Dozens of Searchers Look for 13-Year-Old Boy Scout Who Fell Into River at Yellowstone Nat'l Park

COX.Net AP Story ^ | June 25, 2005 | unattributed

[Myrddin]

Here is the helo on the ground at 4:20 PM MDT on 06-24-2005. This is next to the Police department building on the Old Faithful site.

[Myrddin]

Something doesn't wash with the timing here. The article claims 6:30 PM for the time the scout went in the water. The helo arrived on scene at 4:14 PM. It had to fly in from Idaho. The insignia on the helo are from the Idaho regional medical center. I think we only have ONE helo in all of eastern Idaho for that type of work.

[SuziQ]

That river is really fast moving!! We hiked down to where it is a waterfall. Gorgeous area!

[SuziQ]

Yellowstone is a HUGH place!!

[_Jim]

I don't think there are any repeater sites in the park.

What was it you were looking for? Today's ICOMs and KENWOODs are the size of FRS radios, come equipped with integral belthooks and are easily hidden in backpacks or under sweatshirts.

I haven't been in an area of the country where a machine couldn't be 'kerchunked' on some frequency and mountain top sites give AWESOME coverage over great distances ...

Here's 3-page list showing repeaters, some on mountain tops, in Montana. One is sponsored by the Yellowstone Radio Club.

It looks like the repeater on 145.230 covers the park:

Sawtelle Peak - Elevation 9866 Feet (3083 meters) ASL 145.230 (-) 100.0 Hz tone

Located just south and west of West Yellowstone, Montana (but actually in Idaho... barely) the Sawtelle Peak repeater (on 145.230 MHz, - offset, 100.0 Hz tone) covers much of Yellowstone National Park and down toward the South and Southwest toward Rexbug, Idaho Falls, and much of the Upper Snake River Basin.

Sawtelle Peak (also known as "Sawtell" Peak or Mount Sawtell) is the home of one of the FAA Long-Range RADAR sites. When the 2 meter repeater was originally installed atop Sawtelle on its original frequency of 147.12, the presence of the RADAR proved to be a problem: A "buzz" would appear in the audio - not only an annoying artifact or RADAR interference, but it tended to effectively reduce the sensitivity of the repeater

[_Jim]

Yellowstone Radio Club.

[_Jim]

Of course when I was Scouting in the 1950's the theory of "cell phones" was Science Fiction

Actually, much of the 'theory' had been worked out by Bell Engineers, but the various 'mechanisms' (the electronics, the switching, for automated supervision of the mobile unit et al) was not implementable using vacuum tube technology (not economically anyway). Manual, human-operated systems were available after WWII.

Mobile Phone History

[Tuscaloosa Goldfinch]

We were at the Old Faithful area on Wednesday and saw a Boy Scout troop there. Sigh. Very sad. Just got home yesterday.

[Myrddin]

What was it you were looking for? Today's ICOMs and KENWOODs are the size of FRS radios, come equipped with integral belthooks and are easily hidden in backpacks or under sweatshirts.

I know the difference between FRS radios and the current vintage of ham 2m gear. The "geyser gazers" are an active group. I know they use FRS on a specific channel and privacy code to coordinate info on pending eruptions. I see them often when I'm around the Old Faithful field and also in the Norris geyser basin.

The last "modern" handheld in the family was purchased by my wife. It was a Kenwood TH-27. It got lost in a box in the move from San Diego to Idaho. By the time it was located, the alkaline batteries had leaked all over the circuit board. It was a paperweight. My old IC-2AT is still functional, but the PL is an old model with a hard-coded frequency. Frankly, I haven't been real active since 1985. Coughing up $$$ for a replace HT isn't high on the priority list.

Sawtelle is visible from all over Island Park, Idaho. When traveling from Montana toward Idaho on SR20, you can see Sawtelle just as you cross over the state line in the mountain pass (continental divide). I suspect the coverage would be Ok. I'll take the IC-2AT up there next time to try it out. BTW, my wife and I walked to the Lone Star geyser yesterday. We were at 7800 ft ASL with a large mountain directly to our northwest. That would likely block any signal from Sawtelle.

I appreciate your references to possible repeater converage. Until cellular coverage gets better, it might be a good "safety blanket" to take a 2m HT along.

[notpoliticallycorewrecked]

Prayers for the scout, his family, friends and the search and rescue team.

I learned a valuable lesson two weeks ago about first time obedience that I will be sharing with our troop at our next meeting.

I had the pleasure of going on a helicopter excursion while on our Alaskan cruise. There were two helicopters in our tour with 6 passengers and two pilots. We were instructed to load and unload in the same order. On this tour we were to have two landings. We were exploring a snowfield above a glacier at the second landing site. My husband and I decided to cross over to the other ridge to get a view of that side of the glacier. Just as we started to head back, the second pilot hollered for everyone to load up. I was irritated at his bossiness, but decided to obey him since he was a pilot. My husband and I were the last ones back to our helicopter. We were the last to load anyway so we didn't cause anyone to wait on us. As we were getting on our safety harnesses and headsets the lady next to my husband yelled "BEAR". Sure enough right where the main group had been standing a minute or two earlier was a very large bear. Our pilot fired up the blades to shoo him off while the cameras clicked at a furious rate. The other pilot informed our pilot that he had spotted the bear and that was why he wanted us to load up. If he had yelled bear, I doubt that the passengers would have worried about load order when entering the helicopter. That would have created a huge problem if the pilot had needed to try and take off and the passengers weren't in our proper seats.

The other helicopter watched the bear watch us load. I asked the pilot how close did the bear come to our helicopter. His answer- 60 feet. I was amazed that the bear was so brazen as to get that close to that many people and the aircraft.

[null and void]

How not to shout fire in a crowded theater:

Once upon a time a fire broke out in a projection booth.

The theater manager got up on the stage and said,

"Ladies and gentlemen, Once a year the state of California requires us to hold an evacuation drill. Please look around and find the nearest exit and leave the theater. When you get outside assemble at the curb across the parking lot from the ticket booth, where the theater will issue you each a ticket for a free showing as a thank you for helping us meet this requirement"...

[notpoliticallycorewrecked]

That is one smart theater manager!

[null and void]

Yeah. I hope that should a similar need arise in my life that I'm half as clever.

Lots of lives were saved by a head that was literally cool under fire...

[BookmanTheJanitor]

Just a heads up - I received an e-mail from freeper "Troublemaker" 's wife asking for a prayer request for the lost Scout, his family, and the search team. Troublemaker & one of his sons are part of the search team. Two things I know about him - He will not give up until the boy is found & he's gonna be pissed that I wrote this bringing attention to him.

[jonascord]

I've been there a time or two, summer and winter, fly-fished the Madison, and the Snake, and hiked into the back country. It's real easy, once you're away from the road, to see what brought Colter, Smith, Liver Eating Johnson, Carson and the rest into the West. God, if He is at all smart, lives up there in the High Lonesome...

If you are afoot, 40 miles can take days. To watch the Grand Tetons stabbing into the clouds above Jenny Lake...

[SandRat]

Best first step for further information is right here Local Council Locator

[moog]

"Sounds like carelessness on the part of the leaders."

The important thing now is to find the boy, not point out whose fault it may be.

[SandRat]

Nothing national on this this morning in western news so must not have been the missing boy.

[SandRat]

Could have been for someone that had something else happen.

[DoctorMichael]

Did he fall in a couple of hundred yards north of one of the many waterfalls that Yellowstone is so famous for?