Was just reading my latest issue of American Hunter. Within is a collection of "near-death hunting fiascos" titled: When Things Go Wrong (p. 45, Feb. issue). One article in particular caught my eye about a solo sheep hunter in Alaska who fell prey to a falling boulder that struck his backpack and knocked him over a cliff and onto a ledge that overlooked another big drop-off. He spent the next 10 hours hauling his broken body down the hill to the valley below. Unable to walk, he butt-slid along in a caterpillar-like fashion. He had to leave his backpack behind, but was able to take his FAK, some survival gear (no details) and "a small radio that transmits and receives aircraft frequencies". His rescue came about as follows (and I quote from the article): "After about 10 hours, I heard the faint sounds of a jet. Sending a Mayday on the standard emergency frequency (121.5 MHz) I reached the airplane, a FedEx cargo jet". He goes on to say that the pilot contacted a hospital in Anchorage and that he, our downed hunter, communicated his whereabouts with the hospital via the jet. A helicopter was dispatched and he was rescued.

I am very impressed with a hand held radio that can communicate with an airplane that is probably tens of thousands of feet in the air and I'm thinking this radio sounds like a great piece of emergency gear that should always be with me in the woods, but I'm not familiar with just what kind of radio this really is. I have a scanner that will receive all kinds of frequencies, but will not transmit, of course. Does anyone in the forum have any experience with just what kind of radio this may be and where to get one? This could be much better than a cell phone, or at least another good option.