Ham radio is often portrayed as irrelevant. A dying hobby in the age of the cell phone. Ham radio operators know nothing could be further from the truth. One operator who would be the first to back that up is Alden Summers Jones, KC1JWR, from Vermont.
During the Summer of 2020, Alden decided to take a hike with family on the Long Trail in Vermont. Long Trail is the oldest hiking trail in the United States and crosses the highest peaks in Vermont. Like any smart ham radio operator, Alden made sure to bring his HT on the hike as mountainous regions often lack cell phone coverage.
During the hike, Alden suddenly felt lightheaded, and his heart began racing. Then… nothing. The lights when out as he suffered a seizure from low blood sugar. A local EMT was nearby and rushed to Alden’s aid. The EMT pulled out his cell phone but was unable to contact dispatch. There they were, stranded on a mountain with a medical emergency and no cell coverage. Now what?
Ham radio to the rescue
Alden, who regained consciousness, reaches into his bag and pulls out the most hated ham radio known to man — his trusty Baofeng. He put out a call on 146.91 (K1FFK) located at 3,500 ft on Mt. Greylock. The 146.91 repeater is one of the widest coverage mountaintop repeaters on the East Coast.
The emergency call was acknowledged by Ron Wonderlick, AG1W. Another ham named Matthew Sacco (KC1JPU) was monitoring the emergency traffic. After a short discussion with Ron, Matthew went mobile and put himself at the emergency responder staging (parking) area where crews would enter the backcountry wilderness.
“As I arrived at the staging point set up by the Fire Department, I met up with Fire Chief Scott Moore (95-C1) of the Wilmington Fire Department, who was Incident Command. I told him how I heard about the incident and offered my services. I then got to work attempting to make contact with Ron over the 91. We were in a bit of a shadow as far as coverage went from the 91, and my first attempt to make contact with my HT was to no avail. I then went to my truck to try my mobile radio, which also failed to open up the repeater. Running out of options, I went into my radio bag and constructed a roll-up J-Pole out of some 450-ohm ladder line, a short length of coax, and male UHF connector. In that bag I keep some basic soldering equipment and a power inverter for the truck. Once it was constructed and tested, I grabbed my fishing pole from the back seat, put a weight on the end, and cast the weight into the highest branch I could find. I tied the J-Pole to the end of the line and reeled it up about 20′ into the tree with the help of a barrel connector and about another 24′ of coax. I tried that antenna plugged into the back of my mobile radio, and we were up and running! I was then in contact with Net Control!”
Matthew Sacco, KC1JPU
With communication established, the next challenge was finding the hiker and choosing the right equipment to get Alden (KC1JWR) off the mountain. Someone on the scene used his cellphone to give Google Maps Plus Code, which first responders converted into a latitude and longitude.
As the rescue team approached Alden’s location, they realized getting an ATV to him for evacuation wouldn’t be possible. They were going to need a helicopter rescue. The ham radio operators on the K1FFK emergency net passed traffic to notify New York State Search and Rescue. As Alden and others waited hours for search and rescue to arrive, he spent time talking about ham radio.
Another hiker worked to clear an opening for the helicopter to lower its rescue basket. The GPS coordinates are relayed through the ham net to the responding helicopter crew. While the rescuers were talking to the helicopter on their radios, they were having trouble making contact through with their rubber duck antennas. So, Alden, who had a better aftermarket antenna for his HT, lent it to the rescuers for better communication.
Alden was first flown to Woodford Mountain for evaluation and treatment and later airlifted to a hospital in Albany, NY. During the flight, Alden again talked to the pilots and the other rescuers about ham radio the value it can have when you need it most.
Neil Van Dyke (N1TNC), the Search & Rescue Coordinator for the Vermont Dept. of Public Safety, was the one who called in Search and Rescue. When asked about the event, Mr. Van Dyke said, “Ham radio was a key part of the incident and played a major role in the rescue”.
What can we learn from Alden’s story?
So many believe ham radio is no longer needed. We have smartphones, right? The truth is our communications infrastructure is incredibly fragile. It can collapse with a moments notice. Furthermore, even in 2020 cell signals don’t cover everywhere.
I lived in Colorado for nearly a decade. I’ve lost count how many times I would rely on ham radio in the Rocky Mountain backcountry for voice or data coverage (APRS) when Verizon and AT&T showed “No Service”.
Keep that radio on 146.520 simplex, scan your local repeaters and keep one ear on your radio if you live in remote areas. I would keep my four element vertical yagi pointed at Rocky Mountain National Park during the summer months just in case a tourist needed assistance.
If you’re going into remote areas yourself bring a radio and some RF gear with you. Consider building a go-bag with some basic ham radio gear if you’re an avid outdoorsman.
You never know when amateur radio could make the difference. In fact, Alden said it best, “Ham radio saved my life last night.”
A Baofeng in the bag is worth 2 Yaesu’s on the bench.
Living in Southern Florida, I’ve lost count of how many times comms systems have gone down during and after hurricanes. Internet, landlines, cell phones, the works. Even if repeater towers fail, Ham Radio still has means of communicating.
I have had so many baofengs break with my volunteers.
They are fine for teaching high school kids in the playground, but 20% failure rate is NOT what I would ever recommend for a mission critical tool.
I have had zero failures with Yaesu, Icom or Motorola…
They don’t take well to drops beatings, but for the price, they’re practically disposable.
Funny, I do carry two Yaesu VX-6E radios in my backpack, every day 🙂
Where in South Florida? I need an elmer! lol
But a Yaesu in the bag is better than any Baofeng in the bag!
AF7SA
AMEN! The “best” radio is the one you can use and afford!
I live an hours drive south of Orlando on the Treasure Coast.
Why wouldn’t a diabetic be smart enough to carry glucose tabs at least?
You have a valid point there.
Chances are, he didn’t know until then. Type 2 diabetes is rather nasty that way. I speak from experience as a fellow sufferer of the condition.
73
de
G1LIW
I didn’t read anything about him being diabetic.
FTFA: “… he suffered a seizure from low blood sugar”
Yeah, pipe down, Wono…
Joe on the third paragraph it stated his blood sugar went low showing he was a diabetic. You have hyper, hypo, and brittle diabetics which is a combination of both. I’m stuck with being a brittle diabetic.
He had Low Blood Sugar, this can happen to diabetics, so can High Blood Sugar.
He was probably hyperglycemic and I’m pretty sure he had insulin maybe metformin which works well after eating. I’m assuming he was hiking and exerting a lot of energy but didn’t plan on going hypoglycemic. It happens a lot frequently nowadays that doctors prescribed too much glucose control methods. Something you don’t normally plan for unless you’ve been through it. Chances are he’s never been through it.
I’m a Type 2 Diabetic, and I don’t carry glucose tablets. I maintain a balanced diet, and every 2-3 hours I grab a piece of fruit. I do mild exercise because too much working out drops my sugar level as well.
I cannot use glucose tablets or anything with sugar. It jacks up my glucose real fast, then I break out in a sweat, get dizzy, and then my sugar level comes crashing down. It’s a horrible feeling.
Perhaps this man was the same way. He pushed himself too much to hike like that.
But, you are correct. Diabetics need to carry a trail mix of dry fruit and nuts. Granola bars are candy, and are rich in sugar. I’m happy he had a Ham Radio! 🙂
Ham Radio played an important part in the recovery operations after the May 3, 1999 Tornado in the community of Bridge Creek, Grady County Oklahoma. Cellular coverage was spotty at best, the disaster was so wide spread that the normal radio frequencies used by emergency responders was basically unusable due to congestion. Stan Bradly, another ham, and I set up a station at the local school to help coordinate activity. We placed Hams with portables and hand held radios in police, fire and ambulance vehicles. We used Packet Radio to transmit some of the more sensitive information for the Sherriff’s Department. By day 2 we had VHF and UHF repeaters up and running at the command post. Several of our first responders got their Ham license after that.
Wow. What a nice story. Glad he is ok and the article is right. Ham radio is one of the only forms of communication when there is no cell service.
73,
N8IGF
Greylock has wonderful coverage especially with band openings (troposphere ducting). I was able to work it with 1 watt with my Drake TR-22C…many years ago!
Go 31/91!!!!
Forgot to list my QTH… worked Mt Greylock with 1 watt from Yonkers, NY!
It’s still better to be prepared for possable situations that might come up, than be caught up short in a life or death emergency.. As this situation shows.. Everyone should get into ham radio, as a backup.. KC6FJO..
Great article, I will be building my go-bag. 73
K7GJS
You’re lucky you’re not on Long Island New York. Some ham operators offer to help local law enforcement and FD when Cell services got jammed up during the TWA flight 800 accident. With attitude They’ll tell you to get lost you’re just another CB radio nut job.
Thank you for publishing this article on ham radios. Everyday I see the importance of communications when the system is down.
I just purchased a Beofeng UV-5RIII. Ordered an Abree 42” roll up antenna. Today I am contacting local Ham Radio Club. I have been studying everyday fir 2 weeks now.
I am a veteran US Army Ranger and 82nd Airborne. The most important thing I have learned is to be prepared for all contingencies. All these years I have failed that doctrine because I did not have Ham Radio and equipment to save lives.
Thank you for reaffirming the importance of ham radios and how effective operators and their experience can make in times of trouble.
I want to be the solution and not the problem. Thank you
Well said. 73 Derrick S Brown G4LNM
While this rescue sounds unusual for the East Coast; it is very common and SOP within New Mexico’s SAR community.
73s
Greg
Wow. It went from Baofeng versus Yeasu to Diabetes pretty fast. The strange thing is why do Baofeng owners have a higher rate of Diabetes? Because the cost of insulin is so high, it’s the only radio they can afford.
I have a baofange and having trouble seting it up to get in and out i am in Canada and ther are a lot of ham around my place
Snoopy, if you have a smartphone, download an app called Repeaterbook. It will use your location combined with its database of repeaters to provide all the information for local repeaters in your selected band. Make sure your PL tones and offsets are correct. If they are, could just be quiet conditions.
73 de AE0JW
I’ll 2nd repeaterbook, great ap.
I ordered a baofeng walkie talkie which i am told can be programed not to transmit and thats what i intend to do. I just want to listen and not interfere the the legitamite use that lisenced users have.I want to play by the rules enjoy Recieving. Not Transmiting