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Emergency SOS via satellite

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Re: Emergency SOS via satellite

#471

Post by int_19h »

sfgd wrote: post #447
COGlory wrote: post #373

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Great comment by LeifCarrotson pretty much explains it. I gutted and skinned it, removing each quarter, and the meat along the back, ribs, and neck. That took basically all day. I use a knife with a replaceable blade. The guts are held in by connective tissue near the spine. If the belly faces downhill when you open it, gravity starts to pull them out. I removed the lungs to get room to work (just indiscriminately sl…

Thanks for a very descriptive write up. Didn't know hunting is legal in the so called first world.

Why wouldn't it be? For that matter, is there any country that has enough natural areas for hunting to be viable, but bans it anyway? Developed countries usually have more stringent requirements wrt licensing, hunting seasons, equipment (e.g. no lead bullets in many places, caliber restrictions to ensure humane kills etc), and so on; and better enforcement of all that.

Re: Emergency SOS via satellite

#472

Post by int_19h »

pests wrote: post #277
MarkMarine wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One of my buddies does S&R in Marin county, they get called for people getting lost 300 yards off trail that were going for a walk CONSTANTLY. Just people out for a walk, no cell coverage. They never have gear with them. My friend said this a game changer.

I notice we have a lot of SAR people in this thread so question for everyone: Is it wrong to call for help when you are lost only 300 yards off trail like you said? I would be embarrassed - but is anyone going to be upset?

People get lost even closer than that to the trail in thick bush. There was a lost hiker here a few years ago - when they eventually found him and retraced the steps, it turned out that he came within a hundred yards of the trail more than once while trying to find his way back (but could never tell).

And if you stay lost through the night, hypothermia can get you fast even in places where you only need a t-shirt during the day.

Re: Emergency SOS via satellite

#473

Post by int_19h »

MarkMarine wrote: post #361
ghaff wrote: post #320

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, it doesn't take much. People should be in better shape with smartphones in their pockets but I wonder how many even think about the compass or have downloaded maps if they aren't in cellphone coverage. And it's not like the commercial map providers are all that good with mapping trails. Absent some combination of map and compass--in some form--it's super-easy to get totally disoriented absent trail and landmark…

From what I've been told, there are a ton of incidents of just 50-70 year olds that are out for a daily walk and a couple things go wrong. The service in the hills around here is pretty poor, so it's not hard for me to imagine that this was a regular walk, you take a pint of water and a sweater and that's it. I own a PLB that I use for safety when spearfishing from a kayak in Northern CA, but I don't bother throwing…

Going onto real backcountry trails unprepared is also very common, unfortunately. I see it all the time on trails in the Cascades where there's no cellphone coverage whatsoever (mountain valleys) and it's 10+ miles from the trailhead to any human residence. People still come wearing nothing but t-shirt, shorts, and flip-flops (!!!). Sometimes not even a bottle of water, too.

And, pretty much every year, there's at least one hiker who goes missing for days. If they're young and lucky, they manage to subsist, and SAR finds them eventually. If not... well, sometimes another hiker finds the body years later, but there's no shortage of names on the missing person list, either.

Re: Emergency SOS via satellite

#474

Post by fortuna86 »

error503 wrote: post #345
fortuna86 wrote: post #297

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most smartphones have GPS built in, are you telling me it was impossible to utilize existing hardware for this feature? Or was it a deliberate decision. Ok, perhaps not phone calls or text. What about a beacon feature?

GPS is receive only, the phone doesn't talk to the satellites, which just broadcast their signal to everyone. There is certainly a new radio (& ancillary equipment & antenna) in the latest model to support this feature.

Any phone can still use Maps based on GPS, meaning any phone can send their location via GPS. Why not make an emergency beacon feature with this ?

Re: Emergency SOS via satellite

#475

Post by fortuna86 »

dagmx wrote: post #344
fortuna86 wrote: post #297

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most smartphones have GPS built in, are you telling me it was impossible to utilize existing hardware for this feature? Or was it a deliberate decision. Ok, perhaps not phone calls or text. What about a beacon feature?

How? I don’t think you quite understand how this works or GPS for that matter. GPS is unidirectional. Your phone isn’t communicating back to the satellite.

admittedly I don't, but can't a GPS system can tell you where you are, why can't GPS systems know where each phone is and create an emergency system from that ?

Re: Emergency SOS via satellite

#476

Post by [deleted] »

fortuna86 wrote: post #474
error503 wrote: post #345

Earlier quoted context omitted.

GPS is receive only, the phone doesn't talk to the satellites, which just broadcast their signal to everyone. There is certainly a new radio (& ancillary equipment & antenna) in the latest model to support this feature.

Any phone can still use Maps based on GPS, meaning any phone can send their location via GPS. Why not make an emergency beacon feature with this ?

[deleted]

Re: Emergency SOS via satellite

#477

Post by 6t6t6t6 »

kQq9oHeAz6wLLS wrote: post #388
yurishimo wrote: post #296

Earlier quoted context omitted.

God forbid the US become a civilized nation and offer a real competitive national healthcare options. I live in one of the more expensive European nations when it comes to healthcare. €100~/mo with a €400~ deductible per year. Worst case scenario, I spend €1600/yr on healthcare.

Is that one of those "civilised" countries that denies parents the right to take their child out of country to get medical help, even when there's no cost to said "civilised" country?

I think that you are watching Fox News a bit too much.

Re: Emergency SOS via satellite

#478

Post by yurishimo »

googlryas wrote: post #331
yurishimo wrote: post #296

Earlier quoted context omitted.

God forbid the US become a civilized nation and offer a real competitive national healthcare options. I live in one of the more expensive European nations when it comes to healthcare. €100~/mo with a €400~ deductible per year. Worst case scenario, I spend €1600/yr on healthcare.

How much do you pay when you factor in the taxes you also pay into the system? If one gym had a yearly fee of $40 and then cost $1 every time you went, and another gym had a $8 yearly fee and cost $15 everytime you went, it wouldn't make sense to compare them merely on the per-visit costs. Just to short circuit, I'm not trying to defend the American healthcare system. American healthcare is horrible on average compar…

Sorry, coming back to this late, but in the hope that you see it, I haven't visited the doctor _because_ it was expensive. Sure, I'm also young and it probably wasn't really necessary, but there were definitely a couple of instances I can remember from the last decade that I didn't go to the doctor until I thought I had no other choice.

I'm willing to pay a little more in the long term to have the peace of mind that I can go to the doctor for something less than an emergency and not face financial hardship. In the US, one doctors visit can easily cost more than 10 years of bills in a European nation, and it doesn't even have to be serious! A broken leg isn't life threatening, but it could break you financially if you aren't ready and able to shell out your high deductible.

Re: Emergency SOS via satellite

#479

Post by error503 »

fortuna86 wrote: post #474
error503 wrote: post #345

Earlier quoted context omitted.

GPS is receive only, the phone doesn't talk to the satellites, which just broadcast their signal to everyone. There is certainly a new radio (& ancillary equipment & antenna) in the latest model to support this feature.

Any phone can still use Maps based on GPS, meaning any phone can send their location via GPS. Why not make an emergency beacon feature with this ?

No, that's not what it means. The phone knows its location because it can receive the GPS signals. There is no 'sending' involved at all, GPS is receive-only. To 'beacon' something it needs a transmit radio. Traditionally this is the cellular network, but it appears Apple has added a new satellite radio to their phones to augment this.
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