Is there such a beast?

err yeh well will anyone see them......this would also be the prob.

Leroy

Give them a call on the hf radio first...look out for pretty flares.

Stonewash flares would work better.......

oh yeah look here

Site Link

what would something like that cost ray and can you hire them anywhere?

Leroy

I have no idea Leroy but no doubt they cost a pretty penny.

I would be a mite cautious about using flares in a forest...!

Orange smoke flares predominantly. Fairly safe, even though they still produce some heat. One lost bushwalker was found by setting off the flare, and someone mistook it for smoke/fire. In any case, authorities were notified and he was subsequently rescued.

I agree they can be dangerous if not handled correctly......

Reminds me of some training ideas i have seen......it seems that yelling "fire" gains more of a response than "help".

Andrew

G'day

What can happen is this. In a forest are trees with leaves. Moisture collects on the leaves as drops of water. These drops tend to absorb the radio signal too and from the satellite (the drops are around the same size as the radio wave, frequency).

The sate phone will probably work but if its wet it may not.

Regards

Paul

Paul P
Well if there is that much moisture one aint gonna die of thirst , 2nd who said the forest was that moist and why do sat phones work in torrential downpour , ...Remember Cyclone Larry and the people using sat phones to call out ????? case closed,,,, next please

"case closed,,,, next please"

Judge Duggy!!!!!!

LOL..... LOL

Ahem... sorry.....

you are 200% correct

Robin - I'm interest in your statement: "then there are available 27mhz ssb handhelds 2nd hand in $400 bracket if look around."

WHERE??????

I've been searching for months just for that without success.

Jeff

Jeff I am away from my resources at moment but name of
27 ssb handheld was something like Myotoria - but perhaps other
amateurs may recall better. Sure I have a road test some
where though.

Local amateur radio supplier - may be able to help.

There was something I didn't like about them ,maybe it was lack
of AM mode , anyway I couldn't it either then.

Was pretty heavily into HF radio and part of design team that
did original HF Hawk/Kestral design here in Victoria.

At same time were two brillant little amateur ssb transievers called
IC202 & IC502 , (144mhz & 52Mhz) which were square about size of
standard UHF but they were original cheap manpacks and had internal
batteries and external whips.

This is why I mentioned considering converting a PC122 into cheap
manpack like these others. I did this and it came up really
well , I modified unit a little so that it had RF clipping before
the filter and hence put out effectivily several times the rated power.

Used these for huge local distances in Simpson and high country where
the radio signal would fold over big dunes/hills and make a total
mockery of UHF systems.

Robin Miller

>I've been searching for months just for that without success.

Want to buy one from me for $350?

Dragon SS201 - still in box, used for about 30 minutes around 3 years ago to do some RF testing on a thing I was doing for DOD.

www.cbradio.nl/dragon/dragon_ss201.htm

Gives a bit of info - Google will give more.

I might even have a charger somewhere but it uses AA NiMh cells anyway. I think I have two of them if anyone else is interested.

Mike Harding

mike_harding@fastmail.fm

The Sabre looks good. Will investigate further.

Leroy

I've posted a fair few times on comms in the High Country and how unprepared most people who I strike in difficulty at work are. If you do a search you will find quite a few threads on it.

I use a Motorola 9500 on the Iridium network reliably in the north east. I also use HF. Both work well. The key with the HF is that they also know how to use it.

Where was your worker when he came unglued? And where did he walk to?

Dave

Leroy I'm with Dave here, I have both a HF and a Motorola 9505 (Iridium System) and have had no issues with the sat phone at any stage anywhere in the high country I have been in all weather conditions.

It would appear prudent to stay away from the Globalstar network as advised above they use fewer Satellites and I personally have experienced users on a first hand basis have difficulty with these phones obtaining a signal in the high country and reports on this forum advised that the same problem occurs in the outback.

I should have added that your company would also qualify for the Sat Subsidy if it purchased Sat phones for work situations.

Hmmm. Remember reading something in a Satphone forum recently. Is it Globalstar or Optus lost a satellite during repositioning recently wiping out half their satellite phone comms in Aus?

Might have been in a HF forum now I think about it. The SES or someone in Cyclone Larry reverted back to their HF comms cos Satellite phones all gave up due to the loss.

Someone on here will know the answer. Anyone???

Dave

Hi Dave,

He came off in the Rubicon State Foreset. Not sure where he waled out to but prob to one of our sites there.

Leroy

Ah. I know the area having been born in Eildon and the family still has a farm between Buxton & Marysville.

Satphone there wouldn't be any different to anywhere else I travel in the tall timber of the northeast. HF would work too.

I've camped there a bit downstream from the power station in the past few years.

Carefull up there - it's the only place in Victoria where if you want help you still get the volunteer ambos....

Dave

"Carefull up there - it's the only place in Victoria where if you want help you still get the volunteer ambos.... "

so that's a bad thing I gather?

Leroy

Hi Leroy,

Not bad perse, but in Victoria certainly less than optimal.

In Victoria there are now three levels of professional paramedic qualification and the majority of staff in rural Victoria are either Advanced Life Support (ALS) or Mobile Intensive Care Ambulance (MICA) Paramedics. Very few opted not to take up the ALS level of training and new students qualify ALS when first qualified so within a few years ALS & MICA will make up nearly the entire staff of RAV.

Below the base level qualification there are retained volunteers - casual employees who drop everything they are doing and attend in general assisting a professional paramedic. There are very few locations left where the only response will be from a purely casual crew and they are predominantly remote north western communities too small to justify a full time professional response.

Alexandra District Ambulance Service is an anomaly left behind from Marie Tehan being unwilling to upset voters in her own electorate, fearing her inability to educate them on the benefits of a full time professional ambulance service.

As a result the communities of Eildon, Alexandra & Marysville (and areas in between) are serviced by a purely volunteer ambulance service, and all of the problems which ensue such as increased response times, reduced skill sets etc.

The unfortunate thing about that is that for others of the public who choose to travel through and holiday in this fantastic area when we have the need of an ambulance service we get an inferior service compared to that which our government would have provided us at home or anywhere else in the state.

A public scare campaign is currently being run to convince the communities that they will lose out by ADAS being "taken over" by the state rural service.

I was born in Eildon and I still have relatives in the area, and a family connection to property in the area. It's hard to believe in this day and age that an area like this is serviced by volunteers. But then I can't believe that in this day and age large provincial communities in WA & SA are still without professional paramedical care.

I'll inevitably open a can of worms here....

Dave

>>a rescue aircraft can't home onto a phone <<

However, a phone (and user) can home in on a rescue aircraft.........We had a missing tourist on the biggest (and one of the most rugged) island in the Whitsundays. The casualty had minimum phone coverage with no idea of his location. We were able to locate his exact area by sweeping the island with the rescue helicopter, with the casualty identifying when the noise could be heard the loudest and the direction from his location. We were then dropped into the remote area via the Police vessel and followed our GPS to the location identified, which happen to be about 100m from his actual location.

Again, we have used the call from a satphone from an injured bushwalker to locate his position is remote and rugged terrain. Triangulation of his position can be done using a phone, though whilst not using radio signal reception, is possible due to other information obtained and comparing this to known locations.

Whilst not normally recommended, a phone can be used as a tool for location identification. Though no signal whatsoever makes it a bit hard ;-)

BTW it would be better top use the RCC's general enquiries phone number to contact them instead of the 24hr emergency contact for aviation (land). The number is (02) 6230 6811.

andrew

Hi Leroy

Just catching up posts after a few days away fishing. Great reading as always.

As you said, sighting for rescuers will be very difficult due to canopy, 'maybe' a strobe light will help along with radio coms. While my suggestion may be behind or useless it is cheap and safe (nonflamable) and will pinpoint position, of course sighting is the key.

2cts wth (out of currency?)

Andy

thanks for the info Mike. I will try and get down to the area this week to see what the terrain is like for myself. From there I will be better able to make some sort of decision.

Leroy