Holding the cone helps soooo much for the Spoters at timing incase the callout is missed, couldn't be determined, equipment/tech issues, etc.
I was out at Station 3 during D-Group and nobody seemed to hear our callouts. I told the others with me to hold the cone over there head briefly if its out of the box, as its good practice and since we could not radio in(but we could hear everyone just fine). Found out later that if I stood further down towards the timing, I was getting confirmation on our calls.