In an emergency, you need to be able to tell people where you are located. The best way to do that is to communicate your latitude and longitude (lat/long).
Why
Your location is the single most important piece of information you’ll communicate in an emergency. Being able to communicate your location using lat/long will improve the chances that help can get to you in time.
What I And Others Do
Know how to communicate your position using the decimal form of lat/long. If all you have is the old degrees, minutes, and seconds (DMS) data, (e.g. 33° 56’ 50 N 109° 7’ 18’’ W), use that, but use the decimal format if possible (eg: 33.94735, -109.12171). Find an app that can display your location in decimal format. It will be easier to communicate and I think easier for people to use in today’s digital world with GPS. Cutting and pasting the decimal lat/long separated using a comma (like the example above) into Google Maps and other charting apps, drops a pin on that location. Every mapping program I use on the PC or phone will do this. Fast, easy, simple.
NOTE: If you are looking at a display that shows your position in decimal form, but with a W next to the longitude, put a negative sign in front of the number or include W (I would include W if I had to send in Morse code since I won’t remember what “-“ is. You probably have one or more ways to get your location:
- Use a phone app to get your lat/long. Most phones come with a compass app that will display your position in latitude and longitude. Unfortunately Apple’s compass shows it in DMS format. Tapping on Google Maps to start a dropped pin will display your lat/long in decimal form. Gaia gps and other navigation apps also show your location in decimal form. If you don’t have an app that does this, I suggest you get one.
- Anything with a GPS receiver in it most often has a way of displaying your location. This includes smart watches, hand-held GPS navigators, and many handitalkies. The Apple Watch does show lat/long in decimal form.
- If you have a Garmin inReach, as discussed in my last tip, turning it on and mashing down on the SOS button sends your location for you.
Think about how you would provide location information and practice right now. Teach your family and everyone else on your hike, because you may not be the one making the call.
Visit HamNinja.com/safetytips to see all the tips as they are published. More safety tips to come.
The Ham Ninja’s SOTA Safety Tips
SOTA Safety Tips is a weekly series of quick tips to remember to improve safety of the hobby. This was inspired by the SoCal SOTA group’s meetings on this topic and will be sourced from my own and others' experience. Don’t forget, you also need to support your group and others with this knowledge. I’ll keep these as short as possible. Send feedback to safetytips@HamNinja.com.
My Experience
I am not a safety or health professional, doctor, or other expert, just an amateur. Be careful out there and do your research. I’ve activated 817+ summits since Oct of 2017 in Southern California, Arizona, New Mexico, and several other states. Over that time I’ve hiked 2,540+ miles and climbed 626,000+ feet. I don’t have skills beyond class 3 hiking and really, “scrambouldering” and light snow pack are my upper skill limits and my hikes are normally 2 miles, NTE 18 miles. I was an Army medic and was a certified EMT. I have received training on desert survival, and recurrent first Aid training in other roles. First Aid is a perishable skill, get training..
You can contact me at safetytips@HamNinja.com.
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