Mounted search and rescue

["Pennington-Boggio's" <pennbo@bbv.net>]

How do teams that are in mountainous areas handle the radio situation?
Cell phones are out as there isn't sufficient coverage. Most of our
searches are base camped near the CP with day excursions into the
surrounding wilderness. We are having one heck of a time finding decent
radio coverage. Any suggestions?

Also I noticed the recent discussion on pagers. We use a phone call-out
system in addition to pagers. The phone system has been in use for years
and the pagers are fairly recent. The combination seems to be giving us
much more effective communication on call-outs. I like the idea of two
way messaging pagers and will bring that up soon. On a recent search the
radios wouldn't work but the pagers would so CP kept in touch with me
through my pager- but it was a one-sided conversation!


Chris Pennington-Boggio
Big Bear, CA