Cell Phones - A Revelation

Group,

I was just thinking about 'Snipe'. I had seen him yesterday about 3:00pm and we talked about going fishing in the evening. He had some chores to attend to so he couldn't, but I did. Anyway, the thought just occured to me. What if we had gone fishing? What if we had and he had his stroke while we were on the river? How would I have gotten timely help? The answer is, I would have had to leave him and drive for a distance to find a phone, then drive back to his side. Minimum of 1/2 hour.

Revelation - A fully charged cell phone is among the most important pieces of a first aid kit as you should carry. In the event of an emergency, especially when you're by yourself or in an isolated location, your ability to communicate can be the difference between life and death! In fact, this afternoon I'm going to one of the cellular phone companies and getting one.

Now I'm not suggesting that cell phones should be ringing all along the river while people are fishing or that fishers need to conduct business or socialize by phone while astream. However, I am saying that a cell phone is as vital to the health, well-being and safety of fishers, hunters, hikers, etc. as any first aid kit and should be used in the context of first aid.

After this revelation I urge everyone to consider getting a cell phone to use as their own 'first aid life insurance communication' device. With any luck you'll never have to use it.

Edited based on comments below:
Yes, companies and their signal coverage are not the same. Get the coverage you might anticipate. Regardless, wood isn't always available and smoke signals are difficult to translate. And for those who think cell phones should not be carried, I suggest you rethink your position.

Allan


[This message has been edited by tyeflies (edited 14 July 2006).]

Allan,
All very true...there is a problem though...depending on where you are fishing[or whatever] there may not be cell phone coverage...my friend and I run into this all the time...we go fairly remote...but you are right...it is very comforting when we know we have a signal..
Consider that when you make a choice of companies ...their coverage can vary.

Allan, when you buy that cell phone be sure to ask first about their coverage areas --in detail.

The great majority of the places I fish out here don't have cell phone coverage. I usually have to drive to the nearest good sized community to make a call.

At a finger lakes cottage family reunion three years ago, there were four cell phones present. Mine was the only one that worked there. It was an older model; the newer ones couldn'tget the signal.

[This message has been edited by oldfrat (edited 14 July 2006).]

I very rarley have coverage when I am in my fishing areas but I usually have a phone in the van. If you are like me I do not recomend carrying your phone in your vest. If I have anything in my vest that I do not want to get wet I can almost guarantee I will take a spill.

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Born to fish forced to work.
Alan

Great idea. Different companies have differing areas of coverage, but most are about the same. Think of all the violaters you can squeel on now and all the pizza you can order too! http://www.flyanglersonline.com/bb/wink.gif

Allan, RW here,

We just finished up the fourth annual Roscoe fish-in in June. At no time in no place on any of the streams or tribs I fished could I get a signal to call my wife or anyone else for that matter, even though a cell tower was clearlly visible on the mountain from the Roscoe diner. I've so far not had an emergency that required immediate contact to someone. On the other hand it costs me a fortune to call my wife from Roscoe or just about anywhere out of the Catskills on a land line. And I've had that problem in a lot of places that caused a great deal of inconvenience. I think the way things are set up now that cell phones suck, at least as far as my need for them. I still travel with one though, and your point is valid....as soon as they get the damn cell companies to work together and straighten out the problems and the dropped calls, etc. etc. I guess half a loaf is better than none.

Later, RW

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"Maybe your stature as a fly fisherman isn't determined by how big a trout you can catch, but by how small a trout you can catch without being disappointed." <John Gierach>



[This message has been edited by Royal Wulff (edited 17 July 2006).]

I almost never have cell coverage where I fish. I never carry it for that and other reasons.

The cell companies coverage maps are ALWAYS a bit exaggerated but it wouldn't deter me from getting one if I didn't have one.

When I do fish with buddies, I have the Walkie-Talkies along. While I can't reach the outside world with them, I can stay in touch and there is always the chance I can pick up another persons channel and communicate with them in an emergency.

Get well Snipe!

Very Good Advise! Cell phones have saved a lot of lives in the PNW back country. I have used several carriers over the past contract years and found Verizon and Cingular do best.

These phones do work by "line of sight" and that means you may have to get up out of that river for it to work!

While I often fish spots where there is no coverage, I keep the cell available in the Jeep, because, most often, I am nearer cell coverage than physical help. Given that, it STILL is faster, in most cases, than going without.
Mike

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You can call me Mike & you can call me Mikey..Just remember that this site's about sharing!

I carry the cell phone too, but as mentioned, especially here in Michigan, it doesn't always work. However, I have a powerful ham radio in my truck and with the repeater network, hams all over Michigan ,not to mention the entire U.S. I seldom have a problem getting through. I have used it more for others than for myself. In otherwords, there always is someone out there to help when help is needed. I have trained my friends how to use it in an emergency. I hope they never have to. Fellow hams, my call is KG7FS, if you ever hear me, say hello.

[This message has been edited by Jonezee (edited 14 July 2006).]

Good post. So sad about Snipe's condition.

I have had no service come up on the cell enough that I have invested in a Satellite Phone by Globalstar. I don't feel right taking my family into the back country without a safety link.

The Globalstar 1600 works anywhere-anytime (cont. USA) and I have tested in narrow canyons in Death Valley, The open desert in the Mojave and out in the mountains of central Nevada and right here on the beaches of So.Cal.

It just works like a charm each and every time-clear as a bell. The company offers n Emergency Kit and plan. The phone is in a waterproof box with all of the chargers and auto adaptors needed. Comes with yearly minutes allaowables too. Cheap insurance considering the trouble a pearson can get into in the field.

I have had my cell phone for 4 years now.
When I first got it my coverage and dropped calls was not satisfactory for me. I now have a plan where I can make calls from anyplace in the USA, no mater which tower I contact. I do not get any roaming, is all included in my plan. I have no long distance charges as my minutes covers it all. Liz is also on my plan as is her son, Andy. I have Verizon and calls to Liz or Andy at anytime of day or night is a free call. (In -Calling) I think it is called.

I agree, check with your provider and ask about coverage and NO Roaming. It is out there if you check for it.

I fish a lot, all over the USA and seldom am in an area where I do not have coverage. There are a few places but normally with a very short drive I do have coverage.

Dropped calls are a thing of the past for me. I just need to keep the darn thing charged or plug it in when driving. It is important to keep the battery charged.

I love my cell phone so much that I no longer feel a need for a land line. With great joy I cut the land line Co off when we installed the satelite for the Internet connection.

The newer phones are for the most part far superior to the old ones. My cost today for this service is far less than what I had to pay for the land line / long distance set up in the past.

Denny


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Denny
Denny@conranch.com
Co-Owner Conranch Hackles

Also, please look at satellite telephones. They are not as expensive as they once were and have better coverage in many out of the way places.
There are some flexible plans for these phones as well so they are another option.

Andy

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all types of fishermen must pull together for the good of all!!!

Reading the brochures from three companies, I noticed an interesting bit of information. Each one shows a complete map of the USA with colors indicating their areas of coverage. However, there is a disclaimer (in small print of course) that this area may include other service providers, that the map may not be accurate and that within the serviced area each connection depends upon the terrain, buildings, etc. The maps by Verizon, Sprint and Cingular are almost identical. In other words, the maps are just guidelines but really mean sh*t.

BTW, Has anyone figured out the 'acronym'?

Allan



[This message has been edited by tyeflies (edited 14 July 2006).]

That's an excellent idea. I need a different plan though, cuz eveytime I head out, and try calling, all I get is a roaming signal. Not much help if I need it. I couldn't even get a signal in the town of Arcade.

Cel phones are a mixed bag. On the one hand they can be such a blessing and a convience and on the other, a complete PITA! I've had one now for a few years and they are great security driving down the highway. But I'm always leary of some moron ziping down the road and yaking away on the cel ... I think an accident just waiting to happen!

There are places we go in the mountains and there is absolutely NO reception ... and that's kind of nice ... a little by-gone peace and quiet! What we do here is use those simple Motorola "talk-about" FRS radios. Their range is somewhere between two and three miles depending on the terrain, but we just don't get that far apart. I think we bought them at Wally-Mart for something like $29.95 for a pair and we ended up getting six of them so everyone has a radio out in the boonies.


Dale



[This message has been edited by DaleW (edited 14 July 2006).]

The FRS (Family Radio Service) are great little gadgets and a lot of folk fine them very useful and benifical. Let me help explain some of the pro's and con's. I you have a unit (pair) that has rechargable battereies you must be aware that kind of battery gives no warning when it is about to expire. One minute you are talking, listening, the next minute Nada. If you have a unit that uses penlight AAA or AA batteries, they will gradually loose their umph and you will knwo something is going to give soon. Even with the cost, I prefer drycell Akaline batteries. For one, they will last four times as long as a rechargable. You can carry spares. Again, we are talking line of sight, you are lucky to get half a mile in real life conditions. Know your limitations and use them wisely. Their limited power output is 1/2 watt and the use the UHF (ultra hight Freq) bands. I like them when travelling with two or more cars and friends, a great way to communicate. Also, they hardly use any current when receiving, when transmitting, its like a toaster, you are burning the jucie fast. If you see units for twenty five dollars and some for a hundred, there is a difference. The better models will have a sleep mode,batteries are conserved until a signal is detected, a very nice feature. Also, if you can get cigerette light adapterr for the car, you cn talk forever with out fear of the batteries going dead. The first FRS radio became available to the public in May 1996. Good luck, Jonezee

[This message has been edited by Jonezee (edited 14 July 2006).]

[This message has been edited by Jonezee (edited 15 July 2006).]

Like most of the other posters on this thread, I bought a cell phone for safety reasons being old and not too coordinated. On my first trip to the river, I discovered that phone coverage ceased about 15 miles from my destination. The phone went as dead as a road-killed toad. 8T

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You had better learn to be a happy camper. You only get one try at this campground and it's a real short camping season.

My first cell phone was purchased specifically to be tucked into the pocket of my riding jacket when I started riding motorcycles. I kept it off to make the battery last longer and kept it in my jacket instead of somewhere on the bike in case of a nasty wreck that had me and the bike in different places.

Coverage area was a major consideration in picking a carrier though all the ones I've tried have plenty of holes in common areas. Heck, one of the local reservoirs here in Silicon Valley that's on the edge of town has reception on the shore but not on the water (and it's not a big reservior).

In my area of N Colorado, there's very little cell coverage. It's simply a terrain and distance issue, high mountains and deep canyons, and cell doesn't work in the canyons.

I wrote an interesting article in Back Home magazine a couple years back on the topic. Here's some tips in a nutshell:

When cell phone shopping, buy one with an external antenna jack. These are getting harder and harder to find. But it lets you attach a high-gain cartop antenna, and if you have an extra $300 lets you also attach a (totally legal) booster that bumps your transmit power from 1/2 watt to 3 watts (the legal max). These 2 steps can make a huge difference in your coverage, and the cartop antenna is cheap. Without an external antenna jack, there's still a slip-on, magnetically coupled adaptor you can use, but there are some losses. You can check with [url=http://cellantenna.com/:e8be1]http://cellantenna.com/[/url:e8be1] before purchase to find out if there's a slip-on adaptor avaialble for a phone model that has no external jack. They can also fix you up with boosters and high-gain antennas.

Since I fish with a buddy that has a pacemaker and with my 75 year old Dad, we carry FRS walkie talkies, and we only buy the kind that can take alkaline batteries in addition to rechargables.

I also keep a handheld ham radio in the truck because of the large number of mountaintop repeater sites around the country, a ham license is a GREAT idea for any outdoorsperson, and is easy to get -- the test is quite simple to get a license (you have a 1 in 4 chance of passing even if you don't study!). ;~) Many ham repeaters have 911 phone patch capability built in, talk to your local ham radio club to find out 911 patch info for your area. A good, handheld ham radio costs only $100.

I don't carry the ham radio with me on the river or lake because---I'm a firefighter and medical responder, and thanks to a post-9/11 FEMA grant everyone in our department has a handheld Police/Fire radio, so I can get help faster that way. Never had to use it for a *fishing* emergency, but surprised the s*** out of some folks with an illegal campfire last year when the ranger pulled in 10 minutes after I told them to put it out, and they told me to stick it up my....

Anyway -- you CAN improve your cell coverage, and if you fish with anyone who might have health problems, a ham license is a great idea--our local ham repeaters have people listening in 24/7 who are more than willing to call 911 for you from a landline, if there's no phone patch.

DANBOB
KC0VRD
9RC323


PS at the time I wrote my article, Globalsat et al was way too expensive for most people. Prices are dropping now, and some sat phone providers have 'emergency only' packages that are much less expensive.

[This message has been edited by danbob (edited 16 July 2006).]