Re: [Philmont]: Cell Phones - Reality Check

On Mon, Apr 28, 2003 at 10:08:09PM -0400, Dr. Bob Klein wrote:
> If you decided to go the cell-phone route instead, and you got to the
> peak AND THERE WAS NO SIGNAL, how many hours have you just lost???
>

My thinking on the matter is. Bobby breaks his leg. I whip out the
phone and hand it to one of the other advisors. He starts dialing or
waiting for a signal. Meanwhile, a group is sent towards the nearest
staffed camp in the "philmont way". If the phone call gets through
while they are on their way, we've trimmed an hour or so from the
response time depending on how far the closest staffed camp is.

I don't see this as relying on the phone for help, I see it as a bonus
that I'll be glad to carry the extra weight for. Yes, even for the
5% chance that it might work where we are.

If I didn't have it, and the worst happens in an incident, then I'd
always wonder, what if... but if the cell phone didn't work, I wouldn't
have that problem would I.

So no. don't rely on it. But definately don't count it out all together.

-- 
Rob
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