Thinking safety

Hi all, it is that time of year we all will be heading out swingin in search of the yellow metal and as we have seen and read of some mishaps in the past. I was wondering how many of you have considered or carry a PLB (Personal location beacon) with them. I will be spending some time by myself on the next trip and just purchased one just in case and at $320 with a 7 year battery life I believe is good value insurance. Ian

Good insurance indeed Ian.

Robert

i have one and i take it with me each time i go out. you just never know and after being lost for an hr and a half within a few hundred meters of camp highlights that everyone should have one. i also have a spare GPS with camp locations only. if batteries die and you dont have new ones or your replacements are dead or you fall and smash your only gps your in the SH*T.

Dunno if its allowed, but I just grab the epirb off the boat and log my intended travels on AMSA so theiy aren't looking for an 18ft runnabout on the WA bush.

i have epirb registered to my 4x4 and boat and have recently purchased a sat phone with prepaid talk time which stays in the 4x4  i all so carry a gps on me

i take my old analog epirb from my boat as all us boaties require digital units now and the plan was for aircraft but not satelite to still monitor the old analog signal-now i dont know if this was still happening and I will check before going out again -other than that i always carry two hand held garmins when I leave the vehicle or the bike both having the same waypoint plotted just in case one has a meltdown -the last time I went out with just one it bit me on the ar*e ,the waypoint didnt hold and if i hadnt taken notice of the wind direction when i left the 4wd i would still be out there decomposing-dragon

I aways have a registered gps enabled PLB in my backpack along with some compression bandages.The amount of water I can carry, and the heat of the day determines how far I can hike from the vehicle..

Now there's a damn good idea, compression bandages.
we do have open ground here pretty much in WA so ya can see the snakes but ya never know.
best if you carry some with ya. they don't take up much room when ya think of all the stuff attached to ya when detecting.

purple-dragon wrote:the waypoint didnt hold and if i hadnt taken notice of the wind direction when i left the 4wd i would still be out there decomposing-dragon  

G'day PD,
My dear old dad taught me all there was to know about bush navigation when we hunted pigs on foot.
The one thing that stuck in my mind was to NOT rely on wind direction.
Having said that I got completely bushed one day setting out from my vehicle I noted the sun and wind direction??
Several hours into the swing, head down and concentrating, noticed the sun had been blocked out by heavy cloud rolling in.
Deciding it was time to return to the vehicle, made the mistake of heeding the wind direction. Big mistake.
Just when I was preparing for a night lost I sighted a familiar landmark which was actually in the reverse direction to where the vehicle was.
Had strayed approximately 3 km's in the opposite direction and realised it was my mistake relying on wind direction which had obviously changed.
It was long dark by the time the vehicle was found.

The following is advice posted on my long defunct and out dated web site.
http://www.reocities.com/onyx1551/gold_prospecting.html/links.index.html

If you are not familiar with finding your way around the bush, I strongly advise you read as much as you can about the West Australian outback. Buy yourself a compass SILVA is a good brand as it is flat/light and you can hang it around your neck at all times. Practice compass walks eg: Walk for 15 minutes in any direction (noting what heading you are on) then swing 90deg left, walk for 15 minutes swing 90deg left, walk again for 15 minutes, swing 90deg left and in 15 minutes you should be in sight of your starting point. Given time and practice you don't need the compass and you can be guaranteed to be back near starting point. You can also practice walking in a triangle 120deg swings (this is my preferred method). Walk for a selected time each leg and you will almost always come back to the vehicle. If this fails pull the GPS out of your back pack, retrieve the co-ordinates you entered before leaving your vehicle?? Locate the vehicle within a few hundred metres, (probably obscured by a clump of trees or hill.)

A GPS is not essential, however we have found it invaluable for storing coordinates of likely prospecting areas and also any windmills or waterholes we come across. Whenever water is located it should be tested to judge whether it is potable. Note this in your GPS. No point making your way to a water source if it is salty. You never know when you may be stranded and need to find water for survival. A quick search will reveal the nearest water location.

A very important point: If you get in the habit of going for long hikes from your vehicle in search of new ground, always enter position of your vehicle in GPS so you can have an accurate record of where you need to head back too. You can become disorientated very easily in the bush because everything looks familiar. On overcast days you are unable to navigate using the sun and can become confused, especially, if there is a wind direction change.

Comprehensive PDF covering outback travel and survival techniques.

http://www.outback-australia-travel-secrets.com/australian-outback-dangers.html

Excellent advice Nightjar!!!

  @ Nightjar

One thing that is never taught when going bush and I believe its the most important factor that will help u survive from getting lost and that is

To look at the hills or the lay of the land and get your bearings from the high points that stand out. Trees ontop of a hill, cut aways of rises--stuff that is not the norm so u can refer to that memory--pity those who have a memory like a goldfish--sorry but theres no hope for u lot--your buggered.

In the evenings if u wander of from camp for a couple of hours then turn your camp lights on better still if u have a flashing amber light befor u venture out--I wouldn't give a rats who say my light so long as I can find my way back..

and if you r late coming back and u have a mate at camp, make sure yah mate gets out the high powered rifle and lets a few shots of every 5 mins--skywards -- and keep an eye out for planes..the noise will hopefully guide u back befor u freeze yah crown jewels off..

hope u don't get lost..u should always carry matches or lighter..in winter..

Keep safe..

regards
oneday

Have you ever wondered what would happen if you are on your own and trip and break a leg or your back and can't walk?, if you detect alone in summer this could be the end for you that's for sure.....what about a stroke or heart attack, your vehicle could be insight but you ain't gonna get to it, let alone drive home.

When alone in the bush or going off on a walk detecting I now always carry a GPS, spare battery's ,snake bandage, space blanket, signal mirror, small 2way radio and a GPS personal beacon and if I have coverage a mobile phone......would you go out fishing in a boat without most of the above ?
Do you want to be the next dead missing prospector?

Regards snapper

a GPS is a definite item to carry with ya.  I've actually seen a dope "Lost" and he was only a hundred yards from camp.
I had the pleasure of watching him as he walked around yelling his head off for help and I was looking right at him, I kid you not.
Lots of stuff you can take with you and it gets a bit expensive but I'd rather be alive than dead.
and the most important things to carry with you is at least a litre bottle of water minumum, matches or cigarette lighter.

If you are a member of APLA, there's a good article in the latest newsletter about how to set your GPS and use it with maps.
I can't say I understood it all but have a read of the article.

Almost forgot, there's also an interesting bit for APLA members about Public Liability Insurance.
I can only say, I'm willing to pay the extra in my fees to be covered by it, good stuff and well done to APLA.
Hope you can get it up and running.

Hi All

Some good discussion and pionts raised on my initial post. I noted as humans we are becoming more reliant on technology such as the GPS. An interesting point that I read the other day was that some of the mining sites GPS's used on the driverless haul trucks was put out of action for a while due to a solar flare by the sun. Be it only one major navigational one owned by the Russians however it could do the same for the others. Nightjar's point of carrying a Silva compass is getting back to basics which sometimes is the best.

Yes I do carry carry extra such as spare batteries, gps, and survival kit as you never know.

Ian

In relation to using a GPS to find your way home, when loading your car/camp location into your GPS ALWAYS check to see its been loaded correctly. I got caught out once, don't know how it happened but when I went to go home my GPS took me to a point 400m away from camp. Luckily I was able to walk cross country to a main road and back to camp that way. When loading a new GPS point I now always hit the "Go-To" button and check that its only a few metres away.

Cheers

Woteva

Good point woteva, that has also happened to me and makes the heart beat when you realise what's happened.
Many years back I was detecting in Victoria and new to the game, didn't have a GPS but a brand new silva compass.
When I was ready to go back to the car I had already worked out using the sun the direction I needed to go but thought ....ok I'll use my new compass....holy crap it was telling me to go in the complete opposite direction.
Lucky for me my mate came into view and when checking with him we noted my new compass was pointing south not north   !
Took it back to the shop and got a refund,maybe that compass was made on April 1st !
Snapper

just be careful with using a compass, I have a good orienteering compass but have found on some ironstone hills they can read up to 30 degrees error, found that out the hard way too.