Getting lost

Ok, recently this seems to be a fairly sad recurring theme where someone goes wheeling and does not come back. Later their vehicle is found.... later... well..... you get the picture.

So the question is then what to do when a person goes missing and does not return to camp? Answer is simple: contact the authorities. There are search and rescue teams in various areas of CA that can be activated that have the equipment (helos with heat detection gear for example) training (tracking) and other tools (dogs). Also folks on those teams have a pretty good idea where to look for missing people. They target their search areas based on the terrain and weather and usually are pretty sucessful in finding the lost. There is one thing to keep in mind though: the longer you wait to get help the more likely it's going to be a recovery rather then a rescue mission....

I just saw a very short lived reply that made me realize I should clarify something. I am not suggesting for folks to cry wolf the second the person does not show up. An attempt should be made to retrace the persons route BUT it should not be an all out search. If a group of people goes out and the group splits up folks should leave their "planned" route behind so that in case something happens they can be located. Anyways, the "attempt" should be predefined up front. Something along the lines of "We think X went along Y trail and if we go through the trail and don't find X or hear from him by whatever hour, we will consider him missing and in trouble".

note to self, dont get lost.

Good info remmi.

well we all know that wheeling alone is a no no.... but still, we often just take off for a "small run"....
i think that a little pride should be put aside and we shoudl consider like a group leader or something and kinda let'em know the plan or the possible whereabouts in case anything happens.... all this = good communication. :wave:

Very good topic, Remi. ALSO, and I cannot stress this enough: INSTALL A CB INTO YOUR RIG. Cell phones are also a wonderful idea, but more than likely won't have a signal where you are lost. The CB distress/emergency channel is CHANNEL NINE. If you get stuck or lost, GET ON THAT CB, channel nine, and start saying, “Help!”.


Yes, someone has to be within range, but in open country, the CB signal will likely travel a longer distance than it would in say, Los Angeles traffic. Maybe not, but possibly.


You can pick up a brand new unit almost anywhere they are sold for $40.00, and antennas usually go around $20.00 for a cheapie. There are used deals all over the place, and swap meets sell them all the time. It is possible to get a CB for your rig for little or nothing out of pocket. Considering they can and have saved lives, that's the best deal ever. And if you aren't electrically savvy and don't know how to hook one up, just post up here on the boards and someone will be there to help. That's why we are a club. We help each other out.


Awesome looking rims sure are great, and nobody can argue that a nice stereo can make us happy, but neither of those items can help when we are lost in the wilderness, hungry and scared.


This isnt' meant to be a rant, simply an addition to Remi's post, and some good advice. Before you lift it, before you lock it, and before you install 35s, PLEASE put a CB in it.

Skwerly said:

Very good topic, Remi. ALSO, and I cannot stress this enough: INSTALL A CB INTO YOUR RIG. Cell phones are also a wonderful idea, but more than likely won't have a signal where you are lost. The CB distress/emergency channel is CHANNEL NINE. If you get stuck or lost, GET ON THAT CB, channel nine, and start saying, “Help!”.

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I'll one up ya Get your ham ticket and get a rig. Yeah.. it'll be a few bills but the first time it saves your bacon it will pay for itself and then some.

Agreed on the Ham equipment/license. 146.520 is the 2 meter calling freq, 446.000 is 70cm (not going to have as much range), 52.525 is the 6-meter calling frequency. You'll probably get the best range on 6-meter but more people will be listening on the 2-meter frequency.

I paid $120 or so for my FT-2800M, it'll put out 65 watts on 2 meters.

- W1KAS

EDIT: that being said, a properly tuned and configured CB will get some pretty good range when conditions are good. 27MHz is well into the HF bands and will carry pretty far given a good antenna and the right solar conditions.

Haha, I usually hate to get off-topic, but I LOVE your signatures, kastein. Classic stuff.

Yup, I agree on the HAM setup. Once I get settled into my new house here, I'll be looking for a license, myself. Ham rocks.

But at least get a CB.

EDIT: Holy heck! you've only been a member since late 2009 and you have 7300 posts? LOL! Wow...

Kejtar said:

I just saw a very short lived reply that made me realize I should clarify something. I am not suggesting for folks to cry wolf the second the person does not show up. An attempt should be made to retrace the persons route BUT it should not be an all out search. If a group of people goes out and the group splits up folks should leave their "planned" route behind so that in case something happens they can be located. Anyways, the "attempt" should be predefined up front. Something along the lines of "We think X went along Y trail and if we go through the trail and don't find X or hear from him by whatever hour, we will consider him missing and in trouble".

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I think that was me.

I thought about it more and arrived at the same conclusion you did.

I think it would be a good project to research and post/publish the do's and dont's if you find yourself "lost".
One thing I know is stay near your vehicle.It will be the first thing that is located.If you wander off you may not be.

lamula said:

I think it would be a good project to research and post/publish the do's and dont's if you find yourself "lost".
One thing I know is stay near your vehicle.It will be the first thing that is located.If you wander off you may not be.

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There is only one do:
stay with the vehicle. It can provide shade, you can burn tires if you need to send a "smoke/stench" signal. It's easier to spot a vehicle from air then a person and the list goes on......

road flair and spare tire

kastein said:

Agreed on the Ham equipment/license. 146.520 is the 2 meter calling freq, 446.000 is 70cm (not going to have as much range), 52.525 is the 6-meter calling frequency. You'll probably get the best range on 6-meter but more people will be listening on the 2-meter frequency.

I paid $120 or so for my FT-2800M, it'll put out 65 watts on 2 meters.

- W1KAS

EDIT: that being said, a properly tuned and configured CB will get some pretty good range when conditions are good. 27MHz is well into the HF bands and will carry pretty far given a good antenna and the right solar conditions.

Click to expand...

I'm pretty sure this is the second post I've seen from you in as many days in the So Cal section. And I'm also pretty sure I was just reading a drama of you doing a ton of work on a rusty 91 manche that got stranded in the Jerz, and then you ended up with just a few days ago. BTW, loving the build thread.

You fixing on coming to the sunshine? lol.

How's that manche doing?

Remi, sorry for the quasi hijack. Another few things to consider: in the mountains CB's range can suck. Buy an SWR meter and optimize your CB for either the channel used most in your area, or the 9 or 19 channels. Personally I've been stranded quite a few times and CB has done jack for me. Which brings me to my next item: a cell phone range extender... I have one in my XJ from Wilson Electronics, and it gets my ATT Pocket PC out, even past Verizon's range when I'm in the boonies.

That said, HAM rules when it comes to "way out there" and since they simplified the test, anyone can get a license and a decent setup for under 200 bucks.

Skwerly said:

Haha, I usually hate to get off-topic, but I LOVE your signatures, kastein. Classic stuff.

Yup, I agree on the HAM setup. Once I get settled into my new house here, I'll be looking for a license, myself. Ham rocks.

But at least get a CB.

EDIT: Holy heck! you've only been a member since late 2009 and you have 7300 posts? LOL! Wow...

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Sorry about the hijack, yeah... I signature anything that seems amusing to me. As for postcount, well, guilty as charged. I'm a computer engineer and a lot of the time I'm waiting for a system test to complete before I can do much of anything useful. I hadn't actually even noticed I hit 7k... I spend too much time in OEM/mod tech usually.

over2land said:

I'm pretty sure this is the second post I've seen from you in as many days in the So Cal section. And I'm also pretty sure I was just reading a drama of you doing a ton of work on a rusty 91 manche that got stranded in the Jerz, and then you ended up with just a few days ago. BTW, loving the build thread.

You fixing on coming to the sunshine? lol.

How's that manche doing?

Remi, sorry for the quasi hijack. Another few things to consider: in the mountains CB's range can suck. Buy an SWR meter and optimize your CB for either the channel used most in your area, or the 9 or 19 channels. Personally I've been stranded quite a few times and CB has done jack for me. Which brings me to my next item: a cell phone range extender... I have one in my XJ from Wilson Electronics, and it gets my ATT Pocket PC out, even past Verizon's range when I'm in the boonies.

That said, HAM rules when it comes to "way out there" and since they simplified the test, anyone can get a license and a decent setup for under 200 bucks.

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I only really pop in when I see an interesting thread title fly by on the main forum list :dunno: yeah, MJ's doing rather nicely, spent last weekend throwing a d30 in instead of the extremely rusted beam. I persuaded a friend of mine to buy it off craigslist when one of my NAC friends posted it in the NAC bs-thread, knowing that he probably wouldn't like it very much but he needed a cheap car at the time. As a bonus I knew who bought it so I could buy it when I scraped some more cash together... I've owned it for approximately a month now, just haven't really posted progress because the weather's been too miserable to work on it.

</hijack>

The best thing I really can say about getting lost is that you should probably bring a lot of water... most camping trips I end up being the guy who brings the water. My local grocery store has a "10 for 10" deal on 3 liter poland spring bottles once in a while, so if I'm expecting a trip I'll pack 10 of them into the back of the XJ. You'll die from dehydration LONG before you die from starvation, bring way more water than you think you'll need and it will save you some day.

Yeah, saw the rust on the beam... and even being a NJ guy originally was surprised at that. Maybe I've been in CA too long.

Its been a while since my survival classes, but I seem to recall death from dehydration is 3 days if you are lucky and death from starvation is nominally a week. So, good point on the water. And neither coolant nor windshield washer fluid counts.

Kastein's door latch post saved me from butchering my rear door a few months ago... I don't care WHERE he's at... THANKS !

While I won't rule out haling SOMEONE on the CB on Ch.9 I will tell you it didn't work the ONE time I tried... being on a side spur off the main trail put me further off the semi-beat'n path... dragging the fallen tree across the road and placing a note on it saved my ass... I was getting ready to let the air out of the spare... the fire with green wood was falling WAY short...

A cell & a ham set up might be the best... along with leaving word and such.

Curt

over2land said:

Yeah, saw the rust on the beam... and even being a NJ guy originally was surprised at that. Maybe I've been in CA too long.

Its been a while since my survival classes, but I seem to recall death from dehydration is 3 days if you are lucky and death from starvation is nominally a week. So, good point on the water. And neither coolant nor windshield washer fluid counts.

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Vehicles I own tend to have very strange rust patterns. My XJ has severely rusted axles, severely rusted brake lines (replaced), severely rusted oil pan, and giant rust holes in the floorboards but is perfect from there up and has zero frame rot. My MJ has 3 foot sections rusted out of the bottoms of each frame rail (one has been repaired), severely rusted axles, severely rusted brake lines (replaced), but absolutely perfect floors. Both are supposedly originally from the northeast. The MJ was purchased in MA, he just drove it to NJ for thanksgiving right after I gave it a failing bill of health and told him we needed to replace brake lines and tranny cooler lines before he drove it anywhere.

Xtreme XJ said:

Kastein's door latch post saved me from butchering my rear door a few months ago... I don't care WHERE he's at... THANKS !

... dragging the fallen tree across the road and placing a note on it saved my ass...

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Thanks - I knew I wasn't the only one with that problem. I was actually shopping for a new door at the junkyard and intending to butcher mine when I decided to rip into one and see just how hard it was to force open. So glad I did... that trick actually works on all the doors, including the hatch, the release pin is just in slightly different spots.

That is a great idea with the fallen tree, I'm putting that on the list of things to remember.

Going solo is exactly why we bought a SPOT and carry it with us anytime we go out, solo or not. It has three different messages that can be sent. An OK, a help but not life threatening and the Oh $hit, send everyone, this is life or death!

We bought ours after our solo trip across El Camino Del Diablo in southern AZ. We had camped and traveled down some trails that NO ONE had been on in months. Not a good place to be if something happened. Since then, SPOT travels with us.

YMMV

xj_mike said:

Going solo is exactly why we bought a SPOT and carry it with us anytime we go out, solo or not. It has three different messages that can be sent. An OK, a help but not life threatening and the Oh $hit, send everyone, this is life or death!

We bought ours after our solo trip across El Camino Del Diablo in southern AZ. We had camped and traveled down some trails that NO ONE had been on in months. Not a good place to be if something happened. Since then, SPOT travels with us.

YMMV

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A fair warning about SPOT. Spot is a nice toy that can't be relied upon as an emergency tool. Granted it's better to have it then not but the messages don't necessarily get you the response you expect in the time frame you expect. I know that there is a two way txt messaging GPS locator device that's coming out that will require a subscription service to work that is better from the functional end.

Here are a few threads on ham radio saving someone on the trail. First one was Remi and Naxja guys. I'll put my money on Ham radio, it's proven itself over and over again. Just go to any disaster and you will find ham radio operators. I was involved in Nias island earthquake in 2005, only communication on the island was some old guy with a wire antenna strung up in a tree some car batteries and an HF ham rig. Cell phones and all other commercial communications were down.

http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?t=369569

http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?t=837265

http://www.papasys.com/showthread.php?t=507