Why do mines use walkie-talkies instead of mobile phones for communication?
2024-04-12
Industrial walkie-talkies, especially those used in coal mines, will never be replaced by mobile phones. When I worked in a coal mine before, there was a conveyor belt from the ground (about 200 meters above sea level) to -180 meters underground.
There is a drop of 380 meters and a slope of more than 1,000 meters. For real-time communication during inspections, walkie-talkies are required. When there are no walkie-talkies, an explosion-proof telephone is installed every 50 meters in the tunnel. With walkie-talkies, this landline still exists - it must exist.
Underground, on the one hand, mobile phones have no signal, and on the other hand, they do not meet explosion-proof requirements. Then there is the question of whether to resist or not:
Conveyor belt maintenance workers have to work and climb, and their hands are covered with engine oil and coal ash. They wear thick labor protection gloves most of the time. The mining walkie-talkie is either fastened to the waist or hung around the neck, and the tools should not be stuffed in it. It's all in the bag, and it won't break even if it's dropped on the ground ten to eight times a year.
Digital products like mobile phones are too delicate in an environment full of soot, rocks and steel plates, and the screen will break within a few days. Dust, rocks, steel plates, scenes with no signal, just think about it, they are everywhere - construction sites, deep mountains and old forests, ocean-going cargo ships... There are also secrets, which we don't understand. To mention it briefly - military operations, Protect these important people.
Professional tools do professional things. Walkie-talkie is a tool for real-time conversation. For work that generally requires a walkie-talkie, the rules and regulations will inevitably require the holder's undivided attention. Nowadays, mobile phones have rich communication, entertainment, and office functions, so there are many scenarios where mobile phones need to be used part-time as walkie-talkies. Using ordinary mobile phones - making calls, replying to messages, watching videos and novels, and delaying work. It’s too expensive to buy a dedicated phone.
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