In Touch in the Wild

May 2006

(Editor's note: Reprinted from the Dec. 21, 2005 edition of the American Radio Relay League's ARES E-Letter.)

Recently, I found a book by fellow Floridian Reid Tillery, KG4YFE. An avid hiker and camper, he has a section in his book about radio use for those traveling in wild areas. Part of it covered the "Wilderness Protocol for Amateur Radio."

In February 1994 QST, William Alsup, N6XMW, put forth this idea: a set of VHF and UHF frequencies and a basic schedule for monitoring the frequencies for contact from Amateur Radio operators in wilderness areas.

The primary frequency band proposed was two-meters with secondary frequencies on six-meters, 1.25-meters, 70-centimeters, and 23-centimeters. I expect by no coincidence, the simplex frequencies N6XMW suggested are also the National Simplex Calling frequencies or the Primary Simplex frequency for the bands in his proposal. The frequencies for the Wilderness Protocol are 52.525 MHz, 146.520 MHz, 223.500 MHz, 446.000 MHz and, 1294.500 MHz.

The proposed schedule for monitoring the frequencies is every three hours on the hour starting at 7 a.m. local time until 7 p.m. local time.

For those radio amateurs with more time or a scanner, monitoring more often is encouraged. The basic schedule gives someone who is out of cellular service range and not able to contact a repeater a specific time when someone should be listening to get word to the proper authorities in the event of an emergency situation.

The base monitoring time is 5 minutes. I also found suggestions to start monitoring 5 minutes before the hour every other time so that minor differences on the clock of monitoring hams and hams in the woods would not cause them to miss each other. Making daily contact with a hiker to know an extended hike is going without incident, or to pass routine traffic to and from family was another suggested use for hams with opportunity to monitor the Wilderness Protocol frequencies regularly.

It occurred to me that having hams following the Wilderness Protocol can be of use to more than hikers and campers. Throughout the country hams are on the road traveling for business and pleasure.

While cellular phones have become a common belt-looped appliance, there are many locations where "no signal" is the only message they will display. Vehicle accidents, mechanical failures, and worse can happen along any stretch of road.

So whether you are near a national forest, a large wooded park, or on the outer edge of suburbia, monitoring at least the primary two-meter frequency of the Amateur Radio Wilderness Protocol may provide needed assistance to someone in dire straits. I encourage all ARES groups to include the Wilderness Protocol in their local membership manuals and to recommend to their membership to monitor the associated frequencies as regularly as they want their membership to be monitoring their local ARES repeaters.

Additional references:

http://www.floridaadventuring.com/
http://www.tcoe.trinity.k12.ca.us/~tcarc/tcproto.html
http://www.natworld.com/ars/pages/cumlative_index/wilderness.html

ARES Field Resources Manual (Appendix 10, page 87).



	In Touch in the Wild : A New Look at Wilderness Protocol
		By Michael Potaczala, KC4NUS, Orange County ARES, Florida Special to The ARS Sojourner
May 2006 (Editor's note: Reprinted from the Dec. 21, 2005 edition of the American Radio Relay League's ARES E-Letter.) Recently, I found a book by fellow Floridian Reid Tillery, KG4YFE. An avid hiker and camper, he has a section in his book about radio use for those traveling in wild areas. Part of it covered the "Wilderness Protocol for Amateur Radio." In February 1994 QST, William Alsup, N6XMW, put forth this idea: a set of VHF and UHF frequencies and a basic schedule for monitoring the frequencies for contact from Amateur Radio operators in wilderness areas. The primary frequency band proposed was two-meters with secondary frequencies on six-meters, 1.25-meters, 70-centimeters, and 23-centimeters. I expect by no coincidence, the simplex frequencies N6XMW suggested are also the National Simplex Calling frequencies or the Primary Simplex frequency for the bands in his proposal. The frequencies for the Wilderness Protocol are 52.525 MHz, 146.520 MHz, 223.500 MHz, 446.000 MHz and, 1294.500 MHz. The proposed schedule for monitoring the frequencies is every three hours on the hour starting at 7 a.m. local time until 7 p.m. local time. For those radio amateurs with more time or a scanner, monitoring more often is encouraged. The basic schedule gives someone who is out of cellular service range and not able to contact a repeater a specific time when someone should be listening to get word to the proper authorities in the event of an emergency situation. The base monitoring time is 5 minutes. I also found suggestions to start monitoring 5 minutes before the hour every other time so that minor differences on the clock of monitoring hams and hams in the woods would not cause them to miss each other. Making daily contact with a hiker to know an extended hike is going without incident, or to pass routine traffic to and from family was another suggested use for hams with opportunity to monitor the Wilderness Protocol frequencies regularly. It occurred to me that having hams following the Wilderness Protocol can be of use to more than hikers and campers. Throughout the country hams are on the road traveling for business and pleasure. While cellular phones have become a common belt-looped appliance, there are many locations where "no signal" is the only message they will display. Vehicle accidents, mechanical failures, and worse can happen along any stretch of road. So whether you are near a national forest, a large wooded park, or on the outer edge of suburbia, monitoring at least the primary two-meter frequency of the Amateur Radio Wilderness Protocol may provide needed assistance to someone in dire straits. I encourage all ARES groups to include the Wilderness Protocol in their local membership manuals and to recommend to their membership to monitor the associated frequencies as regularly as they want their membership to be monitoring their local ARES repeaters. Additional references: http://www.floridaadventuring.com/ http://www.tcoe.trinity.k12.ca.us/~tcarc/tcproto.html http://www.natworld.com/ars/pages/cumlative_index/wilderness.html ARES Field Resources Manual (Appendix 10, page 87).