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a QRP (low power) rig on 40 meters can work hundreds or thousands of miles

When I got my ham radio license, the instructor told the class a funny story.

There was this old guy out hiking, and the old guy carried a 40 meter Morse code radio. The guy hurt his leg and could not continue. Some hikers came along and offered help; the old guy told them "pitch my tent, help me inside, and throw this antenna wire up into the trees." That's all he wanted, and after they did that, they walked away (they never followed up with anyone).

So the old guy started tapping out his emergency report. One old ham operator, hundreds of miles away, was monitoring the 40 meter band and got the report. And in fact you had to be hundreds of miles away to get it; the report wasn't possible to pick up close by. So the ham operator in another state got on the phone to the Snohomish County Search and Rescue, to tell them what was going on.

Our instructor works for the Search and Rescue department, and he disbelieved the initial report. "Did you say the 40 meter band?!?" When S&R got to the park, they couldn't pick up the signal; they had to use cell phones to talk to the guy in another state to communicate with the guy who needed help.

So, the moral of the story is: if you want to whistle up help, maybe a 40 meter rig isn't the best way to go.

Personally, I'd carry a 406 MHz personal locator beacon.

steveha

"I see your high-carbon steel, and raise you some tungsten carbide."

For a personal carry knife I would suggest something with an M2 blade. They aren't stainless so you need to look after them to make sure they don't rust.

I carry one of these:

http://www.equipped.com/rsk_mk1HS.htm

This actually takes quite a while; for most people, urine is upwards of 98% water.

A 2% plutonium nitrate solution is 98% water, too. Care to drink some?

You're free to disagree with the US Army Field Manual and the former president of the Texas Urological Society (and almost every survival guide) on this subject if you like, but please don't encourage behavior that will tend to get people killed in others. Why do you think your body is getting rid of it in the first place? You think we evolved a method to dehydrate ourselves to take ourselves out of the gene pool, and you're cleverly circumventing this bit of anti-evolution?

I hate to say it, but your father is just plain wrong about drinking urine.

So says the US Army Field Manual. So says the SAS Survival Handbook (no link, but page 494). So says Dr. William Elfarr, former head of the Texas Urological Society. So says Master Sergeant Gary L. Benton, survival instructor to B-52 crews. So says Tom Brown Jr., survivor school founder and instructor. So says Equipped.com, a survival site. So says Adventure Sports Online in its 5 basic survival tips. And on, and on, and on.

Your body is getting rid of urine for a reason. Urea is toxic, and the saline component of urine means that it dehydrates instead of hydrating.

I hate to say it, but your father is just plain wrong about drinking urine.

So says the US Army Field Manual. So says the SAS Survival Handbook (no link, but page 494). So says Dr. William Elfarr, former head of the Texas Urological Society. So says Master Sergeant Gary L. Benton, survival instructor to B-52 crews. So says Tom Brown Jr., survivor school founder and instructor. So says Equipped.com, a survival site. So says Adventure Sports Online in its 5 basic survival tips. And on, and on, and on.

Your body is getting rid of urine for a reason. Urea is toxic, and the saline component of urine means that it dehydrates instead of hydrating.

Give a man a fish, feed him for a day.
Teach a man to fish, feed him for life.

Imagine you were stranded on a desert island. No idea how to build a fire, no idea how to make potable water, no idea how to build a trap, no idea what plants were edible. How well could you survive? Now imagine you had a survival manual. How much better do you think you could survive?

The idea behind the laptop is to help educate the population so they can work on building their own infrastructure. Your idea of building their infrastructure for them is the flawed reasoning behind most current forms of welfare. If you simply give things to people, there is no incentive for them to improve their own condition. You are handing them freebies, and if they improve their own condition you will take the freebies away. What the hell kind of incentive is that? c.f. ST:TOS A Taste of Armageddon. If you take away all the bad things about being in poverty, there remains no incentive to rise out of poverty.

The key to eliminating poverty is to give people the information and tools to climb out of it on their own. With information, you've given them the tools to get out of poverty, but they themselves have to make the effort to utilize those tools. Doing it this way, they don't feel beholden to foreign powers or grow dependent on foreign aid, and you aren't stuck babysitting a perpetual 3rd world nation.

Since existing laws and regulations appear to have been ineffective, more laws seem unlikely to reduce the problem, so the best recommendations would appear to make it part of the standard training of pilots on how to handle the incidents (if that is not already the case). All in my humble opinion, of course.

Good "test" of how effective lasers were to blind pilots is at Equipped.com.

(First post!!!)

Before buying anything in this arena, you really owe it to yourself to spend some time perusing Doug Ritter's Equipped to Survive site. Honest, objective reviews of all the hardware. I'm not affiliated with him in any way.

Basically, that frequency was getting way too many false positives, so they're phasing it out. To quote the release, "121.5 MHz false alerts inundate search and rescue authorities. This is another major factor in influencing the decision to stop the satellite processing."

121.5 MHz is in the middle of cable channel 14. Frankly, it's rather surprising that this doesn't happen -constantly-.

No privacy issues if the hiker initiates the device, although it looks like you should stick with the newer 406 MHz devices. The newer devices include a GPS signal, making recovery easier.

Might have these available for use at Ranger stations, although they are on the pricy side. I'd suggest some form of deposit.

You may not be aware that Ellison skippered the winning boat in the infamous 1998 Sydney-Hobart. Although when asked if he would be coming back to race again he said "not if I live to be a thousand."

I'd carry a plastic bottle that I could put snow into, then put the bottle into my clothes. After it melts, then you can drink it. That's much safer.

Do not eat without melting! Eating snow and ice can reduce body temperature and will lead to more dehydration.

Melt ice or snow and boil it if possible. Don't eat crushed ice - it can injure your mouth and can also cause further dehydration.

Lundin says eating lots of snow is a common and potentially deadly mistake.

"Don't eat snow," said Mike Sheets. "Don't put it in your mouth and try to melt it if you're thirsty. You'll use up too much of your body's heat, and you need that energy for yourself."

Drink a lot of water, 8 to 12 glasses a day. But do not eat snow to satisfy your thirst. Eating snow can lower your body's core temperature, triggering deadly hypothermia.

Don't waste body heat by eating snow. Make a fire; heat water before drinking.

Do not eat snow as it tends to dehydrate the body

Do not eat snow to obtain water, it will just make you colder.