During a campout with my son's Scout troop last weekend several of the Scouts "disappeared" out of sight for a while. The Scoutmaster wasn't at all happy about it and suggested I blow the whistle that I EDC to call them back, so I did. This was actually the first time that I blew the whistle in relatively thick woods. I was somewhat shocked by how un-loud it sounded. The trees really absorbed the sound.

So, feeling that the "word" wasn't getting far enough, I pulled my trusty Storm whistle out of my backpack and blew that twice. Though it was noticably louder, it still felt muffled by the vegitation. I was shocked that the same whistle that when blown in my house is loud enought to cause my young daughter to start crying and my dogs to go absolutely nuts, felt all too whimpy in the woods.

At the next campout in November (yeah, it will be cold!) I hope to arrange for some whistle testing with the Scouts - where I go off a distance into the woods and see if they can hear the whistles - and tell me which ones sounded louder. I've been wanting to do that for a while.

Oh, by the way, the whistle did work. Soon enough the stray Scouts came wandering back into camp for their scolding by the Scoutmaster. I'll have to say I was impressed that without any pre-arrangement they would react that way to the whistle.

Ken K.

It's always good to test your gear. I'll be interested in your future field test.

Ken,

I was in that same situation at Camp Raymond in northern Arizona. My three boys wandered off exploring and it was lunchtime and the adults wanted all the boys back at camp. They had wandered over a mile away and down a steep canyon. They did not hear the Fox 40 Micro whistle I keep in my pocket. Some other boys found them and sent them back to camp. I too felt the whistle was kind of wimpy in the pines. I did not have my Storm whistle with me.

I think the lesson is: the best is barley good enough.

Would it make any sense that high pitched sounds are not going to travel as far as low pitched? I can't quite remember, but I was thinking something like a drum would maybe work better.. I dunno, asking...

A whistle is far, far better than shouting, so well worth carrying. But, in heavy woods or if the wind is blowing the wrong way, its carrying distance is not all that great and quite variable with vegetation, terrain and weather.

I wonder if making a cone from, lets say paper and then blowing the whistle through it would make it more powerful. I.e.: the sound will be more concentrated. I am talking about creating a home-made trumpet or bullhorn.
What do you guys think?

Yup, shouting would have done even less - especially with 11 to 14 year old boys. <img src="/images/graemlins/crazy.gif" alt="" />

When I taught survival/hug-a-tree skills to my 9 year old Cub Scout den rather than sit and try to blow the whistle continuosly, I told them whistle for a while at first, and then to whistle back at any sounds they hear - whether shouts, other whistles, or even those scarey bumps-in-the-night sounds. The idea being that it is most likely either someone looking for them or something that they'd just as soon scare away anyway.

This also leads me to put even more value on good signal mirrors and large bright signaling gear (I carry two orange 55 gallon trash bags) for longer distance signaling. Though people talk about using fire for signaling, by day, it would be pretty tough to generate enough smoke to gain attention - unless burning a tire or similar.

Ken K.