I'll be showing more of my newbie side here, but:

How do I get help if me or a fellow hiker, camper, etc. needs emergency help and the cellphones aren't getting reception?

This probably has an obvious answer. BTW, I'm not looking for things like "Start a fire in the pattern of SOS" or something.

FRS radios: my understanding is that many jurisdictions are starting to standardize on channel 9 as an emergency channel.

Citizens Band radio may also be an option in some areas.

Amateur radio: The tech licence is relatively simple to test for and handheld radios are getting better and cheaper.

You can also use your flashlight for signaling, and you should carry a whistle as well.

http://www.equipped.org/signal.htm

Frankly, after your 'sex' post, I don't think many of us would [censored] on you if you were on fire.

Do us all a favor and just stay lost...

Satellite phone, personal locator beacon, ham radio, items in PSK (whistle, signal mirror, etc.), walk out for help

Cellphones have the annoying habit of not working when you need them the most. In 98% of the places I hike or camp cellphones won't work.

Satellite phones are great, but they might be a bit pricey. I find a good radio to be the best solution. Find out which channel the local authorities are using.

Sometimes it's a good idea to have a daily schedule to report, if you are in really tough terrain. This allows the authorities to know where you are and start looking for you if you miss one of the scheduled calls.

Personal locator beacons, mirrors, whistles are all worth having around. Don't chose one of them, just carry them all in addition to a good radio.

Even if you manage to communicate, help won't always be on its way fast enough, specially if there is somebody wounded when a few minutes can mean the difference between life and death. You might want to look into a few good first aid and wilderness medical assistance courses.

Randjack, I looked through prior posts and while some of Livestrong's questions are certainly, well, somewhat atypical of this forum, I don't see anything about sex. Was there a post I didn't see?

Livestrong, there is no magical method of emergency communication. If you are concerned about the cell phone battery dying you could carry a Sidewinder Cell Phone Charger. My wife got me one and I carry it in my "urban EDC bag". I'm not sure where she got it from but it is available at http://www.aeromedix.com - the same people who sell Doug Ritter's knives & Photon Freedom Microlight.

Beyond that, unless you have a ham radio or higher end communication gear you are in a position to rely on the methods you aren't interested in hearing about. FRS and GMRS radios don't transmit very far and the frequencies don't tend to be monitored for emergencies, but I guess you could get lucky.

You're back to whistles, mirrors, fire, smoke, flares, bright flags, and other signaling techniques. In New Orleans it looked like those stuck in/on flooded houses made great use of spray paint to signal for help.

The (highly) objectionable thread was deleted by Chris.

Take a radio ( gmrs?) and let your family know which channel you be using...and spare batteries.

tro

Do things in patterns of 3's. 3 stones, 3 whistles, 3 yells, 3 beatings on a tree. Do it in rapid succession.

When communicating by radio, do everything in 3's, as a station some distance from you may hear your call.

1) Call "MAYDAY" 3 times
2) Give your location 3 times
3) Call MAYDAY 3 times

Wait.

Repeat after 2 - 5 minutes. If you are transmitting on the same frequency as someone is sending, they cannot hear you. Wait until they have stopped talking. I think there is a "standard" to make your calls on the quarter hours also.

Other options if you have illegally modified equipment:

Transmit on the following frequencies could get you help quick(only VHF-Low and VHF-Hi):

American Red Cross: 47.42 (Channel 1 Nationwide)
Police Emergency Nationwide: 155.475
Search and Rescue (EMS) Mutual Aid: 155.295
Statewide Common: Varies
County/Parissh Wide Common: Varies
Amateur Radio: 50.125, 146.52
FRS: 462.5625 (Channel 1) (GMRS Shared freq)
GMRS: 462.675/467.675 (If only simplex, transmit on 467.675)
Marine: 156.800 (Channel 16)
Air Band: 121.500(Emergency Guard), Unicom (varies by airport), any VOR frequency that aircraft would normally use in the area.
National Weather Service: 162.400, 162.425, 162.450, 162.475, 162.500, 162.525, 162.550
Any nationwide, or locally monitored military frequency

If you have to make a call on one of these frequencies, you're probably screwed. <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

in reading the code of "3's" i just realized that even here in the hospital i work at.....when they call any type of emer/disaster drill or even fire or code blue....its's announced in " 3 successions"

http://www.equipped.org/soundoff.htm

National Park Service Safety Page

Mentions "whistle blasts, repeated 3 times, universal signal for help"

There must be a psychological reason for this, I cannot find it mentioned on the internet

Also
- On radiotelephone, MAYDAY, PAN PAN, SECURITE are repeated 3 times
- S.O.S. is 3 characters, each represented by 3 morse components (not sure what a dah or dit is called ...) (dit-dit-dit, dah-dah-dah, dit-dit-dit ) (... --- ...) (a dah is 3 times as long as a dit)
- With horns, 3 usually means "stop" or "reverse". Still, an anttention to something not normal
- Pavlof's experiment repeated the tone 3 time

One is happenstance. Two is random. Three is human. That's anthropology. More than three is a waste of bandwidth and/or breath. Repeating it is just confirmation to insure pattern recognition and reception.