Call for help via ham radio

During a conversation that Jim and I were having on Saturday 7/18 around 2:55 we received a "Break" as another ham asking to break into the conversation, Jim KC6YRU gave him the go ahead. Scott KE6ITF used ham radio to call for help on the 146.880 MHz repeater reporting that there was a chlid trapped by an undertow in the river near Hospital Rock in the Sequioa National Park and water was rushing over the child rendering her unable to breath. Jim a dispatcher for the Tulare County Sheriff's office jumps into gear even when he's on the road. Reeves proceeded to call 9-1-1 requesting help for the swimmer that was trapped and then lets Scott KE6ITF know that help is on the way.

In these types of incidents time is of the essence. In talking with Jim later that day he said that it was odd that when he dialed 9-1-1 the dispatcher was not able to transfer him to the park rangers that she had to transfer him to another line and then transfer him to the park rangers. It's always amazed me with all the technology available how these departments do not have the resources they need to do their jobs!

Resources

Recording of the conversation on the 146.880MHz repeater between Jim & Scott recorded on my iPhone while driving: Audio Recording

News article send to me by Jim later that evening:

July 18, 2009

Tulare teen drowns at Hospital Rock

A 14-year-old Tulare girl drowned today at Hospital Rock in Sequoia National Park, rangers said.

Officials said park rangers and a fire department crew were unable to rescue her. Witnesses said she had been underwater for seven to 10 minutes when rescuers responded a little after 3 p.m.

Officials in the park reported that divers had recovered the girl's body from the water about 5:45 p.m.

The 14-year-old was at the popular spot in the national park with family members, officials said.

---

Visalia Times-Delta

It's very unfortunate that we were not able to save a life this time, but at least there was some type of communications available. This just goes to prove that cell phones don't always work in every situation.

Many Thanks go out to the Tulare County Amateur Radio club for keeping the 146.880 MHz repeater operational as without this valuable resource communications are sometimes not possible.

Ted/KE6YJC

WD6SJV is still looking for a home

Just an update on the WD6SJV D-Star system. We are still in the process of trying to find a home for our D-Star stack. Just as we thought we had found a home for the stack we lost it. The good news is that we have secured two more possible locations. One is already confirmed we are just holding out for the primary location which we should have some movement on this upcoming week.

I'll be updating this blog along with my KE6YJC toolbar which you can download from http://KE6YJC.OurToolbar.com/ you might install this as I seem to post quite a bit of useful d-star information in here.

Ted/KE6YJC

Crapy signal, but digital still works!

This was an interesting little experiement I did this morning walking around my office. I recorded this video on my iPhone while I was having a QSO with Alan N6QOG. It even worked when the signal was gone! You will see the S meter go down to nothing as I'm moving around the office. It's not a good video. I am going to do some more simplex testing tonight to Visalia with Alan N6QOG and see if we can't put it to the test to see how much difference it really makes going digital. I'll keep you updated.

The future of ham radio

Well this past weekend I got to to quite a bit of playing with D-Star. I currently own two ID-1's, two IC-2820's and a IC-92AD, I would say I have a few toys for D-Star and unfortunately there has not been too many systems in the area to play with. This past weekend we got the Internet link for the K6VIS up and running, while they are still working some of the bugs out it looks very promising.

In addition to the K6VIS project that I've been helping with the WD6SJV system as well. The WD6SJV system is just about ready to go we are just waiting for the agreement for the hilltop and we should be good to go.

More to come soon...