Sunday, Jan 20, 2013 at 19:58
Johnny B Good,
Don't bother with the winch, unless you are going in the wet season. My experience with my PTO winch is that I've only ever used it to help out others, and when I needed to get out of a sticky situation myself, there were no trees close to a
lake that I had gone a little too close to.
If you are on a road or track, a winch is not necessary. If you're going exploring into areas where lockers aren't enough, and you need to winch yourself up a
hill, then I'd suggest you shouldn't be doing it by yourself no matter what equipment you have.
I enjoy the HF and regular skeds. Helps you think that you are keeping in touch and someone knows something about you. However, atmospheric conditions can sometimes cause interference to the point that the HF is unusable. The thing I find most enjoyable with the HF is the sense of community you get, hearing of what others are doing, and the weather reports.
Never had a sat phone. Many people use both a sat phone and an HF. In particular if you travel alone, as we do, and are able to contact a third party. This way you can quickly tell the third party on the phone what you need and they will make all the phone contacts and arrange things for you, telling you what you need to know as the rescue progresses. Otherwise you have to do all this via directory assistance or a preprepared list of all numbers for all eventualities.
Please consider a SPOT device. They can be set up to mark your exact position on a map for all to see and track your whereabouts. The vast majority of the time, you are okay, the people at
home just need reassurance. And seeing your tag move from point to point will reassure them. And in the case of an emergency, you hit the 911 button and it sends a signal to Search and Rescue and a fully equipped medical helicopter appears over the horizon in ten minutes..... give or take....
And the in between setting is - "I've got a bit of a problem here" - and a preprepared message is sent to your backup contacts who will then implement the 'leave him there to rot' plan, or alternative more caring approach. The modern SPOT's can connect to a bluetooth mobile phone and you can send a text out too. Brilliant devices for their flexibility. And you take it with you when you venture away from the vehicle, which you can't do with an HF, and are unlikely to do every time with a sat phone. If you fall down a
cliff, it is much easier to press one button on
the SPOT to call for help, that have to dial numbers on the sat phone. I've used a first gen SPOT many times hiking for days away from civilisation and find it very reassuring, light, easy, and low tech.
My 2c
Tim
AnswerID:
503030
Follow Up By: Johnny B Good - Monday, Jan 21, 2013 at 04:17
Monday, Jan 21, 2013 at 04:17
Hi Tim,
I have got a PLB (personal locating
beacon) which is the new 27Mhz becon now avaible in very small compact and fully waterproof. I always carry it on my person when hiking away
camp. For any one reading this I do highly recommend them.
Thanks for your feed back.
FollowupID:
779655
Follow Up By: Member - Frank P (NSW) - Monday, Jan 21, 2013 at 10:05
Monday, Jan 21, 2013 at 10:05
"Please consider a SPOT device. ....etc"
There is another device which is a bit like a SPOT on steroids.
The Delorme inReach is a tracker like SPOT but with greatly enhanced communication abilities. You can send and receive short emails and SMS messages outside network coverage, though they're having problems with the SMS at the moment.
I think the plans are more expensive than Spot's, but the communication ability is far superior.
Cheers
FollowupID:
779667
Follow Up By: Member - eighty matey - Monday, Jan 21, 2013 at 22:43
Monday, Jan 21, 2013 at 22:43
I would say forget the electric winch, grab a tirfor. You won't need a winch.
Get a Spt Connect. Great functions and not too expensive. Have a look in the ExplorOz
shop.
Steve
FollowupID:
779725