Topic: general rant/rave
ABC just ran a trailer about someone climbing Rainer (?) who was lost in a storm, they stated the Police had lost the GPS signal from the phone and didnt know where he/they were.
First, its NOT a GPS signal, its CELLULAR. Morons in the media. A phone does NOT send a GPS signal out that Police can receive, they can access his CELLUAR connection through various means
1.) phone company
2.) briefcase cell phone system (pricey)
GPS is (for civilian use) a ONE WAY system, down from the sats.
The GPS signal reaches the phone, the phone can relay position data.
Anyway, on to the stupidity fo the day thats about to cost someone their life.
The report, if we can believe anything the Moronic Media say, may have lost phone power due to UPDATING THEIR FACEBOOK PAGE.
This is NOT a Facebook activity. Climbing a mountain has one purpose, to attempt to get to the top and look death right in the face, then climb back down. Fools take this as a fun outing with nice scenery.
If you want that, go to Yellowstone and see the nice scenery, DO NOT climb a mountain.
Survival corner. The fools should have had a personal locator beacon, they are CHEAP. Thats an electronic transmitter that sends a beacon (pulsed and probably coded) at regular time intervals, or might have a panic button.
If the phone is to be used for such, realize two things:
1.) High power drain. the phone is wasting lots of battery power doing things that are not survival-related. Its regularly connecting with the nearest tower(s) to maintain a connection, IOW, its radio is pulsing on and off sending and receiving data. That takes a LOT of power, because transmitters at /near microwave frequencies (800MHz- 1.5 GHz) are very inefficient (20%?). A UHF transponder is much better.
2.) if the phone is taken along, the battery pack MUST be disabled. There are three ways to do that:
a.) remove it, risk losing it
b.) remove it, turn it over or upside-down so the electrical terminals canot contact, put it back in. Some battery packs may be designed to fit only one way.
c.) put a slip of paper between the battery pack terminals and the phones power terminals to break the electrical circuit. To use the device, pull the paper out.
I've been in a survival situation similar to that, using a cell phone for comms. We were stranded in a violent storm on Trout Lake in MN with boats and motors that were very poor, and not enough life vests. We landed on a shore at an old cabin and literally a second or two after I gave the party on the other end our compass coordinates, the phone went dead. We were safe at that point and just greatly inconvenienced, BUT...
Theres a whole art to using comms equipment in a survival situation, DONT assume you can just take a set of radios or a phone along and all will be well.
Moral of the story, when its an outing with a survival aspect, be prepared. When its an outing like mountain climbing, ALL preparation and ALL Activities are solely about survival. Its not a side-activity.
These people may freeze to death because their primary goal was sight seeing.
