Mobile Phones And National Parks

A story like this one seems to show up every six months or so. As wireless carriers work to cover just about every possible location with mobile phone coverage, people used to being totally disconnected at national parks are getting annoyed with seeing people hiking around chatting away or they're pissed off at seeing cell towers rise above natural landmarks. While I can understand the complaints, just like elsewhere, it's more a question of etiquette and safety. It's important to teach people mobile phone etiquette to try to avoid situations where they shouldn't be on their mobile phones, but having phones work for safety purposes seems worthwhile.
Hide this

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team


Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread


  • identicon
    C A Smith, 12 Apr 2004 @ 10:11pm

    Emergency Beacons

    There are many emergency alerting devices available to those venturing into backcountry areas, as discussed here, including satellite phones as well as emergency beacons which send distress alerts via satellite. Please note, though, that there are specific emergency beacons for specific purposes. Rules vary by country, but in general, here are the three primary classes of beacons used in Canada and the USA: 1) ELTs - Emergency Locator Transmitters. For use on board aircraft. 2) EPIRBs - Emergency Position-Indicating Radio Beacons. For use on board larger vessels, primarily (in Canada) on the Great Lakes, St. Lawrence, and ocean coasts. 3) PLBs - Personal Locator Beacons. These are most appropriate for hikers, overland adventurers, and canoeists and kayakers operating on inland waters. These small portable units may have an integrated GPS, or can often be connected to one. When activated, satellites will relay the signal to ground stations and rapidly onward to the appropriate rescue coordination centre for your area. The encoded signal will include the owners name and emergency contact information, so false alerts can often be resolved by a phone call rather than dispatching a rescue unit. If GPS-enabled, your exact position will also be relayed, in addition to the satellite-generated position that will be formed. You MUST, however, register your beacon with either the Canadian or US beacon registries, depending upon whether you have bought a Canadian or US-coded device. Excellent protection for those venturing to more remote areas. Used responsibly, these satellite-aided distress beacons are an excellent investment in safety -- truly a lifeline to survival. For more information - Canada: www.nss.gc.ca; USA: www.sarsat.noaa.gov.

    link to this | view in chronology ]


Follow Techdirt
Essential Reading
Techdirt Deals
Report this ad  |  Hide Techdirt ads
Techdirt Insider Discord

The latest chatter on the Techdirt Insider Discord channel...

Loading...
Recent Stories

This site, like most other sites on the web, uses cookies. For more information, see our privacy policy. Got it
Close

Email This

This feature is only available to registered users. Register or sign in to use it.