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At 11:06 AM 6/11/1995 -1000, Richard Pyle wrote:
>
>
>> But here's my real problem Richard. After we had boarded the
>> boat and my buddy was speaking to me again, I asked him to
>> repeat what I had called out to him underwater. He said it
>> sounded like "Blah, blah, blah, blah, blahblah".
>
>> I think I'm doing something wrong. Can you tell me what?
>
>Well, for starters, he probably wasn't concentrating on what you were 
>trying to say, given his reaction....
>
>I was taught both methods by a guy named Mitch Warner, a professional
>photographer in Guam.  Of the two methods, the glove one is much easier to
>learn how to do.  You take a glove (or other collapsable sack, such as
>JT's head), deflate it, seal the opening around your mouth, get close to
>your buddy's ear, then just talk.  The better ratio of maximum loudness to
>minimum volume of gas, the better the transmission.  The transmission is
>garbled if too much gas escapes around the seal that the glove forms with 
>your mouth. 
>
>Mitch is much better at the bone conduction one than I am.  He first did
>it to me while we were decompressing from a deep dive in Guam, on which
>Mitch was taking video of my friend and I collect fish.  He snuck up
>behind me and put me in a head-lock.  At first I tried to wrestle him (I
>thought that was what he was trying to do), then all of a sudden, I heared
>as clear as clear as a bell, "I'm going to decompress for about five more
>minutes, then I want to go up on the boat and film you guys surfacing". 
>Mitch actually formed the seal on my head with his lips - no cupped hands
>- and I could hear what he was saying PERFECTLY - even though it was hard
>to concentrate on what he was saying because I was watching my friend
>laugh harder than I've ever seen anyone ever laugh before underwater
>(except for a guy in Mauritius once - but that's an unrealted story). 
>
>I've never been able to master the direct-lip seal method, but I have
>gotten it to work by cupping my hands.  What you're trying to do is form
>an air pocket into which you can speak. 

The headlock! Aaah! You didn't tell me about the headlock!

Seriously, I wondered, while I was yelling into my hands and
the roar of bubbles was obscuring everything I said, if I was
doing it right. Obviously not.

So the trick is to expel only the gas needed to form the
words, and use proximity (a-la bone conduction) as a substitute
for volume. I think I would need a patient buddy to master
that technique. I'll keep trying though.

The other thing I'm going to try next week is talking into
a plastic bag, rather than a glove - a sandwich bag or 
something big enough to hold a whole sentence. If we can
work it out, a free, environmentally friendly comms sytem like
that could make our dives a lot easier and give us hours 
of fun and amusement on the deco line.

thnx & rgrds         billyW

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