2024-04-12, 12:19 PM
It is always excellent to hear when folks can help one another, and as an Amateur Extra I enjoy hearing when Amateur Radio can make a difference to someone. APRS is pretty cool and entertaining as well.
That said, the correct tool in DVNP is a satellite beacon of some kind. InReach (Iridium based) or Spot (GlobalStar based) are fairly inexpensive, idiot proof, and can be carried with you on a hike. With such beacons you have reliable coverage from essentially everywhere, even canyons, with a direct connection to SAR. In the coming years emergency satellite based comms from cellphones will continue to expand as well making access to satellite comms even easier.
The problem with Amateur bands in DVNP is that their coverage is still very poor, even if better than cell.
In this case it was extremely lucky there was propagation on 10m at all. That's not a band one would usually consider for reliable long distance propagation and is particularly awful for getting out of canyons. Might be the *worst* band to have a chance of rescue from DVNP, but thankfully these folks got lucky. Longer wave bands for NVIS propagation would be the most reliable, but they require impractically sized antennas even for typical vehicular mounting. Hitting a repeater on 2m would be the most compatible with mobility, but has similar LOS issues as cell causing poor coverage.
Amateur Radio gets my hearty recommendation for a fun hobby. And combining that hobby with outdoors is lots of good fun as well.
As far as emergency comms from DV goes though, Amateur Radio is pretty much the worst of a bailing wire and duct tape solution to something that should be rock solid. If it really comes down to dollars then spend your money on a satellite beacon, not a ham radio.
Thanks for sharing the article! I rarely follow the ARRL stuff these days and so had missed a great DV story!
That said, the correct tool in DVNP is a satellite beacon of some kind. InReach (Iridium based) or Spot (GlobalStar based) are fairly inexpensive, idiot proof, and can be carried with you on a hike. With such beacons you have reliable coverage from essentially everywhere, even canyons, with a direct connection to SAR. In the coming years emergency satellite based comms from cellphones will continue to expand as well making access to satellite comms even easier.
The problem with Amateur bands in DVNP is that their coverage is still very poor, even if better than cell.
In this case it was extremely lucky there was propagation on 10m at all. That's not a band one would usually consider for reliable long distance propagation and is particularly awful for getting out of canyons. Might be the *worst* band to have a chance of rescue from DVNP, but thankfully these folks got lucky. Longer wave bands for NVIS propagation would be the most reliable, but they require impractically sized antennas even for typical vehicular mounting. Hitting a repeater on 2m would be the most compatible with mobility, but has similar LOS issues as cell causing poor coverage.
Amateur Radio gets my hearty recommendation for a fun hobby. And combining that hobby with outdoors is lots of good fun as well.
As far as emergency comms from DV goes though, Amateur Radio is pretty much the worst of a bailing wire and duct tape solution to something that should be rock solid. If it really comes down to dollars then spend your money on a satellite beacon, not a ham radio.
Thanks for sharing the article! I rarely follow the ARRL stuff these days and so had missed a great DV story!