knew which frequency the other team members were on incase they needed to regroup, or get reinforcements, but I think this is going to be the most effective way to play. Chances are your team would destroy just about anybody they saw due to good communication.

I agree completely. Communication is huge! It's crazy because we spend so much time on our guns, camo, mags, etc. and too often not enough thought goes into comms. I feel like in BF4, for example, we spent all morning prepping for combat (fps checks, final sighting in of guns, changing into camo, eating up, etc.) and then right before going to the battlefield, about 10 seconds was spent telling each team what frequency they'd be on, and there was one frequency per entire team. I think if frequencies were better used, everyone on the team knew specifically what channel they were to be on, what channels their teammates were on, and what channels they were forbidden from (other team's), the game would be a lot more exciting, organized and realistic.

I like where my teamates are going with this:) now just to figure out the logistics and make it happen for bf5!

Not just BF5, we also need to work on this for Op: SF2 and several others. My goal is to go to atleast 6-7 larger events this year if not more.

I am sure we will come up with something that works for the team.

I think the spotter should have a radio, but know when to use it. If the spotter somehow gets separated, a radio would be ideal so that he could find out where the sniper, or the closest squad is at.

yep, thanks for that sentinel... The spotter should be a silent as possible.. I think the more the spotter and sniper can speak silently the better
they should both have radios but having to rely on them is another story. The spotter should really be the sniper's right hand mand.. quite literally. There would be really no real need for him to use the radio unless in the above explained scenario

I think both Sniper and Spotter should have radios. but the Snipers should only be for an Emergency (Spotter get shot, Spotters radio is dysfunctional, etc). I think the team should learn how to use hand signals and indirect communication instead of using radios. this causes the team to be much quieter, and allows them to focus more on the mission than on whoever is on their signal. the spotters radio should be set on the lowest volume setting, he would need a mic of some sort, and he should be able to brief the CO of his team easily.

Roamer wrote:

The spotter's role in the team is solely for aiding the sniper...

^ i totally disagree with that,
the spotter is there as in most cases the teams commander (depends on experience and rank most of the time). and in almost all cases he will be taking point. The Spotter is the one who gets the Sniper into position too.

i could ramble on all night about how the spotter is not in superior to the sniper but i will save your eyes some trouble.

sticks

In a real sniper team, the spotter job is to solely aid the sniper, in things such as measuring distance, wind speed/direction, watching a location (some teams have to watch a specific location for days, and this keeps one of them from getting eye fatigue), and ultimately if things go wrong, cover fire for themselves. After servicing a couple years with a sniper, the spotter usually goes on to lead his own sniper team.

In airsoft, a lot of these things are true about the sniper team, but some aren't. I think it depends on the players. In some cases, a sniper's spotter is an inexperienced sniper, who wants to play the role of a spotter to get a better feel, and learn from the veteran player. Most times however, the spotter is just a player who has gotten used to his role, and does a great job at it. I think these players are the ones that branch out from solely aiding the sniper.

I think that it should depend. The spotter should only have one if it is a routine wait on the side of the road, he sees a golf cart come by one shot to the driver who is the other team leader or another important person kill him. I control a squad of snipers and I like for all spotters and snipers to have radios to keep track of them in case they split up, but most of the time I don't even send my team off with a spotter because spotters are support gunners and the less spotters the more boys or girls for soldiers we have on our team keeping the sniper hunters busy on the battle field and not hunting for us .

you gotta have a spotter in most cases, its the rules. Unless your a "sniper" with a gun that doesn't shoot above 400fps, but hey, thats a whole other topic and a good one at that.

I say both because it is just as important for the spotter to communicate with the team as it is for the sniper. The sniper may get hit, and if the spotter doesn't have a radio, he is virtually just as dead. The sniper and the spotter may have to split up to keep the enemy pinned down from both flanks, and if one doesn't have a radio, they can't tell the other if they have been hit, their position compromised, if the other's position is compromised, if there is a counter-sniper, or anything else. The sniper/spotter team is the most important element of an airsoft team. If one of them can't communicate with the other or the team, then they are like a lone Green Beret, alone possibly behind enemy lines, without contact to the main force or HQ, possibly compromised and on the run. But I think that you catch my drift, right?

I said it depends. The reason, it depends on the scenario. For example if it was the snipers task to take out the VIP which was a primary target then it would be imperative for him/her to have a radio communication with the rest of the team who are going directly after the VIP.

The spotter should always be in contact w/ the sniper. If a situation were to arrive such as the opposing team sent out two scouts to kill the sniper and spotter. The spotter can tell the sniper about the activity, then sniper pulls out SMG/pistol.

Lone Wolf wrote:

I said it depends. The reason, it depends on the scenario. For example if it was the snipers task to take out the VIP which was a primary target then it would be imperative for him/her to have a radio communication with the rest of the team who are going directly after the VIP.

The spotter should always be in contact w/ the sniper. If a situation were to arrive such as the opposing team sent out two scouts to kill the sniper and spotter. The spotter can tell the sniper about the activity, then sniper pulls out SMG/pistol.

I agree, it really does depend. Like as an example from my recent war i was in. Me (spotter) and the sniper where out and about and the sniper was prone waiting for me to make sure we were at a good spot (we were about 15yd. away from each other). I switched to the army channel and told them our position, they told me they just saw the enemy near us. Luckily they also told us we could fall back to them through the woods. I saw the enemy coming and didnt have enough time for signals to sniper so i had to use radio (thank Don't use the Lord's name in vain. i had it with me). We had enough time for him to go the opposite way from me to the army and for me to run the other way and use pyro against enemy for distraction (if we went same way they wouldve seen one of us, just way terrain was). Luckily when i fell back sniper was already waiting with rest of army . Morale of the story is comm. is KEY!!!! and that spotters can create distractions if both sniper and spotter know area and can get away fast and silently.

I wouldn't want to create a distraction, instead i would send them on a wild goose chase and rejoin the team at a point then attack the remainder of the team while they are seperated...

I doubt though any team would send more than 2 people to go after a sniper...Because ive done it before alone, and seperating the team when the other knows where you are and all that is the worst thing you can do.

Lone Wolf wrote:

I wouldn't want to create a distraction, instead i would send them on a wild goose chase and rejoin the team at a point then attack the remainder of the team while they are seperated...

I doubt though any team would send more than 2 people to go after a sniper...Because ive done it before alone, and seperating the team when the other knows where you are and all that is the worst thing you can do.

Well my team had just made them fall back and they knew we were still out there (which is why such big group, and why my team knew where they were). About the distraction, the terrain was open field with little bits of wood here and there. The distraction was more for me to get across the field because it created a lot of smoke. So based on terrain distraction was neccisary and allowed me to get to the woods across and for our team to catch up to them.

open feild as in grass land...

You can get across that w/o being seen. Only if its not cut down like a golfcourse.

I'm going to be controversial here.

I have voted for spotter only.
But let me elaborate.
The sniper should HAVE a radio, but shouldn't USE it unless they need to from being split up, their spotter killed etc.

The sniper should be focusing soley on his task, not being distracted by radio chatter, while the spotter keeps in communication with the team and should be in charge of the decisions for when to move etc. since they will have a better idea of what is going on in the game as a whole. The spotter can also relay enemy positions to the rest of the team as he does for the sniper, along with large enemy movements, current status of objectives etc. This lets the team know what the enemy's movements are while letting the sniper concentrate on his own job.

Never underestimate the importance of a spotter, they have to be able to SERIOUSLY multitask. (women would probably make GREAT spotters )

So yeah, in short, let the spotter be in charge of radio comms for the sniper team so the sniper has one less thing to worry about.

Have to agree with TheJim here, all our team are radio equiped, and when I'm out sniping, I do not use the radio to report back in case I'm heard [unless I'm observing from a suitable distance].

I do however use a finger PTT switch, which I can use without any movement, and we have a 'code' of clicks that I use to relay information back to the rest of the team.

Draven btw I looked up Huntingdon and there's a couple. Are you just north of Bedford?

hmm, i never thought to use a PTT.

I know WWII re-enactors use foxhole radios which are the same concept.

I use a PTT too, as do most people I know. Must be a British thing...

The Jim, think I answered your questions via PM.

On Topic, sort of, my PTT finger switch is sewn into the ghillie, so that I have no issues with trailing wires under the ghillie obstructing my movement. Working without a radio is like the right hand not knowing what the left hand is doing.

Also useful for telling me when a game day is over, otherwise I could end up like the Japanese Soldier on the Pacific Island, still fighting the war long after it has finished.