This is my BOB signals kit. Part of location in survival priorities.I missed out on having a sextant what else did I miss? Who else has a Signals/NAV kit.
I reference this story in the vid. Missing Canadian businessman Albert Chretien found 7 miles from stranded van on northern Nevada mountain He trusted his GPS twice and it lead him into trouble both times and ended in his death.
As a Pilot, I have plenty of tools and coms with me at all times! SpotX times 2 ( one stays in the plane, one goes with me), sat phone, two cell phones, Signal mirror, laser pointers, high lumin flashlight with strobe, Sat-Nav enabled ipad touch, flares and launcher, whistles, and a pare ( at least) of pistols! And that's just the kit for the plane! I always pack my long range Get Home Bag with me, which is detailed elsewhere here in the forums!
Here in Alaska, our SAR folks are under the direction of our State Troopers, and Transport in the bush is USCG Choppers if at Sea or near Sea, and US Army Chopper if on Land, or in the interior... All these Choppers are Night SAR capable, and one VERY IMPORTANT piece of gear in your kit, around here, would be an IR Strobe, like used by US SpecOps folks, when an overhead drone is in use... Makes a lost human stick out like a “ Very Sore Thumb”... in almost ANY Weather... even better than a fire, or just about any other locating system...
I lived in Elko for about 15 years and used to camp, hunt, and pan for gold in the area where that unfortunate fellow mentioned in the article was found. I can tell you that there is little cell phone service. But you can hit a couple of different HAM repeaters with nothing more than a UHF handheld from just about any mountain top. In fact I talked simplex on 446.000 for about 30 minutes from a handheld to a fellow HAM who was located near Elko, some 80+ miles distant from one of those peaks. You don't go venturing into an area like that with a two wheel drive Chevy Astro van. That's just asking for trouble. This guy's story is repeated almost every year there. Someone gets lost, has a vehicle breakdown or runs out of fuel and if they're not prepared for that, mother nature has little mercy.
20 lbs. of "stuff" packed in an old suitcase and kept in the back of the car can turn a slow and miserable death into a minor inconvenience. People drive in the desert every day without water and a shovel. They drive in the snow without a sleeping bag and an axe. Food? Water? Why bother? There's always a fast-food joint just down the road. (I think this is the right road, Martha. We'll gas up when we get there.) And almost no one bothers to get a USGS topographical map--even though you can download them for free. I read somewhere that 90% of people in the US under the age of 30 have never read a paper map. Nothing beats standing beside a dead vehicle in the dark wondering which direction anything at all is, and how far. Almost no one ever expects to be forced out of their comfort zone by Murphy's Law--so they never prepare for it. My Aunt Albert used to say "If you don't have a plan for everything, you don't have the plan you need."
She has a funny name but she was spot on. All of our 4 wheelers except mine are set up with the old Olin 12ga flare pistol. I taught every one how and when to use it.We all have whistles and .gov mirrors as well. When the girls were accomplished with driving their 4 wheelers I would take one out every camping trip. We would drive until I found a spot I wanted. I would tip the 4 wheeler over on its side and tell the chosen daughter that she had just crashed and for the next 48 hrs had to live out of the packs on her rig. I did this several times over the years. We were sometimes wet, sometimes cold but we "survived". I was with them all the time but wasn't. They made the decisions, the shelters,fire everything as if I wasn't there using only the things on their 4 wheeler. It worked out well. In my gear I carry a British very pistol of WWII vintage. Just because I like it. I make my own flares from products bought and casings made on my lathe.
Quoting Sheriff's Detective Jim Carpenter ... He is, of course, right. The kinds of "GPS" units that ordinary people buy are not manufactured to the same standards as military and/or aviation units, and they have neither the same original software, nor the frequent updates and tests which aviation and military operations require. When they lose contact with the "constallation" of satellites needed to fix a position accurately, the low-end units resort to a kind of dead-reckoning, using whatever satellites are still available, and this happens frequently in mountainous terrain. That, unfortunately, is not the worst problem: the GPS system is subject to "degradation" at the discretion of the DOD. This capability is built-in to the system in order to prevent foreign adversaries from utilizing GPS to target weapons at U.S. or allied troops, and it can be turned on whenever the DOD feels it is necessary: in fact, there will be a test of air and military operations in a degraded GPS environment during the week of January 19th! (see link). Although the DOD claims it's essential practice for military commanders, pilots, and navigators to learn how to do without GPS, General Aviation and even some Commercial flights will have to do without it as well, and we may see some crashes. Of course, we can shrug our shoulders and say "they do preparedness for a living!" We must, however, remember that many preppers have never attended an orienteering course, or learned how to navigate with a map, and we will do well to practice those essential skills - before they are needed! William Warren
.Very good advice William Warren I have noticed many errors in my GPS in the mountains when it starts losing contact with satellites.When my Lady and I were trying to get to city of rocks in idaho for a weekend climbing we had 3 GPS and they all gave different "advice" a friend had to send us a map via txt message to be sure of our route.
Anyone who believes the GPS Map information from a consumer GPS, IS AN IDIOT and shouldn’t be allowed outside the paved highway system... GPS is good for locations services, but applying that to a Mapping system, is only as good as the Maps, themselves... and consumer mapping systems, even USGS Maps are rarely up to date with local features, especially in un-populated areas...
A slow and miserable death is rarely a 'minor' inconvenience. I think I would prefer an inconvenient survival experience to a less inconvenient death. I knew what you were aiming at...I just couldn't help myself.
I have gotten into the habit of taking pictures of paper maps, or saving topo maps on my smart 'phone. They can be handy, bearing in mind the limitations of cell phones.
