Transmission1

alannah wrote:

Minus1 wrote:This talk of satellite phones is totally detached from reality.

The vast majority of hillwalkers are not able or willing to pay the enormous cost for occasional use. 446 MHz walkie talkies are cheap and thus far more likely to be taken up. It's just a matter of publicity.

I agree with you but to be fair to shortymcsteve who originally suggested the satellite phone idea, it was was for persons at work engaged in the use of chainsaws. Employers have a legal obligation to provide reliable contact with external services and in those circumstances a satellite phone is a viable option.

I think the word is spreading quite fast regarding the use of a hill walking safety channel on 446 chanel 8,

Yup, exactly what Alannah said.. i also agree that not everyone can afford a satellite phone, i would only use one my self if i was going somewhere very remote. I don't think there is much use for them for the average outdoors enthusiast in the UK. Would only be ideal if you were going on a trip to a remote area in another country, say for example being in a desert or a jungle. However i do know that rescue helicopters have satellite phones on board around here. You can also hire these phone for a few days from certain places if you feel you need one.
I think if you are using dangerous machinery you should have all the safety precautions in place, the risk of something happening is obviously much more than if you were just out for a walk in the woods.
When life depends on it, you want to be relying on something you know is going to work, rather than something that might have problems, that was my point.

Seems a shame to use the same channel as for calling/DX

Yes, it isn't helpful to use the same channel as for calling, especially when up a mountain with greater reception area.

What was the reason the use of CTCSS was discouraged? To receive weak signals easier?
Including a CTCSS tone for hillwalking would seem to have significant benefits in terms of cutting out unwanted transmissions.

Why not use a different channel from calling anyway?

I had a brief encounter with a mountain rescue team and the local air ambulance yesterday, had. Yarn to some or the mr team regarding the possabilitys of the pmr safety channel, that said it had been disscussd by the mountain rescue council but the out come was that that are called out by the police and the police only. Not to mention the costs of someone to monitor a specific radio channel would make it unviable. On another note, the air ambulance crew could not get service on there airwave radio and had to use there mobile phone instead which that where joking about

shame this never went anywhere really I think its needed more than ever

It may be somewhat redundant with improved cellular coverage. Don’t forget that the emergency services will be migrating to cellular so coverage HAS to improve.

The only down-side I see is that a quiet walk in the hills can be interrupted by people on their mobiles discussing - like - what was on Big Brother last night and how - like - that was so awesome - like....