[ADXA] F Y I

[LennyK5OVC at wmconnect.com]

Ham Radio Saves a Ham in Alaska


By Jim Wiley, KL7CC
February 24, 2005 

Despite rugged terrain and a temperature of 10 below, rescuers found a young 
ham whose handheld radio proved to be a lifesaver. 
This is the WL7CVG site. The repeater antenna is on the tower to the right. 
The repeater itself is in the Quonset hut behind the antenna. In a typical 
winter, the snow will get to a depth of 15 feet or more, sometimes completely 
covering the building. Elevation is 4400 feet AMSL. The repeater antennas are 
Diamond X-50N dual-band models, with custom-built cradle mounts, and are fed with 
Andrew 7/8 inch FHJ5-50 Heliax cable. The antennas can survive in 200 MPH 
winds while carrying as much as 5 inches of ice. 
    
Two Alaskan hikers who were on a day outing in the rugged mountains of 
Chugach State Park near Anchorage had their afternoon turn into something entirely 
unexpected on February 12. One of them, Jesse Jones, KL1RK, unfortunately 
slipped and fell more than 200 feet down a steep ravine, losing his snowshoes in 
the process. Jesse found himself unable to move forward or back, trapped between 
a low overhang on one side and a swift moving winter stream on the other. His 
precarious position was made worse by the fact that his descent could have 
continued into the water at any moment, and since snow depth exceeded 10 feet, 
the loss of his snowshoes meant he could not walk out. Since the outside air 
temperature at that time was near -10 degrees F, falling into the water would 
likely have meant immediate hypothermia followed by freezing death shortly 
thereafter. Fortunately, Jesse had brought along his 2 meter handheld transceiver. 
He tried several local repeaters with no luck, because his signals were being 
swallowed up by the mountainous terrain. Finally, he was able to access one of 
the wide-area machines, the WL7CVG repeater atop Mt Susitna, almost 40 miles 
distant. This repeater, owned by the Anchorage Amateur Radio Club and used 
primarily as the area ARES repeater, had been installed atop the 4400 foot 
mountain just last summer. It was the only system he could access with his low-power 
handheld. 
This is the WL7CVG repeater itself, a cross-linked dual-band unit operating 
on both VHF 147.270+ and UHF 443.300+, with main and standby hardware for both 
bands. The repeaters are Kenwood TKR series commercial units, with Pacific 
Research controllers and TX-RX Systems duplexers and combiners. The system is 
owned by the Anchorage ARC, KL7AA. 
    
The Rescue Begins As a control operator for the repeater, I heard his weak 
Mayday! Mayday! Mayday! call just a few minutes after 4 PM local time. I 
immediately called 911 and was placed in contact with the local fire department 
rescue coordinator. I was able to pass on Jesse's messages to the local rescue 
coordinator, including coordinates from a GPS unit Jesse was carrying. The rescue 
coordinator's office called out the local mountain rescue group and the Alaska 
State Troopers, who immediately left for the scene with a search team and 
snow machines. The rescue team met with Jesse's climbing partner, who had been 
able to hike out to a place he could assist the rescue team. Jesse was able to 
keep in touch via 2 meters to tell the rescuers his condition, including the 
fact that he was uninjured but very cold. His extremities were becoming numb 
after being forced to remain in one position in the sub-zero conditions. 
Complicating the issue was the fact that Jesse's hands were so cold he was having 
trouble operating the PTT button. On top of all this, his signal was very 
marginal, sometimes fading out altogether. At about 6 PM, after the rescue operation 
had been running for almost 2 hours, the first rescue team made contact with 
Jesse. After some observations and a few attempts, the rescuers came to the 
conclusion that they would not be able to get Jesse out without additional 
assistance. At this point, the local Air National Guard unit was called. They at once 
began warm-up of an HH-60 "Pave Hawk" rescue helicopter. After a brief but 
complete preflight check, the helicopter left for the scene. The crew arrived on 
scene about 15 minutes later, at 6:45 PM local. Unfortunately, the presence 
of a high voltage power line directly above Jesse's position made it impossible 
to lift Jesse out in the normal way. Instead, they had to lower some 
para-rescue jumpers to a nearby location, and from there they rappelled down to 
Jesse's position. The para-rescue team then worked with others on scene and were 
able to bring Jesse out of the canyon by about 10 PM. After some on-scene checks 
by paramedics, Jesse was taken to a local hospital for observation. He was 
released just before midnight, cold and a bit hungry, but otherwise almost as 
good as new. Jesse, KL1RK, before the great adventure. 
    
A Team Effort Several local hams also assisted the effort, either directly or 
by their connection with local emergency service groups. They are Dave Cloyd, 
KL7M; Raymond Taber, KL7UHF, and others who stood by, ready to help if 
needed. Among those directly involved were Msgt Mike O'Keefe, KL7MD, with the Alaska 
Air National Guard, and Heather Hasper, KL7SP, and John Ramsey, KD6YKS, both 
with the local American Red Cross emergency response team. Also assisting was 
Bruce McCormick, KL7BM, who was involved with the event as a member of the 
Alaska Mountain Rescue Group. Just last fall, both the Alaska Mountain Rescue 
Group and the American Red Cross of Alaska received a large grant for 
communications equipment from the Anchorage ARC. Little did any of the club members know 
that this very equipment would have a part in the rescue of one of their own. 
As an interesting and somewhat odd coincidence, Jesse is employed by a local 
TV station, KYES Channel 5. That station owns and operates a TV translator atop 
Mt Susitna, where the WL7CVG repeater is located. The station owner, Jeremy 
Lansman, has graciously allowed the Anchorage club to mount their repeater 
antennas on the KYES tower. This is apparently yet another case where goodwill and 
cooperation among the community has come back in an unexpected way.