How Emergency Services View Prospectors

[Pete E]

Have a look at the 3 word app emergency fella show me this every 3 x3 meter block in the world has been allocated 3 letters so trying to give them heep of numbers 3 words how easy

The What Three Words app is very popular here in the UK. I started using it about twelve months ago as a Detecting Club I dig with use it for directions to our digs.

90% of the time it works fine, but there is one area we visit and it just goes haywire...

I have no idea if it's the App itself, or whether it's Google Maps that it interfaces with, but you can be driving around and it will say "1km to destination" and then a minute or two later it will be "2.5km to destination"...I end up having to reset the app and do the search again until I get the proper route for the final leg of the trip.

I have only come across the issue in one specific geographic area so put it down to a glitch in the matrix so to speak, but it doesn't fill me with confidence..

Personally I still prefer using 6 or 8 figure national grid references to denote a location...

I have a different app on my phone that generates them so I can record Find spots ect for my records...I don't need network coverage for it to work either, which is a bonus.

Failing that, I also have a Garmin 62S from my hiking and deer stalking days, but rarely use it as Grid Ref App on the phone does everything I need....

 

[user 22230]

Probably worth mentioning either Sat Phone or PLB both need clear view to Sats otherwise same result. I prefer a Sat Phone over PLB as it gives you the option to tell responders what the actual situation is. Also most Sat Phones can be set to keep sending message at whatever intervals you wish, with my Sat phone you have the option to send to four nominated people / numbers which will come thru with GPS co ordinates included. This is preferred for myself over a PLB device as local responders not only usually know the area much better, but also will get there in a fraction of the time compared to what emergency services would take to do so. So it really depends on your location and circumstances to set yourself up with what ever will give you the fastest result and solution to the issue at hand. Be it a flat tyre, bogged or a life and death situation.

 

[Pete E]

Probably worth mentioning either Sat Phone or PLB both need clear view to Sats otherwise same result. I prefer a Sat Phone over PLB as it gives you the option to tell responders what the actual situation is. Also most Sat Phones can be set to keep sending message at whatever intervals you wish, with my Sat phone you have the option to send to four nominated people / numbers which will come thru with GPS co ordinates included. This is preferred for myself over a PLB device as local responders not only usually know the area much better, but also will get there in a fraction of the time compared to what emergency services would take to do so. So it really depends on your location and circumstances to set yourself up with what ever will give you the fastest result and solution to the issue at hand. Be it a flat tyre, bogged or a life and death situation.

Out of curiousity, how much does a SAT Phone cost to run, and how many trips a year do you typically use it for?

Edit to add I know Spot is also a subscription service, but given the situation in Australia, I would have thought that the central Government would offer some sort of basic emergency service where by a Spot or SAT Phone type usage was subsidised in some way to encourage people to carry them...

 

[user 22230]

Out of curiousity, how much does a SAT Phone cost to run, and how many trips a year do you typically use it for?

Edit to add I know Spot is also a subscription service, but given the situation in Australia, I would have thought that the central Government would offer some sort of basic emergency service where by a Spot or SAT Phone type usage was subsidised in some way to encourage people to carry them...

Sat phone with the right service has just gone up to $18 a month (was only $15 prior to this) and only pay for calls made. You can also put account on hold whilst not using it if you so wish but at such a low cost I'm not sure why you would bother to do so? Trips a year to many to count, but again such minimal cost it really doesn't matter.
If your with the right service any calls in are the same as any person calling mobile to mobile. So you text someone and they can call you and you chat for as long as you wish Calls out I think are about $0.99 a minute but if an emergency situation who cares ? I think last time I enquired sat service for a Spot4 cost more monthly than my Sat phone. Spot Gen 4 have been nil stock in Australia for at least 6 months now but supposed to be re stocking late January. But that date has been revised about three times since October last year.

https://www.pivotel.com.au/plans-thuraya-satellite-phone-plans.html

 

[Pete E]

Thanks Dignit...Being in the UK, SAT phones are not something I have ever come across, but for some reason I had it in my mind that SAT phones were very expensive to operate....At the prices you quote they are actually cheap as chips for what they provide...

 

[user 4386]

Thanks Dignit...Being in the UK, SAT phones are not something I have ever come across, but for some reason I had it in my mind that SAT phones were very expensive to operate....At the prices you quote they are actually cheap as chips for what they provide...

Mine is $45 per month with Iridium!

 

[user 4386]

I work in the SE forests a lot, and my PLB has a mirror and strobe light that flashes for a day, making it easier to find someone at night than during the day. But I also have Satphone, Spot, HF and UHF....

 

[Pete E]

Mine is $45 per month with Iridium!

I think that's getting to the point people will baulk at paying that if they feel they only need it 3 or 4 weekends a year...

 

[Pete E]

I work in the SE forests a lot, and my PLB has a mirror and strobe light that flashes for a day, making it easier to find someone at night than during the day. But I also have Satphone, Spot, HF and UHF....

Strobes are a very under rated bit of kit imho...When I was deer stalking a lot in Scotland, my main concern was getting caught out over night in bad weather conditions...hypothermia is a real killer for the unprepared. With a strobe, you can set that out in the open somewhere highly visible while you hunker down in cover and out of the weather as much as possible. My original strobe ran off a c cell battery and would only last about 15 hours...I have a newer one here that uses an LED, and it's a third the size and lasts several times as long....

 

[user 22230]

I think that's getting to the point people will baulk at paying that if they feel they only need it 3 or 4 weekends a year...

Double in price just running on different system, as said for $16.50 it's a no brainer

 

[user 22230]

Strobes are a very under rated bit of kit imho...When I was deer stalking a lot in Scotland, my main concern was getting caught out over night in bad weather conditions...hypothermia is a real killer for the unprepared. With a strobe, you can set that out in the open somewhere highly visible while you hunker down in cover and out of the weather as much as possible. My original strobe ran off a c cell battery and would only last about 15 hours...I have a newer one here that uses an LED, and it's a third the size and lasts several times as long....

Use a strobe if night detecting, stuck on the roof of buggy otherwise I lose it in the black abyss Heard a noise one night and as I turned around the head torch showed an image as below fair ***** myself until I realised it was only a herd of curious cows come to look at what was going on

 

[user 4386]

I think that's getting to the point people will baulk at paying that if they feel they only need it 3 or 4 weekends a year...

However they can be hired - delivered to your door - for a trip.

 

[user 4386]

Double in price just running on different system, as said for $16.50 it's a no brainer

Yes, but different systems are more effective in different areas......

 

[user 22230]

Yes, but different systems are more effective in different areas......

100% agree as per my comment in previous post earlier
So it really depends on your location and circumstances to set yourself up with what ever will give you the fastest result and solution to the issue at hand.

I'm based just about as close to as far North as you can go so hence Note also Thuraya is the most mobile like voice clarity of all sat phones.
if you’re primarily in northern Australia, for example, Thuraya virtually cannot be beaten, though in the southern states, it’s less useful.

 

[sand surfer]

a plb ,garmin etrex and a silva base plate compass( takes up no room to carry the compass) and a topo map of the area i'm going to
i take a reading with the topo map and compass of where i have parked and i have had no problems at all

 

[user 22230]

a plb ,garmin etrex and a silva base plate compass( takes up no room to carry the compass) and a topo map of the area i'm going to
i take a reading with the topo map and compass of where i have parked and i have had no problems at all

If you can read a map and use a compass you won't get lost Some people have an almost homing pigeon ability also which helps, where as others are like a compass in a bag of magnets. Another bit of gear which hasn't been mentioned is a good set of binoculars, can be invaluable when needed.

 

[Moneybox]

If you carry too much gear you're going to need emergences services...

 

[Solid Luck]

I just carry a plb and hope I never have to use it.

 

[user 22230]

If you carry too much gear you're going to need emergences services...

MB 100% on that and was going to mention most is carried in SBS or quad, which I found is biggest advantage of using quads or SBS vehicles as you can usually detect closer to vehicle than when using a 4B. About all I carry on my person is water, gps and sat phone. I remember years ago about to head out and a seasoned prospector called me over and literally stripped me down of all the un needed gear I had hanging off me. Was like taking down xmas tree decorations.

 

[sand surfer]

If you can read a map and use a compass you won't get lost Some people have an almost homing pigeon ability also which helps, where as others are like a compass in a bag of magnets. Another bit of gear which hasn't been mentioned is a good set of binoculars, can be invaluable when needed.

that's it diginit it is not hard to learn the basics, and a quality compass like ie silva brand do not cost a arm and a leg for a basic base plate compass which is all you need for basic navigation for prospecting /fossicking
as long as you adjust the compass to the declination to the area you are in
most of the east coast is thereabouts of 10 degrees east so you change the compass to 10 degrees east
the new silva compass a mate bought about 3 weeks ago has the degrees of declination marked on the face for you
he got the silva ranger
for $47.00 it is a good buy
the link below is the declination for towns/city's in austarlia

https://www.magnetic-declination.com/locations.php?cc=AU&alpha=a&p=0