Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Radios can still be vital tools, even in these cellphone days ( The Truth Prevails!)

From: [email-masked]
Date: Thu, 16 Oct 2003 00:14:15 -0400

Posted on Wed, Oct. 15, 2003

Radios can still be vital tools, even in these cellphone days ( The Truth
Prevails!)
BY STEVE WATERS
South Florida Sun-Sentinel

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - (KRT) - To many boaters, a cell phone is the most
important piece of safety gear they own.
If something goes wrong while they're on the water, they simply call a buddy for
help.

As an airboater in the Everglades recently discovered, a good old VHF radio can be
much more valuable when you encounter a problem.

The airboater was hunting alligators in the Everglades - he had a permit to take
two - on a Friday night. He was hunting with two others, in the Miami Canal north
of Alligator Alley, when he stopped his boat, killed the engine and, after talking
with his companions, decided to go back and check out a couple of nice-sized
gators they had seen earlier.
When he went to start the airboat, nothing happened.

After messing unsuccessfully with the boat, the airboater got on his cell phone
and called a couple of knowledgeable airboater friends.
Neither of the friends wanted to head out late at night and help the airboater, so
one of them tried to diagnose the problem over the phone by having the airboater
check everything that might be wrong, starting with the battery connections.

After 45 minutes on the phone, and after checking everything that he could fix
himself, the airboater noticed that his phone's battery power was rapidly
decreasing. That's when he picked up his VHF radio, got on Channel 16 and put out
a call for help.
He had hoped another airboater might be out in the Glades. But the only person to
respond was from TowBoatU.S., which specializes in towing and recovering boats in
offshore and near-shore waters.

The airboater, who also has a fishing boat, had towing insurance with BoatU.S.,
but he was told that TowBoatU.S. had no way of getting him out of the Everglades.

TowBoatU.S. did tell him that it would stand by on the radio to help with
communications.
That turned out to be the key to getting the airboater out of his jam.

He gave TowBoatU.S. the phone numbers of his friends, and the towing service
called them and told them to go ahead with the rescue. (One of the first things
the airboater did when he telephoned his friends was to give them the GPS
coordinates of his location.)

The airboater stayed in contact via radio with TowBoatU.S.  throughout the ordeal,
calling 15 or 20 times to keep tabs on the rescue and to make sure his friends
were not encountering any difficulties.
The tow service monitored the rescue and relayed messages to and from the
airboater and his friends until the rescuers arrived at 4 a.m.

As soon as the airboater's friends got on his boat, they saw that the problem was
with the starter, which had a crack.
Tired and mosquito-bitten, but otherwise OK, the alligator hunters got on their
friends' airboat and rode back to the boat ramp at Alligator Alley.

The hunters got home at 6:30 a.m. Saturday.

Later that day, the airboater bought a new starter, went back out to his airboat
that afternoon and made the repair. The next night, he was back in the Glades and
he got his gators.

http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/sports/7018932.htm

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