New Cell Coverage in Death Valley NP

[goamules]

I can think of a few times having a cell phone (and coverage) would have been "nice" but not imperative. Once, my 4runner got stuck in a slot canyon. We had to build a road out of rocks, jacking up the vehicle in stages, putting rock ramps under a side, building up the other side, all with about 6 inches of clearance between the cliff walls. It took about 6 hours to go 25 yards, but we got out. What would a call have done? Told others not to worry, we'll get there...but part of the adventure was dragging in, weary, late, but safe!

Lessons learned: don't go where you can't turn around....and - Do not give up in a survival situation, you're not beaten until you say you are.

[rguinter]

Oh, yeah, a mobile 80m Yagi beam antenna is gonna be really spiffy! I'll have to put training wheels on my Jeep for that thing! No, I'm not burning donuts, I'm rotating my antenna...

I've seen some 80-meter yagi's and mobile they definitely are not.

But who said anything about 80-meters anyway? There are certainly many other options than that for mobile communications spectrum.

Although hoisting an 80-meter dipole up a couple of trees would certainly do in a real wilderness emergency. I used to do it all the time in the woods with my fishing pole and a heavy sinker. Bob G.

[Joseph O'Neil]

I can think of a few times having a cell phone (and coverage) would have been "nice" but not imperative.

Between my wife and myself, there has been 8 or 9 times we have used the cell phone for 911 calls. 3 times we were in or had bad car accidents - both my wife and I almost got killed, on seperate occasions, with another driver running a read light and hitting us. Twice I was the first on sight (by pure luck) for a fire. Once our daughter got lost on a public beach (that scared the living daylights out of me - everything worked out well, but lesson well learned).

There were a few others two where I was first at an accident site, so in the long run,t he cell phone is a life saver. Litterally in a couple of cases.

What I cannot stand to see, nor understand, is turning a cell phone into a MP3 player or some kind of toy. You play with your phone all day, talk on it all day, run down your battery, and then the moment you need your phone for a real emergency, see what happens. You just might be a candidate for the next Darwin award.

joe

[Preston]

Mark wrote, "What I find truly amazing is the addiction modern society is developing to constant instantaneous contact and the belief that it's truly important, given the banality of most cell phone use (and facebook posts and twitters) I believe the "need" is oversold."

I believe this is the crux of the matter. The media, telecoms, and phone manufacturers have convinced the masses that we must stay connected to everyone and everything 24/7, or life as they know it will end. It's no wonder (to my mind, anyway) that people are stressed out and suffering from depression.

I certainly won't argue the value of a phone for high priority or emergency communications; I've reported several fires, potential criminal activity, and accidents over the years.

As I stated earlier in this thread; if there existed a way to limit calls in DV to those of an emergency nature, I'm OK with that.

--P

[Mark Barendt]

What I cannot stand to see, nor understand, is turning a cell phone into a MP3 player or some kind of toy.

I agree with you here, this is the way they are sold and used though.

They also seem to get attached to one appendage permanently which provides a real and dangerous distraction which creates a real hazard.

I work in rural and remote areas, the norm locally is to wave as you pass on any road that has a speed limit under 45.

More than half my drive time is spent at 25MPH or less on roads that about 18 feet wide between the ditches. They are seriously rutted year-round because they are just dirt, with lots of rocks none of us could throw more than 15-20 feet, they are sometimes steep and many are on the sides of mountains where falling off the road could mean rolling off a cliff. These roads are used regardless of what the weather is doing day and night. Driving safely takes real work even when the weather is good.

Anyone that has driven a lawnmower knows that they will turn on a dime and don't do straight all that well, their big brothers, backhoes, have the same problem and are regulars on "my" roads, as are water trucks and drilling rigs that range from 40,000# to 120,000# and are up to 12 feet wide leaving me 6 feet of road. That might work if I drove a Mini but an F250 is a bit wider

I've given up waving at anybody even at 15MPH.

This is because the cell phone that is permanently attached to one arm and one ear of seemingly every driver doesn't move when I wave; the other arm, the one that should be steering, starts waving back at me.

Literally, without a thought, the driver gives up control of their vehicle on a rough and rutted road, instead of giving up on the conversation.

This is a cultural problem, we as a culture seem to believe that we have a god given right to use cell phones whenever and wherever we damn well please and that arranging a date for Friday is more important than living that long.

Cell phones, unless strictly prohibited or where service unavailable, are currently used almost without any thought about how that use will affect or bother anyone else.

Thank sucks.

I'm not against reasonable uses like calling for help, but our society hasn't defined reasonable use yet.

As far as I'm concerned right now, since there is cell coverage in DV already we simply ought to make it expensive. If you need help $50 a minute is nothing and the revenue could go to search and rescue costs, if someone just wants to talk it might make them think twice.

I also think that cell phones should be automatically disabled if they are moving over 5MPH.

Maybe I should call Arnold, he needs new revenue sources.

Fat chance but a guy can have hope.

[rguinter]

...I certainly won't argue the value of a phone for high priority or emergency communications; I've reported several fires, potential criminal activity, and accidents over the years.

As I stated earlier in this thread; if there existed a way to limit calls in DV to those of an emergency nature, I'm OK with that.--P

I agree completely with that.

I recall being at a professional convention in New Orleans ca. 2000 when cell phone usage was still in the early stages. I was on a bus waiting for it to fill up and return us to our hotels for the evening.

The guy next to me spotted a friend just outside our window. He immediately called his friend on the cell phone to let him know he was standing right beside him and to join him on the bus.

Now I was then employed with Bell Labs where much of the cell phone technology originated. But the thought that went through my mind at that moment was: here was a guy using up valuable system bandwidth, on a multi-billion dollar communications infrastructure, paying good money for the minute he used, in order to do something he could easily have done with a tap on the window.

So I see what we are experiencing now is the rapid evolution of this addiction of using the system for little more than trivial purposes.

And with that, in true (large scale) emergencies, the system quickly becomes overwhelmed and crashes completely. Bob G.

[Brian C. Miller]

I've seen some 80-meter yagi's and mobile they definitely are not. Although hoisting an 80-meter dipole up a couple of trees would certainly do in a real wilderness emergency.

Yeah, I know! When I was in the Army I used the ones at my station. 80m-10m beam antennas, oh yeah! Europe was available for about 20hrs a day. I've been thinking of getting a Hi-Q for my Jeep.

While getting someone to come out and help you is OK, it is also a good thing to have the ability to get back. I have a Dahon Curve D3, which does pretty well on dirt with its little balloon tires. It folds up nicely and rides well.

[rguinter]

Yeah, I know! When I was in the Army I used the ones at my station. 80m-10m beam antennas, oh yeah! Europe was available for about 20hrs a day. I've been thinking of getting a Hi-Q for my Jeep.

While getting someone to come out and help you is OK, it is also a good thing to have the ability to get back. I have a Dahon Curve D3, which does pretty well on dirt with its little balloon tires. It folds up nicely and rides well.

As my uncle, who was Penobscot native used to say, "you'll drive further in an hour than you can walk back in a week." His point: was to be prepared. Busting a prop on a small outboard motor several miles down-river while fishing can wind up being more than a nuisance. And it takes little room to carry a spare and some tools.

And driving sensibly while off-road is also a good idea. I've had my 4x4 in places where I wouldn't have tried to walk. But being prepared to do some basic self-recovery and carry out minor repairs is an absolute necessity. There are some places where busting a driveshaft means that's where it'll stay until it rusts away. Bob G.