Amateur Radio operators using DMR assist in New Hampshire rescue

“When all else fails, Amateur Radio” proved to be more than just the
ARRL tagline on Sunday December 11, 2022.

An elderly New Hampshire man went out for a day hike with his dog
yesterday in the Belmont area of central New Hampshire. Things went
well, until his cellphone battery died. With the oncoming snow and
darkness, a leisurely day hike was quickly turning into a serious health
and safety issue for the hiker.

Fortunately for him he is also an amateur radio operator and had his DMR
HT with him. With no cell phone capability, he made a call on a DMR NH
statewide channel through the Gunstock DMR repeater in Gilford, NH seeking assistance.
His call was answered by Bill Barber, NE1B who was monitoring the
channel. The hiker asked Bill to call his wife as he could not text or
get pinged with his dead cell phone. Bill contacted the hiker/ham’s
wife, and she was glad to hear that someone was in contact with him.
Unfortunately, he did not know exactly where he was and believed he
would have to walk through brush for an hour or more to get to a road.

His wife called in the local PD who began a search along with their FD.
Ham radio was the only communication from about 4:30 to 6:30 PM. Bill
called up Rick Zach, K1RJZ, who lives closer to the search area, and he
was familiar with the area snow mobile trails and roads. Rick
coordinated communication between the responding police units and the
lost ham on the NH Statewide talk group.

The police and fire units attempted to assist in the search by
activating their sirens in different locations to try to obtain a
location on the ham, however, he was not able to hear them.

Another ham Chuck Cunningham, K1MIZ, was monitoring the events on net
watch and noticed that the lost ham had accidentally changed channels.
This information was passed along and 2 meter DMR communication
continued until the lost ham walked out to a road and could advise where
he was. The search and checkout ended successfully at 6:30 PM.

Thanks to the efforts of Bill, NE1B, Rich, K1RJZ and Chuck, K1MIZ the
wayward ham is going to be able to enjoy another Christmas holiday with
his family.

Bill listed some very important lessons learned from the incident -

Radio batteries last longer on DMR radios than on analog mode.
Even his wife had trouble on her cell phone coverage at home
Monitor your local State DMR channel for helping others nearby
You may want to program 146.52 FM next to your State channel for signal
strength DFing if and when out of repeater range. Some hams still
monitor 52!
But stay on the primary channel until you know more hams are nearby to
DF
Hike with DMR. Our network sites cover many areas of New England that
do not have any cell service
Hike with a flashlight

And I would like to add one more item to the list. My son is one of the
leaders of Pemi Search & Rescue and unfortunately responds to too many
calls for lost hikers. One very important item that he stresses is that
hikers file a “flight plan”. Let someone who is not going on the
hike know where you are going, how long you expect to be gone and what
communication equipment or capability you have with you. This also
applies if you are going out hunting, fishing or boating.


Raul "Skip" Camejo - AC1LC
Public Information Coordinator
ARRL New Hampshire Section

ac1lc@outlook.com
ac1lc@arrl.net

 

Injuries, deaths, and (yes!) rescues have become much too common in the mountains of NH. You hear about many of them on the news, but many others get resolved and don't make the news. I carry both an inreach and an HT on the trails, and many times the inreach is blocked but the HT is not.

The problem has become acute because the White Mountains (especially) have become the 'new' "Yosemite East" or "Rocky Mt National Park East", and everyone wants to join the '4000 Footer Club'...

And yes, I have texted in (inreach) several hikers in distress. Some wearing flip flops and no bad weather gear. Everyone knows about the Pemi R and R. Great group!

It would be great to get the AMC to take on ham radio as a rescue aid, and I hope that happens.

Example--as we speak...Hiker who fell to death from mountain had proper equipment (msn.com)
73
Chip W1YW

 

Sorry if I missed it...the name/call of the hiker?

 

You didn't miss it, we didn't release it.

 

An uninjured hiker wanted a ride (back his car?) and asked for someone to call his wife.

The hiker later walks to a road for pickup. Case closed.

Yes?
Maybe the hiker should also carry a spare battery or battery bank for his phone going forward. Glad to hear his dog made it out.

Thanks for sharing the drama.

 

This type of hiking is not a walk in the park. Asking for help is welcomed, and almost all fellow hikers are happy to oblige.

 

I am truly sorry that you see this as drama. Yes it was an uninjured hiker, but no he wasn't looking for a ride back to his car. He got lost - people do that on occasion here in the mountains. Two weeks ago there was a 19 year old woman who despite being an experienced hiker lost her life in the White Mountains. When it gets dark here and snow comes in things tend to go sideways in a hurry. Any time an uninjured hiker can be helped out of their predicament it is a win as far as I am concerned. Our purpose in getting this information out was to show that DMR can be useful for something other than rag chews. I guess things are different where you live, I'm sorry to have bothered you by sharing this information.

 

It's stories like this that warm my heart. In a world full of pain and suffering, it's great to hear that something took a turn for the best and that there's still a whole lot o' good still alive and well in our world!

 

He just doesn't get it.

So here is the fact: The White Mountains--among others in New England --are friendly, gorgeous, and dangerous. They demand respect and planning and contingencies. I have a second home on the side of one of those 'hills'. The microclimate it experiences can be blizzard at my house and sunny 10 miles away. Snow on Mt Washington or Cannon, and sun bathing on my porch. People who live with this strange set of weather vicissitudes often ASK hikers if they are prepared for adverse conditions, and the Appalachian Mountain Club does its best to drill it into tourists. Slippery granite and hypothermia spell one end-point: death.

AC1LC is pointing out that DMR-- and ham radio-- are useful tools that should be more strongly considered by the hiking community. Whether the weather is a factor, or even if someone is lost or absent in communication.

He is correct.

73
Chip W1YW

 

Thank you for the nice story. With all the negativity these days a nice story even featuring amateur radio is good indeed. Guess the elder gent got turned around a bit and luckily he had a radio to let folks know as well as keep him out of a panic.

 

To be fair, I looked and to my surprise, we have a (as in one) DMR repeater near Anchorage. I have nothing to listen to any digital mode, nor does that mode hold any interest.

You didn't bother me. I could have not bothered to click on the story - but I did. The tale was well told, but I read it as a drama.
YMMV.

 

I guess I'll be looking into purchasing a DMR HT.

 

Thanks for sharing Skip, I was listening when the hiker originally called for help and Bill answered. I was reminiscent of the old phone patch days when Bill held the phone with the guys wife on the line close to his radio so she could hear her husband. I had to leave so I was unaware of the search and rescue operation, so I'm glad that it worked out and that it was shared.

 

I have a clear shot into:

Mt Lafayette; Mt Washington; Cannon; Musalake ,Kingsman, etc. from the north sides. IOW approaches from Franconia Notch.... I can be convinced to host a repeater for DMR for just these circumstances, if someone else wants to get me a conservative estimate for cost and installation effort.

PM me.

Chip W1YW

 

Chip, Get in contact with Bill, NE1B. He's the President of NEDECN. Also, I believe that Cannon does have a DMR repeater, however, it's Brandmeister, not DMR-MARC.