Noisemakers?

What other ways of making a loud noise can you think of besides whistles to help searchers find you if lost?

A couple of comments on the 4th page of the whistles in the woods thread suggested this question to me.
One of the comments pointed out how well lower frequencies can travel in some cases.
Another comment mentioned drums.

What other things besides blowing a whistle or shouting could a lost person do that would make a lot of noise and hopefully get them found if searchers were within range of it?

So lets just throw some ideas around and see if we can come up with anything.

Banging on a tree with a stick was a good one, though I'm not sure if that would wear a person out after a while...though it could also help them stay warm.

Personal favorite though is a bullroarer. These can be made fairly quickly out in the woods with a knife and some cordage. Being low-pitched, their unusual sound carries for a long distance.

-Blast

I have just posted this in the other thread.

I think the horn is your next best bet for making noise that travels. I prefer to think in terms of signalling though - finding an elevation, and periodically using a mirror, or controlled fire, or light source, or a cell phone (sometimes) or ham HT to broadcast your position.

Personally, my PLB is the best little noisemaker so far invented for purposes of affecting rescue.

PLB are by far the best if you are traveling in remote locations but if you are in a relatively high visited area a whistle or other low tech devise is often the quickest for of getting help. In this circumstance i would also be more inclined to get someones attention than taking up the valuable resources of a full scale activation that a PLB would cause.

Obviously i am talking about whilst out hiking or something. It really depends on the circumstances. If i was in a plane that came down in a relatively well visited park close to town i would activate the PLB because i will want a full response from the emergency services.

There is a distinction between sending a distress signal and making noise. The problem with shouting is that it frequently is not perceived as a distress signal. Whistles are probably superior in this regard. The book solution is the rule of threes - three shouts, blasts, or whatever, repeated regularly. I am not sure that many folks will pick up on that either. Just because people might be in the area doesn't mean they will respond meaningfully.

I am a real fan of signal mirrors and fires. They are odd enough that they are going to attract attention. There are situations where fires should not be kindled, even for emergency signaling, but they have the benefit of putting out smoke and providing heat. Mirrors only work in the daytime, but they work extremely well in the right conditions. A lot of lights have a strobe function, even some with SOS, and they could be useful, as well.

First of all the rule of threes is great except for in Europe where it is the six, 3 is the reply.

Secondly Signal mirrors can be used on moonlit nights. During WW2 many covert airdrops where made by having the drop zones marked by signal mirrors. I also know of at least three rescues carried out after spotting a signal mirror at night.

Anyone that has tried lighting and maintaining 3 signal fires will know how hard and unpractical it is especially if you are by yourself. One fire will do. Two 12 year olds recently used a fire to attract a S&R helicopter in the lake district. After getting lost in freezing weather. Good skills for 12 year old.

Scafool posed the question not me - "if searchers are out", how best to signal them. If searchers are looking for me it doesn't really matter how remote I am, I could have a broken back and be 1 km from the trail head, I am not walking out, I am not in contact with others, I won't be heard by searchers with most whistles or by shouting. And I left my bugle and bongos at home. Activate my PLB and SAR hones in on the signal, reducing the search time and hopefully ensuring the safety of searchers. I vote for the PLB to help connect searchers with the injured and lost.

Like i said Lono "It really depends on the circumstances." Under the circumstances that you describe I would hope you would press the button.

Hitting things together can provide some kind of sound signal. Rock on rock, wood on wood, metal on metal. Hitting something hollow better than something solid, but "needs must."

Blast might coach us on a series of small explosions or fast exothermic reactions from household products you probably [could] have in your gear.

Perhaps a percusionist among us could provide ideas on improvising drums? bells? chimes?

Perhaps a vocalist among us could give tips on yodeling or other use long distance voice signals?

Really. really awful puns might inspire your companions to provide copious low frequency groans?

Blast, I remember making a bullroarer out of a ruler as a kid.
I never really thought of them as anything but a toy.
After searching on the internet and finding out more about them it seems like a possibility.
I am going to try making a few different ones to see how loud they can be and how simple they are to make.

It might even be possible to make one into a multiple use item or out of something that would be normal gear. (Hiker's trowel?)

Wish me luck.
The videos I saw make them seem very loud, but I never know if that is really true or not until I do it myself.

When I was a kid, they taught us in school to fire three shots with a rifle if we were lost. No kidding at all. Times have sure changed. I believe they still teach this to hunters, who might recognize it as a distress call. Maybe. So many people shoot randomly that it's possible nobody would pay any attention.

I don't know how easy it would be to locate, but a rifle shot carries a long way.

Don't forget the old car horn.

A young girl followed the trail back to a parking area in Oregon and blew the horn in threes with a pause in between each set. Someone heard the pattern and recognized it as a possible distress signal, and followed to the source.

Rescuers went back down the trail to where her mother lay down a slope with a broken leg.

You use what you've got and keep your fingers crossed.

Sue

Breaking a branch? The loud "crack" broadcasts a long way. I would think that any repeating noise. If I was listening for someone I would listen for un-natural sounds, like leaves crunching, but that does not carry far, maybe a quarter of a mile. You can make a whistle pretty easy though. A blade of grass or paper held between your thumbs, blow in the hollow (remember when you were a kid?) The cap of a sharpie or pretty much terminal tube. video of sharpie whistle Half cover with your thumb and hold at a 45 degree angle against your bottom lip. monkey squirt or helicopterfan held between your tongue and the roof of your mouth. (kid trick again)

Hitting things together can provide some kind of sound signal. Rock on rock, wood on wood, metal on metal. Hitting something hollow better than something solid, but "needs must."

What about hitting your cooking pot or kettle with a spoon, stick or whatever else is handy?

Hold or hang by the handle; don't grip it tightly at the rim because that will tend to deaden the sound. Try hitting it in different places on the bottom and sides to find the "sweet spot" (where an object is most resonant).

A metal water-bottle should work too. I'd guess that stainless steel would give off more sound than aluminum, but I haven't tested this.

Some pot lids make lots of noise. Again, hold or hang it by its handle and experiment to find the sweet spot.

A neighbour is building an addition a mile away. I can hear the sharp crack of every hammer blow. Woodpeckers use the same strategy to mark territory with sound. So the back of a hatchet against a solid, dead tree could certainly work.

I also like the idea of a steel spoon on a steel pot. Forget aluminum though.

Used to be that people in bear country carried a pen launcher, with a bunch of bear bangers and a few flares.

I have seen air horns that have their own built-in pump. Seems to me that sort of noise would carry, and get attention. Possibly the best alternative.

I've never used a Jetscream whistle. Wonder how it compares.

I should add that my hounds don't really respond to the Fox40 whistle. It takes a lower pitch. A flat whistle brings them in much better. Go figure.

P.S., Following up on an older S&R thread: "If a bra falls in the forest, does anybody hear?" (Bad, bad Doug. Goes and stands in corner.)

Yes, Doug, exactly the kind of awful stuff that could produce low frequency groans!

The noisemakers that I didn't see mentioned include gunshots, tradition is three in a short time but even one tells people for a considerable distance that someone is there. In this a shotgun, for obvious reasons, would be better than a .22LR.

A vehicle stuck in the woods metal parts might be banged together to make noise. Even better if you can suspend a piece so it rings like a bell. Perhaps from a length of wiring torn out or a seatbelt. Older vehicles, with their larger selection of stout metal parts, like hubcaps, might be better than late model vehicles with less steel.

If you need to get someones attention the single most effective sound may be breaking glass. Whistles and shouting 'fire' don't evidently carry much weight in an urban environment. The sound of breaking glass was judged to be more likely to cause someone to investigate and/or call police.

Use some kind of tube as an improvised wind instrument / trumpet.

Blow across bottle or jug partially filled with water.

Blow across part of a nitrile / latex glove as an improvised shrill whistle.

Modify a can filled with some water on a fire or a stove to create a steam whistle? [Not sure how to do this.]

"Crack" an improvised whip.

I carry a couple of whistling pete's left over from the 4th. of July.
If I set one off I bet someone will be along in short order to give me a ticket.
Sparks from these are not a big issue if you use reasonable caution.

How about one of these...

http://larkinthemorning.com/product.aspx?p=HOR563

Looks like a miniature trumpet. If it works the same way, it could be very loud, but you'd need a little practice to make it work, and you'd have to be healthy enough to yell to use it. If you were a musician and your "chops" were in good shape, you could blow it for hours at a time, but if not, you'd be limited to short bursts. (Used to play trombone in a former life.)

Now I'm wondering if I'd stand out if I took an old trombone out as a survival signal.

In my experience, the musical instrument that carries the farthest is bagpipes. However, this would be a bad choice for a rescue signal, as nobody would ever walk toward them.

Hunting horns are easy to blow and they travel well, its not so common these days but you used to be able to go into the English countryside and hear hunting horns all over the place.

Any modern (read: tough plastic) versions of these? I'd carry one.

Release the hounds!

Not that i am aware of, they are a very traditional horn for the hunting set.

I like the sound af a air horn thay make
a smaller one that wold fit nice in a small backpack.but thay are not very realiable.

litlefoot01
you don't multiply wealth by dividing it.

I've been thinking about getting a SuperHorn Air Horn.

Does anybody know what makes bagpipes so loud?
All they really are is a set of reeded flutes. maybe there is a way to make something as loud but much smaller or something as loud out of improvised parts.

It's the angry Scotsman attached to them.

(Kidding, I'm kidding.)

I know a guy who has a chanter (the flute piece that the notes are played on) and they're not that loud. Though they still grate, which is why East Coast rock-and-rollers work them into their songs.

So there must be a resonance thing involved somewhere in the whole octopus. I can't imagine that the kilt has any effect, no matter how much lanolin is rubbed into it.

bike horn?..the ones with the rubber bulb..you could honk out a SOS..

I am still not certain where on your PFD vest you are going to put a stove, but the little horn should make a colorful addition sure to be admired by your comrades.

The bag is squeezed tightly under the arm, and there is 3-4 pipes that the sound comes out of. I am guessing the different ranges of the pipes?

Pop your belt?

"What's that noise?"

"Oh, just ignore it. Some clown got lost . . ."

Firing a rifle makes a lot of noise but I'm not so sure it would get anyone's attention. It's just too common in the bush. IME most people, especially casual hikers, are not going to investigate who is doing the shooting and why. More the opposite - it tends to signal everyone else to keep clear of the area because you might easily walk into some trigger happy hunter's sights.

Now, shots fired in threes might be different but then you'd need to sacrifice quite a bit of ammunition. Most people who hike in the bush don't carry a firearm and even the ones that do rarely pack lots of ammo.

One other alternative I haven't seen mentioned yet - you can make a surprisingly effective horn from birch bark. Takes some practice and a bit of time but it works.

A quality whistle is tough to beat because it is reasonable, reliable, and reusable.

In a situation where you're calling for help, you need to be able to do so repeatedly, without expending a lot of energy.

Metal horns would stick to you in cold weather, and even if cold weather weren't a problem, unless you're a regular brass instrument player in the real world, I imagine your lips would get tired long before anyone investigated your strange sounds.

The same thing probably goes for pots and pans if you happened to have them along: even a small thing like banging two pots together can become taxing on the arms if you do it long enough.

Using a gun as a noise signal is foolish in my opinion: those bullets have to come down somewhere, and I believe they would be put to better use against game in a survival situation.

All things considered, a plastic whistle that weighs hardly anything and can easily be secured to your person and easily used over and over again makes it an attractive survival device.

It may be that there is a better whistle waiting to be designed -- one that transmits on a variety of frequencies: a low signal to attract interest at a distance, along with the shrill pitches we are accustomed to hearing as a call for help.

I agree with the whistle and that was what prompted the thread. Other than beating on something like a pot or the sheet metal of a machine I could not think of many other sound makers a person needing help might have with him.
I think the range of ideas shows how hard it is to come up with something better than the simple whistle as a carry along device.
Some of the ideas were interesting though and in some situations they might have merit.

Like I said in the post, just throw some ideas around and see where we get.

Warning! Mindless, sarcastic 4-am posting!


Uh... a pack of teenage girls on cell phones, a few three-year olds that have missed nap time, an obnoxiously loud soundtrack on a boom-box/ghetto-blaster/portable stereo.

Lessee, what else gets my attention and drives me nuts in day-to-day life?

A random slow driver on the freeway.

OK, back OT, I think whistles are popular due to size/sound ratio. Making a drum-like instrument would maybe work. Some of those really small firecracker strings might work (good size/sound) but they're a fininte commodity, unlike a whistle. Cowbell might work, but pretty heavy (plus they'd start wondering why there's a cow up some cliff).

That's all I have right now.

MORE COW BELL

ROTFLMAO!!!!!
-Blast

Why does this make me think of Bugs Bunny and "Never worry, never fear, Robin Hood will soon be here..."

So, Ole and Knut go hunting in the swamp. Ole says to Knut, "If you get lost, just shoot three times in the air, and I'll come getcha."

Five days later, Knut comes dragging out of the swamp and finds Ole drinking in the bar with the sheriff and the search team.

"I did what you told me," Knut says. "I shot three times in the air every hour or so, but it didn't work. Whatsa matter? Couldn't ya see my arrows?"

I got one of these "Mega Sound Blasters" <http://www.amazon.com/Sounds-X-treme-Mega-Sound-Blaster/dp/B000FAKFFK> from American Science & Surplus- currently out of stock, but they seem to get them in every so often. It's a small plastic horn (about 3 inches long) that makes a deep sound above the threshold of pain when you blow into it! Claim is it can be heard a half mile away or more. I don't know how sturdy it is, because I've only tried it once - that was enough!