Re: [Philmont]: Electronics?

A few comments:

My Crews usually bring a few 5-Mile Motorolas on our independent High
Adventures (Philmont and others). We have found that the greatest
utility for these is at the airports, where we're trying to coordinate
baggage claims and van rentals, etc., then on the road as (effectively)
hand-held CB's for van-to-van communication. Although I could see a few
scenarios where they might be useful at Basecamp (e.g., setting up
needed meetings for Multi-Crew Contingent Advisors), in fact we have
never used them there. And they most assuredly stay in the lockers or
vans when we hit the trail. I personally see no value in having them on
the trail, and in fact I think they could easily encourage Crew
separation(s) on the trail. We always hike together as a Crew - and so
should you. It's Philmont policy - and common sense, too.

One comment not yet made regarding trail use is that these things are
battery eaters. A 5-Mile Motorola (Distance DPS model) lasts about 8
hours with 6 brand new top end alkaline batteries installed - and about
12 hours with the new lithium batteries. That's a LOT of batteries (and
a lot of weight) to be hauling around if you're using them all day every
day! Pretty pricey too. I recall one Crew using these at very brief
set times to see if they could contact another Crew from their Troop on
a different trek (without success the day I was near them), in order to
save battery life.

I would also agree with several posters that even older Scouts treat
these things as toys, unless some very strict rules are laid down.

- Dr. Bob

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Received on Wed May 5 19:27:45 2004