Ham Radio & Contacting Emergency Services
- Thread starter ccg_ga
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ccg_ga
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I’m glad you asked. So the Tail of the Dragon is very popular with bikers and sport car drivers. It is literally a destination for them. I was out on Saturday around 3pm and while it wasn’t as busy as I expected, there were plenty of bikes are cars out. The bikes or other non sport cars didn’t bother me, but I was actually concerned that if one of the cars came around a corner to fast and could slow it down enough they would run into me or someone. Depending on which curve you are on and which direction you are going it is quite possible that if a car hit you fast or hard enough it could send you off the side of the mountain. I was slowing down to about 10-15 MPH and looking around the bend the best I could to see if any cars were approaching. The other thing also that I noticed is that most of the cars were being driven by pretty young kids, like 18-21 age range.
Case in point - this biker laid his bike down in a curve. I came around the corner right after he crashed as I mentioned in the original post.
I talked to some other folks that have driven it multiple times and they said it is much less busy both during the week and first thing in the morning. I’d try and shoot for both. Early enough and you can probably run it a couple of times without feeling rushed. I kept pulling over and letting people pass, but I also was in a Jeep with 36” tires.
I did a write up on my site about the route I put together. Check it out, it has some more info about the Dragon.
GPS Route | GPS Route | Murphy, NC to Deals Gap, NC - Southeast 4x4 Trails
This route starts in Murphy, NC and ends at Deals Gap, NC after crossing US Hwy 129 (Tail of the Dragon). GPX and KML route file downloads available.
southeast4x4trails.com
ccg_ga
Member
That is very cool! Are you still active in working on the bus or are you just participating in the events with your own ham gear these days?
MTS2000des
5B2_BEE00 Czar
GEMA region 1/6 just had an MCV exercise in Gilmer county last Thursday. There were amateur radio operators performing AUXCOMM support from a couple of served agencies. The best way to get involved is by getting AUXCOMM training from GEMA by being sponsored by a served agency and getting on their roster.
Not hard at all. And a lot of emergency services are accepting text messages.
ccg_ga
Member
Thanks, I will check into that. Appreciate the tip.
I've had much better luck scaring up 2 meter contacts on 146.52 recently...in some pretty desolate spots in rural TX!
A month ago, an out of province 4 x 4 became stuck in an area not serviced by cell carriers. Although this was no "emergency', he was not prepared, other than water, for spending time in the wilderness. An amateur radio operator happened to be in the area. After he made a call for assistance on one of the local amateur repeaters with coverage in the area, there were 3 amateur radio operators in the city who answered his call. One was a 4 x 4 who's organization did perform back country rescue. I know there were others listening that were going to respond as well.
cajunjerry
Member
If he was seriously hurt. A helicopter would be perfect
It is quite common for them to be linked to worldwide networks. Most DMR repeaters are, though there are a few here and there that aren't. Where I was, I had 3 DMR repeaters that I could hit from where I was, and all 3 were linked to the Brandmeister Network. As I mentioned, that takes you from a potential audience of zero to a lot of people. Not everyone is willing to help (which is quite sad...not sure when that became the case in amateur radio), but when you widen your audience considerably, you're almost bound to find someone who is.
I think we as a community need to come up with standard operational plan for answering emergency calls on ham radio (such as an alert tone that’s broadcast when a certain PL tone or DTMF sequence is used or auto dial 911 when activated) and publish listings of participating repeaters.
belvdr
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Not hard but long. It's akin to texting on a flip phone. If you're injured, it's even that more laborious. I'd take a PLB or one of the aforementioned sat devices any day over texting with APRS in hopes it gets somewhere.
My point here is reliability and ham radio just isn't reliable anywhere you might go. A sat device or PLB would be considered much more reliable with much fewer outage areas.
It already exists. It's just not well known.
There is such a thing as the Wilderness Protocol. One of the features of this protocol is Long Tone Zero (LiTZ). Some repeater controllers are set up to alert specific people when LiTZ is heard.
Lots of crazy bikers usually. . .
There are plenty of reasonable drivers out there too but when you're only doing 30 and constantly slowing down to 15 for the curves the bikes start getting impatient behind you. Most of them want to be "cruising" at 40 or 50.
Tennessee Highway Patrol has been trying to slow people down because of the high numbers of crashes and they have been known to write tickets for 1mph over posted in certain spots.
To the OP, I don't think you'd be able to get into a repeater from out there anyway. There is little wireless coverage of any kind once you get past Tallassee and the Parkway entrance on the TN side.
Consider how "easy" it would be as a stroke victim, as a trauma victim, etc.
Funny you should ask. I've passed the 3/4 century mark. I've been working on a volunteer basis since I retired from the PD in 2007 but I have to face the obvious: it's not as easy as it used to be.
The EMA director and I designed the bus. We purchased a shell (a plywood floor and a driver's seat) from Bluebird buses in Ft. Valley, GA. We took the "shell" to Van-Mor in Ocala, FL. They outfitted it to our specifications (work spaces, conference room table, AC w/ heat, 15 KW generator, carpeting, toilet, et. al.). We installed our own electronics (radios & antennae, TVs, satellite dish, etc. The total cost without the electronics was only $246,000.
It's sorta been "my baby" since it was built but I'm walking away from it at the end of this month. In the field, I've made most of the repairs except for tires and drivetrain. I'm 76 now and it's getting tougher. For instance, I'm a little reluctant to climb on top of the bus for satellite dish or antenna adjustments.
Anyway, at my age, I wanna do what I wanna do. I have a boat and a motorhome, both of which are not being used nearly as much as they should. I'm gonna change that. I also play mandolin in a little country band and if we can ever get back to at least a modicum of normalcy, I'll resume entertaining the masses. At my age, it's getting tougher and tougher to be a chick magnet.
belvdr
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You're at the wrong store. Most farm supply stores sell chicks by the dozen. LOL
To the original question;
It's a sort of common occurrence. Asking for help on the radio isn't all that unusual, and someone will usually respond. As long as you get the information to the proper place and -timely-, how it gets there isn't a biggy (except to those involved). It helps if you've got the required repeaters and the calling freq already programmed in. That's one of the reasons I put a radio on scan, right?
It's a sort of common occurrence. Asking for help on the radio isn't all that unusual, and someone will usually respond. As long as you get the information to the proper place and -timely-, how it gets there isn't a biggy (except to those involved). It helps if you've got the required repeaters and the calling freq already programmed in. That's one of the reasons I put a radio on scan, right?
If my Garmin InReach device was broken I would probably rattle off, "Break Break Break I have an emergency <my callsign>" I think only two "break" are needed, but I have pan pan pan and mayday mayday mayday on the brain. Similar to firing three shots to advise of an emergency. Honestly, I don't see a problem if amateurs were to emulate the three mayday calls. I have a feeling even non radio operators understand the meaning. If I hear someone give three mayday I am going to treat it as an emergency. If I heard an amateur say pan pan pan, I would still treat it as urgent although not an emergency. Is there a reason those phrases weren't adopted years ago by amateurs? Am I missing something?
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