[K4RY] The ARRL Letter, Vol 27, No 38 (Friday, September 26, 2008)

[Carey Huff]

This is an excerpt from the ARRL Letter, Vol 27, No 38 from this past
Friday.  I thought the story was quite interesting and was worth
sharing.  This goes to show that anytime you are on the radio, you stand
the chance of being needed.  
 
Many of us use radio as a hobby and don't put much thought into the
possibility of it being someone's only means of communicating in the
highly connected world we live in these days.  
 
73, 

Carey/AI4TZ
 

	
	
	==> MONTANA HAM ASSISTS IN RESCUE OF FELLOW AMATEUR 600 MILES
AWAY 
	
	On Sunday, September 21, Bob Williams, N7ODM, of Bozeman,
Montana, was 
	just tuning around on 40 meters, giving his rig a test just
before a 
	scheduled QSO with his brother Rich, K7URU, in Spokane, when he
heard a 
	faint CW signal around 1 PM (MDT): Glenn Russell Ruby Jr, W7AU,
of 
	Corvallis, Oregon had broken his leg and was using a portable
radio and 
	Morse code to send out a call for help. Williams said he was
able to 
	understand the injured man's code even when his signal became
very weak. 
	
	"He called me. He must have heard me testing out the radio. When
I 
	finished, I signed off with my call, and then I heard, 'N7ODM,
this is 
	W7AU/7,' so I answered," Williams told the ARRL. "I told him to
go 
	ahead, I had solid copy. He told me that he was a hiker that had
fallen 
	and broken his leg. He identified himself as Russ, provided
information 
	as to his GPS coordinates, the shelter, food and water on hand,
as well 
	as his detailed physical condition. He told me exactly who I
needed to 
	contact for assistance." 
	
	According to Williams, Ruby had slipped on a wet rock and broken
his leg 
	while out hiking in the Buck Creek Pass area of the high
Cascades in 
	Western Washington, 600 miles away from Williams. "Russ really
had his 
	act together," Williams said. "Before he even called for help,
he set up 
	his tent. It was raining when he fell, so he climbed into his
tent and 
	got into some warm clothes and had a snack of sunflower seeds
and dried 
	apricots. After that, he strung up a wire antenna, fired up his
Elecraft 
	K1 and called me." Williams said that Ruby told him he had a
"couple of 
	weeks worth of battery power" for the radio. 
	
	Ruby asked Williams to notify the Snohomish County Search and
Rescue in 
	Washington State. "I didn't have their number, so I called my
local 911 
	dispatcher. All they had was the info for King County in
Washington, so 
	I called them and they gave me the number for Snohomish. When I
got a 
	hold of Snohomish County Search and Rescue, they asked me to
obtain 
	additional info from Russ, such as the color of his tent and if
he was 
	in a clear or wooded area, and remain in contact with him as
long as 
	possible," Williams said. 
	
	"Russ and I were able to maintain contact until about 8 PM on
Sunday, 
	during which time I was able to pass additional traffic between
Russ and 
	Search and Rescue, but then his signal got so weak where I
couldn't copy 
	it anymore. Before he faded, we had agreed to try and make
contact in 
	the morning. I tried, starting around 6:30, but he never heard
me. I 
	finally heard him calling me around 9 on 7.051 MHz. We kept in
contact 
	until he was evacuated from the site by Search and Rescue at
about 10:35 
	AM," Williams told the ARRL. 
	
	On Sunday, rescue crews reached Ruby, who had set up camp on
Buck Creek 
	Pass, at about 6000 feet just west of the Chelan County line. He
was 
	taken to safety Monday on horseback. Williams said that bad
weather 
	Sunday prevented a helicopter rescue: "It was snowing all night;
Russ 
	told me that when he woke up Monday morning, his tent was all
covered in 
	snow." 
	
	"I just happened to be at the same frequency," Williams said.
"It's just 
	a stroke of luck that turned out great. It was quite an
experience. I'm 
	just glad that he was a ham radio operator and that I was able
to talk 
	to him. It made the difference for him. What I did was not
anything 
	special. I'd like to think that any ham in Montana would've done
the 
	same thing." 
	
	
	Copyright 2008 American Radio Relay League, Inc. 
	All Rights Reserved 

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