Aces High Bulletin Board

General Forums => The O' Club => Topic started by: Suave on April 09, 2007, 05:09:09 AM

Title: If you're going long range, bring a radio
Post by: Suave on April 09, 2007, 05:09:09 AM
If you're going long range bring a radio. Seems like a no brainer right? I mean really.

http://www.yahoo.com/s/552431

Two trekkers lost in the jungle for seven weeks. One of the guys said they should've brought a satellite phone.... yeah, have fun with that. Doesn't anybody remember radios?

All they would've needed to bring is something like this.

http://kd1jv.qrpradio.com/ats3a/ATS3A.HTM

and maybe one of these

http://www.elecraft.com/T1/T1.htm

And some wire and a morse key and a gps unit. And a cheap solar charger or hand dynamo. International communication rig for less than $300 that runs on AAAs. Much cheaper, lighter and sustainable than a sat phone. Of course you'd need to know morse code and basic amature radio.

If you want to go on expedition, bring a radio man or just be one yourself.
Really
Title: If you're going long range, bring a radio
Post by: Xargos on April 09, 2007, 05:29:04 AM
Most people don't know what Morse-code is today, that alone how to use it.
Title: If you're going long range, bring a radio
Post by: Speed55 on April 09, 2007, 09:49:34 AM
...---...

Frank
"ooooh look, a rescue helicopter.. yayyyyyy!!!"

Jimmy
"yayyy for you, because i was getting hungry."
Title: If you're going long range, bring a radio
Post by: Reschke on April 09, 2007, 09:53:20 AM
Even better try to get one of the commercially available radios that are able to broadcast a rescue beacon along with GPS coordinates to one of the many satellites overhead that monitor those frequencies for mayday calls from aircraft and ships at sea.
Title: If you're going long range, bring a radio
Post by: john9001 on April 09, 2007, 10:01:09 AM
Quote
Originally posted by Reschke
Even better try to get one of the commercially available radios that are able to broadcast a rescue beacon along with GPS coordinates to one of the many satellites overhead that monitor those frequencies for mayday calls from aircraft and ships at sea.


Emergency position indicating radiobeacons (EPIRBs)
Title: If you're going long range, bring a radio
Post by: rpm on April 09, 2007, 11:30:44 AM
Or you could bring a satphone.
Title: If you're going long range, bring a radio
Post by: texasmom on April 09, 2007, 11:31:45 AM
or you could bring a map & not get lost
Title: If you're going long range, bring a radio
Post by: jhookt on April 09, 2007, 11:53:12 AM
Quote
Originally posted by texasmom
or you could bring a map & not get lost



following that logic i opt to stay home and watch planet earth on the discovery channel
Title: If you're going long range, bring a radio
Post by: Hawco on April 09, 2007, 12:09:21 PM
Don't think I'd rely on  a GPS unit in the Jungle
Title: If you're going long range, bring a radio
Post by: Phaser11 on April 09, 2007, 12:57:46 PM
OMG!!!
 Stay in side. Don't go out there! It's dangerous and things can hurt you.:O
Title: If you're going long range, bring a radio
Post by: Suave on April 09, 2007, 01:02:15 PM
Just think of how few episodes there would be of that Discovery channel show "I Shouldn't Be Alive" If they'd all brought radios.
Title: If you're going long range, bring a radio
Post by: Suave on April 09, 2007, 01:07:50 PM
Doesn't an EPIRB cost like $1,000?

And can't use it for routine communications.
Title: If you're going long range, bring a radio
Post by: john9001 on April 09, 2007, 01:10:42 PM
just use a "tom tom",  tom tom, where is the nearest native village?
Title: If you're going long range, bring a radio
Post by: Airscrew on April 09, 2007, 01:13:26 PM
for crying out loud, they had a MAP and a COMPASS, and they still got lost.  I dont think a GPSthingamajigywhatchamcallit would have saved them.  If you cant read a map, and you cant use a compass what good would a GPS locator be??:rolleyes:
Title: If you're going long range, bring a radio
Post by: Xargos on April 09, 2007, 01:35:21 PM
Most kids today don't know what direction the North Star is in, and you expect then to know how to read a compass and map?
Title: If you're going long range, bring a radio
Post by: Eagler on April 09, 2007, 01:43:44 PM
Quote
Originally posted by Xargos
Most kids today don't know what direction the North Star is in, and you expect then to know how to read a compass and map?


too many can't tell you east from west at 3pm on a sunny day :)
Title: If you're going long range, bring a radio
Post by: Suave on April 09, 2007, 01:45:50 PM
Quote
Originally posted by Airscrew
for crying out loud, they had a MAP and a COMPASS, and they still got lost.  I dont think a GPSthingamajigywhatchamcallit would have saved them.  If you cant read a map, and you cant use a compass what good would a GPS locator be??:rolleyes:
Obviously so that they could communicate their position.

Of course one can't do that without commo.
Title: If you're going long range, bring a radio
Post by: 68ROX on April 09, 2007, 06:54:43 PM
The "QRP" morse code radio could be a good option, PROVIDED that the user was LICENSED to operate it in their country.

Morse (or "CW") can be used at low power levels (2-5 watts) with a wire dipole antenna and get decent daytime results, on say 7.050 mHz out to four or five hundred miles, and night time results of thousands of miles under good atmospheric conditions.

I am licenced to operate that radio, and if I were a avid hiker, would take a solar rechargable battery and that rig with me.

The total weight would be less than say 7 pounds.

Not bad insurance if you get turned around in a canyon or two and find yourself low on food and water.

Sat phones are expensive, cell phones can be unreliable in wilderness areas.

Morse code cuts through the clutter and saves lives.

Read here:  http://www.arrl.org

68ROX
K5TEN, ex-KA9SOX, ex-KA9SOX/VE1, ex-KA9SOX/VE3, ex-KA0NIU
Title: If you're going long range, bring a radio
Post by: Boroda on April 09, 2007, 07:15:07 PM
Quote
Originally posted by Airscrew
for crying out loud, they had a MAP and a COMPASS, and they still got lost.  I dont think a GPSthingamajigywhatchamcallit would have saved them.  If you cant read a map, and you cant use a compass what good would a GPS locator be??:rolleyes:


I second that.

In Grand Caucasus my friends once had to smoke used tea (they had to dry it in the sun after brewing it) when they ran out of cigarettes, wrapping it into pieces torn off the  map - from places they already passed. You can't wrap tobacco into GPS reciever :)

Anything that has batteries may become useless. Drop a GPS or a sat-phone into the water - and that's all. A liguid-filled compass will work until you'll deliberately hit it with an axe. I still have an East-German compass with a 5-degree scale that was made before I was born.