Amateur radio fan saves 12-year-old girl's life

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oldman
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Amateur radio fan saves 12-year-old girl's life

Post by oldman »

A story to warm the heart.

Mike Everett heard the desperate plea from a man camping in a remote part of Exmoor over the airways and immediately took charge.
Mike Everett heard desperate pleas from a man camping in a remote part of Exmoor over the airways and immediately took action.
Young May was having an severe epileptic fit and needed immediate medical help but the group could not get signals on their mobile phones.
Luckily one of their party had amateur radio equipment with them and sent out a distress call, that was picked up by a transmitter on the Mendip Hills, which then reached Mike’s house in Horfield. Mike was the first to answer their pleas, and he called 999 and summoned an ambulance to Wimbleball Lake, Exmoor, on Friday night.

Full Story here - http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/am ... 2-11039007
"Just when one least expects it, the unexpected always happens" - Dr. Rance
Toddie
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Re: Amateur radio fan saves 12-year-old girl's life

Post by Toddie »

Wow, I think i might throw my baofeng in the rucksack next time i'm in the peaks.

Thanks for sharing.
Area 8.

"Better to have and not need, than to need and not have"
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oldman
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Re: Amateur radio fan saves 12-year-old girl's life

Post by oldman »

Toddie wrote:Wow, I think i might throw my baofeng in the rucksack next time i'm in the peaks.

Thanks for sharing.
I just looked up "Baofeng" and now I'm seriously considering getting a licence.
"Just when one least expects it, the unexpected always happens" - Dr. Rance
Yorkshire Andy
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Re: Amateur radio fan saves 12-year-old girl's life

Post by Yorkshire Andy »

Blokes walked into our local got a stool and did s pocket dump on the bar he had a beaufeng radio turned out that many pleasure boaters use them to contact lock keeper's

I have several local frequencys on mine as a listen only local locks / port traffic pick up on flooding risks well ahead of local media ;)

And I have ch16 programmed in as in a real shtf the maritime traffic round here would be a easy contact

I'm not licensed was planning on it but life keeps getting bin the way so I just listen
If your roughing it, Your doing it wrong ;)

Lack of planning on your part doesn't make it an emergency on mine
Lea_123
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Re: Amateur radio fan saves 12-year-old girl's life

Post by Lea_123 »

Yorkshire Andy wrote:Blokes walked into our local got a stool and did s pocket dump on the bar he had a beaufeng radio turned out that many pleasure boaters use them to contact lock keeper's

I have several local frequencys on mine as a listen only local locks / port traffic pick up on flooding risks well ahead of local media ;)

And I have ch16 programmed in as in a real shtf the maritime traffic round here would be a easy contact

I'm not licensed was planning on it but life keeps getting bin the way so I just listen
Hello - I have a Baofeng UV5RTP - can you tell me the channels (yorkshire ) to pick up traffic / weather info?
Yorkshire Andy
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Re: Amateur radio fan saves 12-year-old girl's life

Post by Yorkshire Andy »

If your roughing it, Your doing it wrong ;)

Lack of planning on your part doesn't make it an emergency on mine
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unsure
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Re: Amateur radio fan saves 12-year-old girl's life

Post by unsure »

can i ask what may be a daft question .

if the shtf or your in need of emergency help , who would be that bothered if you had a license or not .

i can`t say i know the rules on using them , but willing to learn .

may be these .

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2PCS-BAOFENG- ... SwNRdYB0BV
YES i walked away mid sentence , you were boring me to death and my survival instincts kick in .
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Jamesey1981
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Re: Amateur radio fan saves 12-year-old girl's life

Post by Jamesey1981 »

If it's the end of the world then no one will care if you don't have a licence, and certainly on marine VHF (which I can use) you can use it in an emergency whether you're licensed or not, but to use them effectively you need to know how, they're a lot more versatile and a lot more complex than an ordinary PMR walkie, and the way I see it if you're going to go to the trouble of learning then you might just as well do the license so you can practice using them before it's life or death.

Even on marine VHF there's a procedure to follow for an emergency call, if it's truly an emergency no one is going to take you to court for not following it, but if you're at least in the ballpark then your message will get out faster as it's in a form that people are expecting and can deal with, I've never had to broadcast a mayday for real, but I have done a mayday relay and when everything is done right it's pretty slick and people get the help they need quicker.

I don't have a licence for ham, but it's on my list.

You could probably pick one up and get in touch with someone, but I'm a great believer in really understanding the gear I use and plan to use, that way I can deal with any problems I may encounter.
Last edited by Jamesey1981 on Tue Sep 12, 2017 8:40 pm, edited 5 times in total.
That is not dead which can eternal lie, and with strange aeons even death may die.
Lea_123
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Re: Amateur radio fan saves 12-year-old girl's life

Post by Lea_123 »

Im in Sheffield , i have programmed the radio and have picked up a couple of channels ( i think one is my local repeater) thanks for the links i will have a look :)
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oldman
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Re: Amateur radio fan saves 12-year-old girl's life

Post by oldman »

unsure wrote:can i ask what may be a daft question .

if the shtf or your in need of emergency help , who would be that bothered if you had a license or not .

i can`t say i know the rules on using them , but willing to learn .

may be these .

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2PCS-BAOFENG- ... SwNRdYB0BV
Why do you need two radios ? If you do not have a licence you'll not be able to use them to talk to each other until the end of the world.

Try this option:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BAOFENG-BF-F8 ... 2749.l2649
This comes with the programing cable (£17 on its own) and you will have enough left over to pay for your Foundation radio licence.

I can't get the marine stations here as I'm too far from the water (VHF is only "line of sight") so I'll have to look for other options in an emergency.
"Just when one least expects it, the unexpected always happens" - Dr. Rance