"Wilderness Protocol" is just another tool in your aresenal for survival. No single device, protocol, or "best practice" should ever be relied on solely to ensure your survival. It should be mentioned, but with the caveat that just like using any emergency signalling device someone may not be able to receive it. This includes "old" stuff like flares, signal mirrors, smoke, etc. All can be obscured by environmental conditions.

Thanks again for all the suggestions.

I accepted based on commitments they made. However, I am beginning to have serious second thoughts, since nobody I had been dealing with will respond to either emails or phone calls. If they are not meeting their commitments at this stage, with promised assistance, I find it questionable whether to proceed. We'll see. Time is running out. So far, I am not impressed.

I know... I've been to 4 NOACs, once as a participant, three times as staff. I'm going as a participant again this year due to political BS in my local council.

There is supposed to be a youth (16ish to 21) planning and organizing each aspect of the conference, with an adult adviser 'advising' the youth. When you have a committed, capable youth combined with a committed, capable adviser then great things happen, but when they don't have those kind of people things become a mess.

All of my contacts in the staff are in IT. You are probably dealing with Training or TOAP. Hopefully they get their act together in time.

The following event happened many years ago, before cell phones were cheap and lightweight. I was hiking with a friend on a fire trail that was several miles from the nearest road - not exactly wilderness, but it was in the middle of parkland/water company land, and in a generally unoccupied area. I carried a 2-meter-band handheld radio. Even today, the area might be out of reach from the nearest cell phone tower.

We encountered someone who had broken his ankle. It wasn't an emergency/911 situation, but he really wanted to get in touch with a park ranger or staffer who had access to the road (there was a locked gate) and who could get him a ride out, as opposed to him hopping out in many hours with the makeshift crutch he had fashioned from a branch.

I was able to contact an amateur radio operator through a mountaintop repeater, and relay a message through him to the regional park police. In less than an hour someone from the water company had unlocked the gate and he was on his way out with a ride courtesy of the park police.

Conclusions:

1) As others have mentioned, having the frequencies and PL tones of likely repeaters in the area was crucial.

2) Also important was carrying the phone numbers of the relevant emergency agencies. The person I reached wouldn't have known who to call - he was far away. The fact that I could say, "please call this number, and tell them..." was a big time saver.

3) Describing where we were was a problem. It was an awkward relay situation - I'd tell the other ham, he would speak on the phone, the dispatcher would ask a question, he would relay it back. Even though he had a phone patch (which in theory allows direct conversion between radio and telephone) it was _not_ working well and he ended up having to relay. Furthermore, I had a hiking map of the area, which gave the name of the trail we were on, but this name did not match up with any name on the dispatcher's map - so I had to describe where we were by starting at a common landmark and then giving info about our route. We went back and forth multiple times. The more maps the better - maybe if I also had a quad map in addition to the trail map, I could have more efficiently explained where we were.

Doug,

I know you've gotten lots of replies and it may be to late but I suggest you contact Dennis Dura, K2DCD. He is the emergency preparedness and response manager for the ARRL (Amateur Radio Relay League) and a good friend of mine. I am sure that he would be happy to answer any questions you have. Best way to reach him is via email at k2dcd@arrl.org. And feel free to use my name by way of an introduction.

-Kurt Weirich

I hike with a Yaesu VX7 radio (with an external mic), but I also carry a tiger tail, and also a 4oz JPole antenna and some webbing.

As you can see in the (hopefully) attached (small) picture (sorry), in some cases I'm only able to hit the 2m repeater on Buck Mountain by using the JPole (red spots), otherwise the tiger tail (yellow) worked fine, else just the radio by itself (green).

Our local SAR team has a number of JPole antennas for their Kenwood TK-2170 radios, and do tend to use the Buck Mountain repeater during SAR events [not that many happen here, tho...].

EDIT: By the way, the SAR team doesn't have a repeater, so teams going into the forest are without radio communications for extended periods of time if strictly using their SAR simplex frequencies. That is one reason they are starting to rely more on HAM communications, especially the Buck Mountain repeater [and other HAM repeaters].

EDIT #2: I'm in New Mexico, and the State has added 23 (or so) 2 meter HAM repeaters for emergency communications; ARES/RACES but is also open to SAR. This is similar to the current MegaLink repeater network that covers all of New Mexico.