Mounted search and rescue

[Una Smith <una@lanl.gov>]

Chris Pennington wrote:
>                     we are just now getting the repeater situation under
>control. And we've been on many missions where the radios were worthless.

Air horns won't be heard all that far away in rough terrain, and those
hearing the horn won't have a good idea where the sound is coming from.

New Mexico has excellent repeater coverage, but even so it is common
for at least some teams to have poor radio communications.  We handle
this in two ways.  1.  Send a fast team to a high point where they are
likely to be able to hear Incident Command and the team(s) in a radio
blind spot.  2.  Request Civil Air Patrol to circle overhead providing
spot repeater coverage.

Re solution #1, I plan to get my amateur radio license when things get
slower, so that my team can provide better high-point radio support.

        Una Smith
        Santa Fe County Sheriff's Posse, in New Mexico