Hill walking network Safety Channel 8 PRM

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radio_ryan
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Hill walking network Safety Channel 8 PRM

Post by radio_ryan »

PMR 446 channel 8 Hill Walking Network

in this month radio user page 20, it talks about channel 8 being used has a safety channel for hill walkers,

Has any one of here pick this up or know more about it, it alos added they did not think you needed a CTCSS also, has i am in derbyshire nad yorkshire alot may be i will hear some think.

would this channel be use to talk to other walkers or just for safety. it add to that at this time some diffrent group use diffrent channel.

sound to be a good thing, but i feel they should use a CTCSS that use UK wide
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Re: Hill walking network Safety Channel 8 PRM

Post by Jarty »

Channel 8 is used alot here for a good while now by hillwalkers around Ireland as the channel to contact one another in a group while hillwalking and most larger groups have a base station at the bottom of the mountains to co ordinate groups and pass on messages and for emergencies..Myself and friends have been using channel 9 for a good while now while hillwalking as channel 8 tends to be very busy with radio traffic at this time of year but we still monitor channel 8 at all times..A few of us have marine radios with us when hillwalking and we monitor channel 16 also as the coastguard,mountain rescue and the Air Ambulance can be contacted in an emergency on marine channel 16,.mobile phone signals are very poor to none existant in many areas of the mountains here so two way radio communications are very important here..
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Re: Hill walking network Safety Channel 8 PRM

Post by M0MTH »

seems like a good idea, given the lack of mobile phone signals in remote areas.
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Re: Hill walking network Safety Channel 8 PRM

Post by Admiral »

In an emergency one tends to shout on every frequency available.
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Re: Hill walking network Safety Channel 8 PRM

Post by Guzzy »

I guess as long as other hill walkers know what the convention is, there is no reason for it not to work.

Sounds like a sensible use of PMR446 to me.

...I'd still carry a phone though.
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Re: Hill walking network Safety Channel 8 PRM

Post by radio_ryan »

it all sound good safety advice, has where i go walking there NO phone network and no access in to ham radio repeters. i do know that the MRT rescue centre is not faw away. bear that in mine and ensure i have the mean of accessing ch 8.

it would be good if this became UK wide, use radio most of us would all-ways have a ear on 446 and most of the UK would be coved in some way, be nice if the polce, MRT, Fire putting safety inforamtion like weather warening that may have pop up sice you left home

thank you all for the other inforamtion
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Re: Hill walking network Safety Channel 8 PRM

Post by Guzzy »

Thinking about it, if I was going somewhere seriously remote in the UK... is that possible in the UK? ... I might be tempted to take a VHF Marine hand held with me just in case of a seriously serious situation. You may get the b0llox of your life when they rescue you from the top of a mountain, but at least you would be alive to receive it. :lol:

Those air/sea rescue buggers have the best DF gear you've ever seen! :mrgreen:
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Re: Hill walking network Safety Channel 8 PRM

Post by Jarty »

yes i always bring a VHF Marine Handheld radio as well as a pmr 446 radio when hillwalking in remote mountain areas, i had to contact the Valentia coastguard a few years back when a woman on mountain had a fall and sprained a leg and couldnt get back down mountain,,No mobile phone reception,.I called channel 16 and Valentia coastguard came through, no bollicking,they politily told me to move to channel 67 then took my co ordinates and passed them on to mountain rescue who were there within a hour and streachered the injured woman down the mountain to hospital..
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Re: Hill walking network Safety Channel 8 PRM

Post by shortymcsteve »

Were you near the coast when contacting the Coast Guard? (also what did you say to them exactly when making contact?) A lot of the time people go hill walking, camping and other out door activities further inland so its quite interesting that people take their VHF radios to contact the CG.
I plan to be up the north of scotland some time in the summer for around a week camping in 'remote' areas and i was thinking about what i would do in an emergency as i know mobile phone networks are rubbish in most non city areas.
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Re: Hill walking network Safety Channel 8 PRM

Post by radio_ryan »

shortymcsteve wrote:Were you near the coast when contacting the Coast Guard? (also what did you say to them exactly when making contact?) A lot of the time people go hill walking, camping and other out door activities further inland so its quite interesting that people take their VHF radios to contact the CG.
I plan to be up the north of scotland some time in the summer for around a week camping in 'remote' areas and i was thinking about what i would do in an emergency as i know mobile phone networks are rubbish in most non city areas.

i am not sure, what call i would use too, i could use my ham radio one, but then they may take it off me. i would like to know what call you would need to use to if help was need.

on ham radio i would say 145.500 use your call and just may day or assistance message say your probleam and where you. has they may hear you. but you may not hear them, just has the word tranitting blind.
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Re: Hill walking network Safety Channel 8 PRM

Post by pterodaktyl »

I would say that the best safety precaution to take when out in the wild is to note down your route and ETA and leave it with someone you trust. If you don't check in at the agreed time then they can call out the cavalry for you. If you do this please make sure you DO check in on time - plenty of SAR ops get launched for "missing" walkers who turn out to be enjoying a beer in the local pub.

If you're on a mountain top not too far from the coast you may have a chance of reaching the coastguard on Channel 16, but if you're laying at the bottom of a valley or ravine your chances of getting them on a 5W handheld are pretty slim.

Of course if you're carrying any kind of radio gear it would be worth noting this down along with your route and ETA ie. "Monitoring PMR446 Ch.8" or "Monitoring 145.500MHz" - that way if a search party is having trouble locating you it gives them another option for contacting you so you can talk them onto your location.

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Re: Hill walking network Safety Channel 8 PRM

Post by Jarty »

shortymcsteve wrote:Were you near the coast when contacting the Coast Guard? (also what did you say to them exactly when making contact?) A lot of the time people go hill walking, camping and other out door activities further inland so its quite interesting that people take their VHF radios to contact the CG.
I plan to be up the north of scotland some time in the summer for around a week camping in 'remote' areas and i was thinking about what i would do in an emergency as i know mobile phone networks are rubbish in most non city areas.
I was 3000ft up seefin mountain in kerry,,i was 6km to the coast and it was 14 km to Valentia coastguard radio station. i said' calling emergencies services on marine channel 16,i have an emergency situation on top of seefin mountain please come in'..Valentia radio came back with.. 'Valentia coastguard radio station here, Please go to channel 67 and give me your co ordinates and your emergency situation and i will contact mountain rescue to help you ' mobile phone reception was non existant and i tried pmr446 before contacting the coastguard but no one in range,,they then told me that mountain rescue would call me on marine channel M1 or 37 when they were near me,which they did when they were about 5 Kms from me..
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Re: Hill walking network Safety Channel 8 PRM

Post by shortymcsteve »

Jarty wrote: I was 3000ft up seefin mountain in kerry,,i was 6km to the coast and it was 14 km to Valentia coastguard radio station. i said' calling emergencies services on marine channel 16,i have an emergency situation on top of seefin mountain please come in'..Valentia radio came back with.. 'Valentia coastguard radio station here, Please go to channel 67 and give me your co ordinates and your emergency situation and i will contact mountain rescue to help you ' mobile phone reception was non existant and i tried pmr446 before contacting the coastguard but no one in range,,they then told me that mountain rescue would call me on marine channel M1 or 37 when they were near me,which they did when they were about 5 Kms from me..
Ah i see, thats pretty interesting. From what ive read people seem to think the Coast Guard would not be very happy if you did this but its nice to know they were happy to help you & send the correct people to rescue the casualty.

What would you have done if you had contacted someone on 446? i think most people would question if it was real or not as its used by a lot of kids thinking they are the police unfortunately.
I don't think you could really trust 446 in an emergency situation.
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Re: Hill walking network Safety Channel 8 PRM

Post by mikecharlie »

I dont any CG would be sniffy if you were to contact them on any VHF channel 0, 16, 67 etc if it was a life endangering situation.

CH 67 is designated CG info service, and Ive head stuff going on on there after initla call on Ch 16.......
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Re: Hill walking network Safety Channel 8 PRM

Post by Yeti »

radio_ryan wrote:it all sound good safety advice, has where i go walking there NO phone network and no access in to ham radio repeters.
In most of the Galloway forest, you can access at least one repeater - I've had GB3AY, NI, LA, DG and IM from a handy in various places in the forest.
Guzzy wrote:Thinking about it, if I was going somewhere seriously remote in the UK... is that possible in the UK? ... I might be tempted to take a VHF Marine hand held with me just in case of a seriously serious situation. You may get the b0llox of your life when they rescue you from the top of a mountain, but at least you would be alive to receive it. :lol:

Those air/sea rescue buggers have the best DF gear you've ever seen! :mrgreen:
Seconded. That or an airband rig on 121.5 - there can't be many places on Earth you wouldn't be heard on 121.5!
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