What Could Possibly Go Wrong ?

Activation Reports Pre-Planning
21

I truly appreciate the constructive comments…that was my aim in writing the report.

I go back however to, "what should we take:? Sure my main oversight .
I should have carried more water…seems obvious. I have done a 10 kilometre round trip hike when the return leg was in 35C… I had 2 litres of water and starting off well hydrated… but it was a much easier hike with no bush bashing involved on a well defined vehicle track.(closed to public use)… I just had six locked gates to get over - each way! A map, compass? No. I have carried a compass for over 7 years as an activator…never needed it… Until now! Spare batteries…again never needed them… the Garmin branded 2.4v , 2000mAh, 4.8Wh batteries have been totally reliable…Until now! New set ordered. And some emergency AA alkaline batties will also come along for the ride. I didnt know about the menu choices! Now educated.

My Suunto Watch… I suspect the 30 to 32 degree heat…I wore the watch all day today …now 2330 local. still at 79% ? Go figure…It was 35C here today. During my ordeal I did not feel hot at any stage…although my Samsung tablet objected to the direct sunlight.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing. I am happy with the extensive planning and preparation I made for this activation. It goes without saying that I will in future carry more water. Though some local activators participated, I did not once consider taking my 23cm and 13cm kit for this summit.
In future for all hikes I may consider ditching all 2m, 70cm SSB options, as frankly, my prime interest is HF CW. The great majority of my SOTA logs over the last 7 years have been CW, and FM simplex using the FT60R. Do I carry a spare CW key? Of couse!

I am not interested in the digital modes…a few less batteries cables and IT to rely on :wink:. In the past I have made CW S2S on 2m, 70cm 23cm and 13cm…but that requires a LOT of additional kit to lug up to the summit and back…for very few and far between opportunities to employ those bands. I’ll save those for more leisurely drive-up summits.

It is good to have all these comments from those who have always carried spare batteries, a map,
a compass, InReach or even a dedicated satellite phone. Too much is ever enough… if you can carry it all. That is where risk analysis comes into play…so too does damned good luck… It wasnt good luck that saved my bacon on this trip. I stopped before things got beyond my control. I had sufficient communication devices at hand including the essential PLB… HF would have been in play had the mobile / cell phone servce not been available and if my HH VHF didn’t find our local repeater…but BOTH worked as designed. I could have avoided the situation in which I found myself, but in my case I did not need a sat phone, or InReach. I just wanted the light intermittent drizzle that occured just after midnight to flow off my plastic ground sheet into the bottle! No such luck.

People need to appreciate that these things can happen. Your chances of getting home largely in one piece are vastly improved by thorough planning and knowing what to do when things go south. I know I ticked that box…but my gosh having good friends and professionals to drag you out makes that planning and application appear almost seamless. Years of training suddenly kicked in without even realising it. But, I could have avoided it…had I known just how hard going the hike was to be…Perhaps I should have aborted? Hindsight is wonderful!

I’d like to hear from those whose eyes have been opened by my day, and will amend their own planning and heed my mistakes, and to realistically consider what they would have done?

And as I did mention, despite the lack of rain in the area, during the hike out we crossed a lovely clear running water creek about 30 minutes from my overnight position… So the idea was sound.

Again… thanks for the feedback.

Bill
VK1MCW

4 Likes
22

Hi Bill,

Thanks for sharing. As someone who has been benighted twice and helicoptered off a mountain once, there is a lot it learn from your mis-adventure. Thanks. Even in difference climates, water may not be an issue in the Scottish highlands, but the right gear when unexpected weather hits is.

I rely on a GPS sat messenger (inreach), GPS watch (Garmin Fenix), iPhone with maps and the ability to charge them all from my radio battery. I never really questioned all three might fail or be forgotten and what could go wrong…. Food for thought on improvements.

Tim - G5OLD.

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23

Paper maps can have a zoom function. I sometimes photo the portion of a map I think will need careful checking - so d can zoom in on it if needed. :slightly_smiling_face:

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24

They’ve all been strangled when it was windy. :rofl:

I always chopped my map into useful sections, covered it in clear self sticky film and that would get stuffed in a pocket.

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25

Good point when changing different types of cells. Easy to forget.

73’s Wal VK2WP

1 Like
26

My 2007 vintage Garmin Etrex Vista HCx runs for about 20hrs continuous on 2x 2400mAh AA NiMH cells. I have been using IKEA LADDA cells for sometime. They seem to have a decent lifetime and are very low self-discharge. I take 2 in the GPS and 2 spare with me and they get rotated in and out of service along with another 2 pairs I have. Carrying 2 pair means I don’t need to fully charge the cells for every trip. If you think a big walk maybe 3 hours up and 2.5hours down, then I get quite a few big walks per charge cycle plus there’s a spare pair.
Similarly my phone has GPS (Galileo, Baidu, GPS, GLONASS) and I always have the same GPX route on the phone and the Garmin. I normally have the phone in airplane mode to save battery life. That leaves the mapping GPS running. I use that if I need a bigger map view than the tiny Garmin screen. I like to have a paper map in an Ortleib soft case (the type that work when it’s well below zero).

As for charging, over the years I’ve found there is a sweet spot for charge rate between fast charge and longevity. So most things (LiFePO, LiPO, NiMH) get charged quite slowly. The only thing I can’t control is how fast the phone charges. But quite often I charge it from a low current USB supply so it is limited to 500mA rather than the 2A and 3A chargers I have.

I do feel naked without a paper map. I really must crack open the sporran and buy a colour laser printer!

2 Likes
27

This :arrow_up::arrow_up:… a hundred times over!

On all but the most innocuous SOTA summits I have my InReach tracking.

I hope you’d never see this! I have taught hundreds of people traditional map and compass nav skills and I always tell people not to use one of these. Instead have it folded smaller to go in a pocket.

I could not agree more!!! You need this skill set even if navigating off an electronic map with a position dot. I’ve actually been in charge of rescues where the casualty had an electronic map, showing a position dot, but they still couldn’t use it to get back to a safe path.

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28

I can emphasise well with Bill’s circumstances. On one of my treks into the remote Wollemi Wilderness was relying on old memories of a particular soak to provide water when camping. Trudged through at times heavy trackless scrub, very hot weather and coming to the night’s camp found the soak had dried up with only a bit of a damp patch. A waterless night, in the morning just enough water to wet my mouth from the soak and then a long, slow near day’s trudge out to a staging camp with water. Many rests on the way and was hallucinating about cold drinks all the time.
Luckily had a full o/night pack, map/compass and spare batteries for the GPS so was not lost. By the way, no mobile phone access any where so did not even bother to lug a phone.( A sat phone would be the thing in this wilderness area.)
But in the heat a close call and took a while to recover. Now always carry 2 litres of water and yes have been benighted (with a full pack) since then and glad I had sufficient water with me.

So Bill is not the only one whom has had a close call to relate.

73’s Wal VK2WP

P.S always carry a PLB1

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