If used sparingly and well, I think radios are a huge benefit to the flying community - and can actually contribute considerably to safety. They work best if the majority use them, if we keep to an agreed frequency and if we maintain a good protocol. With such an arrangement radios are very useful in relaying conditions, giving warnings (about knots in lines, strengthening wind, turbulent air, etc), help locate a downed pilot, warn of an incoming helicopter, etc.

But the advantages of radio are severely reduced if few pilots use them, (or defect to various different frequencies) and there seems to be a steady decline in radio use in the DSC. I've asked around, and there are two main issues that discourage radio use:

• Inconsiderate use by  people using radio for idle chat or prolonged conversation
• Accidental use where a PTT button is held down, set to VOX (so wind noise invokes transmit)  or faulty wiring means a pilot is constantly transmitting

If we can reduce these two problems, radios will become more widely used and a far more effective communication / safety tool than they currently are.

On Bradwell yesterday we had a case of accidental use, and the club frequency was blocked for about two hours by someone inadvertently constantly transmitting. It's hard to overemphasise how detrimental such an innocuous problem is: Of course, it drives everyone mad - especially if you're low and trying to stay up, but there are bigger issues: Everyone on the agreed frequency (even on sites many miles away) is unable to transmit.  Nor can anyone in flight receive emergency info or discuss changing channel. In such situations, most pilots quickly disconnect or switch off their radios, so are no longer in contact for the rest of the day - even if the original problem resolves itself. Of course, the one person blissfully oblivious to the whole problem is the offender themselves!

The longer term effects of prolonged chatter or a stuck PTT are that less and less people can be bothered to persevere with radios. Many pilots I know have stopped bringing radios out these days - or if they do, they switch to personal frequencies arranged with their mates, so are effectively uncontactable to the rest of us. This naturally makes the concept of us all being in contact with each other increasingly unworkable.

There are two things I think we can do to make a big difference here:

1) We can all try to be more clear, considerate and concise. It is genuinely hard for people new to radio to realise that everyone on channel for many miles around can hear me, not just the pilot I'm sharing a thermal with.

2)We can all set our radios to a maximum transmit time. Most radios have this function. On my Puxing 777 (and I think most radios are the same) it is in the menu under "TOT" (Time Out Time) and mine is set to 30 seconds (which seems to be the minimum on the Puxings) but 10 would be better. If you transmit for longer than the TOT, you hear an alarm signal and transmission stops. Some radios (like Alincos) have a TOT penalty time you can also set which controls how long you must wait before you can transmit again.

Please can I propose that everyone with a radio spends 5 minutes finding and setting this function? If you have objections to this idea or can't find the function on your radio, perhaps you can respond here. But I think it is something we can all do to help make each other's flying day more pleasant - and safer!