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Comment by Ididntdothis | Hacker News Reader

Stories like this make me think that the money I am spending on my Garmin Inreach is maybe not a waste.

I also have a Garmin InReach and it is a littel 3 ounce game changer, regarding being safe in remote areas of wilderness. I very recently spent four hard days in deep wet snow in the Glacier Peak Wilderness, and was able to communicate that I was safe to my family over the InReach, plus get regularly updated high quality weather reports. The battery also did fine. I was confident I could get help if I was out there longer. The Garmin Fenix 6x GPS watch is also a life saving piece of tech, since it's so rugged, the battery lasts long and it has maps of everywhere built in.

As I wrote on another thread recently, I come from a time when "send help" communications weren't the norm and I resist a bit the notion that you--either as an individual or a group leader--are under a moral obligation to make such communications abilities the norm to the degree possible.

That said. I'd probably get an InReach these days if I were going to spend significant time in remote areas. Leaving your plans with people was always a bit of a tricky exercise. You haven't checked in by a specific time. Now what? Go to the trailhead if that's even practical? Call in SAR? Give them another few hours/a day?

You aren't under a moral obligation? It's just that you might die and most people are willing to compromise pretty hard on principles to get rescued instead of dying.

I can see a principled stance of getting a PLB and knowing you'll activate it if you believe you'll likely die or be seriously injured without rescue, otherwise it's just a ballast you're carrying. But just foregoing one altogether seems like a very strange place to draw the line.

I’m not really drawing a line. I just don’t put it in the same category as map and compass. I don’t have one but it’s not a matter of principle. I’m just not regularly enough doing sufficiently remote activities where having one seems like basic prudence.

I empathize.. growing up, you never wanted to be that guy that had to call for help, and I still don't - it's a mark of failure to be rescued - but it's better than dying. The tech probably makes it too easy for people to use it as an easy out, but it's better to have and not need it, etc. If you have a family depending on you, you've got a moral obligation to not be a dumbass, and that includes keeping appropriate tools on hand in case you end up inviting the characterization.

I would use my Inreach only in a really dire situation but if that ever happens it’s great to have one. I once used it notify of a severely dehydrated hiker who got continually worse even after being given water and food. They first sent a ranger. I left once the ranger was there but an hour later I saw a helicopter going to that spot so I assume it was really bad and the Inreach may have saved a life.

If you don't want to pay a subscription, a good option is a Personal Locator Beacon (commonly abbreviated to PLB). Another advantage they have is that the batteries last for 5 years or more, and usually send a stronger signal (this was a couple of years ago, don't know if it has changed). The disadvantage is that they don't do messaging.

Search and Rescue strongly prefers the two-way beacons. One way PLBs have a high false positive/accidental activation rate. There are anecdotal reports of one-way PLB activation not being acted on because local SAR gets too many of them.

The cost of the subscription is a tiny amount compared to the real financial costs of the situations they allow us to avoid.

I didn't know that. I thought the PLBs would have some feature to prevent accidental activation. But then, people have to pick up a phone and dial a specific 3 digit sequence to call for emergency, and the thing is abused too often, so, yeah, I believe it.

> Search and Rescue strongly prefers the two-way beacons

Do you have any source on that? I'm genuinely curious.

Or just take the multiple choice test, get a ham radio license, and buy a $30 radio and a $10 antenna.

A ham radio is good to have, but in many remote places will be useless if you can't reach a repeater. I would definitely take a PLB and not rely solely on my HT if I was going somewhere remote.

With some elevation (like standing on your car) and a cheap 6 foot antenna (made of PVC for $10 or so) I've hit repeaters 100s of miles away. But sure if you are in worse terrain you might need a HF radio instead of a 2M/440cm HT.

The radio is a nice thing to have, but it isn't a realistic substitute for a PLB when you leave civilization. Even if the satellite beacon is received only intermittently and can't get GPS fix or doesn't have GPS the system will figure out where it is in maybe an hour or so anyway (Doppler measurement) and any single message is an unambiguous call for rescue.

How much does such a set up weigh? The InReach is small and has excellent battery lifetime.

Well an HT with some skill/training and a directional antenna can use various satellites as repeaters for 100% coverage world wide. Granted the windows are short and not that many times a day. HF rigs are a bit bigger, about the size of a small (single DIN) car radio or CB. Examples like the yaesu ft-891, ft-818, or icom ic-7100. So easy to have in a car, not so easy to carry hiking.

Others radios focus more on being portable and include batteries for hikers and SOTA (Summits on The Air). Things like the KX2, Xeigo X5105, or the new Icom IC-705 (announced but not shipping). The IC-705 actually uses the same battery as their HTs.

HF radio use (at least in the USA) requires the general license, which is a a bit harder of a multiple choice test. The easiest license is a tech which gets you privileges on the 2M and higher bands.

The digital modes give even a very modest radio amazing range. A friend demo'd a (5 watts) FT-817 in a poor location (building patio surrounded by trees, crappy antenna (random 20+ foot wire attached to the antenna port with an alligator clip, terrible antenna placement (thrown over a 8 foot tall tree branch) and was able to reach people in Ohio from California.

That's a whole lot of work to go through to avoid carrying a 4 ounce satellite PLB.

The basic Technician license in US is not limited to 2m and higher - that's merely where you have all the privileges. But you also get SSB and CW on 10m, and CW only on 15m, 40m, and 80m; all of these up to 200W PEP.

Keep in mind that if you're using a PLB, there's a good chance you have broken an arm or leg and won't be able to set up a large device.

One of the advantages of an inReach is that you could activate it with a single button press even with major injuries.

I'm an extra and a VE. I take a radio with me on all of my back country camping trips and have a solar+battery repeater set up in my 4x4. I've ended up many places where neither radio could get out to anyone simplex and no repeaters were in range. Amateur radio works great when you have a communications plan and know you'll be in range (like when you're working with a group) but for small groups/solo back country and new areas I'll be picking up either a PLB or an inreach for this season. Others mentioned HF, I don't think you can expect to be able to string a wire dipole up and transit if you break your ankle or something ~ assuming the solar conditions allow you to get out anyway.

Also I meet lots of people who have taken the test and bought the $30 radio but don't know how to use it. Practice, practice, practice. I look at group camping trips as an opportunity to practice wilderness protocol and usually come back with a bunch of notes on what worked/didn't.

There's a fairly recent story about a ham using satellite communications when he and his son got their vehicle stuck in mud out in the wilderness. I can't find the link at the moment, but they were practiced at it beforehand and I'm guessing very happy that they were.

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