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Oplopanax Horridus

Oplopanax Horridus

A veteran SAR volunteer's experiences in British Columbia

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Category: Blog Entry

Regular blog posts

Canadian Avalanche Air Bag study

By Michael Coyle Posted on 14/11/2012 Posted in Blog Entry Tagged with analysis, avalanche, InfoSAR, numbers, safety, snow, technology
Canadian Avalanche Air Bag study

A recently released series of reports on the effectiveness of Avalanche Air Bags in Canada gives us the first evidence that they are effective.

Measuring Smartphone GPS accuracy

By Michael Coyle Posted on 09/11/2012 Posted in Blog Entry Tagged with GPS, numbers, smart phone, technology
Measuring Smartphone GPS accuracy

Measuring the accuracy of a Smartphone GPS, showing that it is signifcantly less accurate than a wilderness GPS

Calculating your own GPS accuracy

By Michael Coyle Posted on 07/11/2012 Posted in Blog Entry Tagged with gear, GPS, how-to, numbers, smart phone, technology
Calculating your own GPS accuracy

How to calculate the accuracy of your own GPS

A forum experiment

By Michael Coyle Posted on 05/11/2012 Posted in Blog Entry Tagged with communications, meta
A forum experiment

I installed a forum on the blog as an experiment in allowing readers to create their own topics for discussion.

Your GPS is lying to you

By Michael Coyle Posted on 02/11/2012 Posted in Blog Entry Tagged with gear, GPS, numbers, safety, technology
Your GPS is lying to you

Your GPS is lying or, at the very least, you’re probably misinterpreting what it’s saying

SAR Long Line capability “grounded”

By Michael Coyle Posted on 29/10/2012 Posted in Blog Entry Tagged with Equipment, helicopter, helicopters, HETS, risk, safety

Some information and clarification on the “grounding” of long line operations in BC and Canada

US National Weather Service issues poignant warning

By Michael Coyle Posted on 28/10/2012 Posted in Blog Entry Tagged with emergency, evacuation, management

The US National Weather service issued this poignant and well worded warning today, including the following words; IF YOU ARE RELUCTANT [to evacuate], THINK ABOUT YOUR LOVED ONES, THINK ABOUT THE EMERGENCY RESPONDERS WHO WILL BE UNABLE TO REACH YOU WHEN YOU …

US National Weather Service issues poignant warning Read more »

A Social Media Storm

By Michael Coyle Posted on 24/10/2012 Posted in Blog Entry Tagged with communications, rescue, social media, technology
A Social Media Storm

A cautionary tale of adverse effects of Social Media during a SAR operation

GPS Accuracy Survey

By Michael Coyle Posted on 19/10/2012 Posted in Blog Entry Tagged with gear, GPS, technology

I put together a survey about how people understand the accuracy of their GPS units, it’s just four questions and I’d appreciate your input.

The idiocy of using social media to call for help

By Michael Coyle Posted on 11/10/2012 Posted in Blog Entry Tagged with backcountry, communications, GPS, rant, smart phone, smartphone, social media, technology
The idiocy of using social media to call for help
Share designed by <a href="http://www.thenounproject.com/Mikhail1986">Michael Rowe</a> from the <a href="http://www.thenounproject.com">Noun Project</a>

Why posting to Social Media when you are lost is a very very stupid thing to do

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