[PBARC] Ham Radio Saves a Ham in Alaska

[WOLF, EARNEST G]

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 th!
ere 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. 

 
Thanks,
Glenn