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Oplopanax Horridus

A veteran SAR volunteer's experiences in British Columbia

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    • On Blaming the Victim
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Not Just a Volunteer

By Michael Coyle Posted on 15/04/2014 Posted in Blog Entry, Short Posts 5 Comments Tagged with volunteer
Not Just a Volunteer

You’re not just a volunteer.

What does an under-funded SAR system look like?

By Michael Coyle Posted on 27/03/2014 Posted in Blog Entry 9 Comments Tagged with accountability, funding, rant, SAR
What does an under-funded SAR system look like?

An under-funded SAR system might be difficult to detect, how do we tell when we don’t have enough resources to do things right?

Emergency response and mental health

By Michael Coyle Posted on 21/03/2014 Posted in Blog Entry 2 Comments Tagged with emergency response, mental health, personal account

A tale of an emergency responder, a vandalized car and being attacked by a mentally unstable person wielding an axe.

Measuring GPS Precision

By Michael Coyle Posted on 13/03/2014 Posted in Blog Entry 1 Comment Tagged with GPS, smart phone, tech, technology
Measuring GPS Precision

Following up on a series of posts on how to measure the error in a GPS, I’ve written a simple too that will let you calculate the precision of any GPS unit.

Avalanche Journal Article on UAVs in SAR

By Michael Coyle Posted on 01/03/2014 Posted in Short Posts 2 Comments Tagged with avalanche, journal, UAV

A link to my article in the Canadian Avalanche Association’s publication, The Avalanche Journal

Tax Credit not an “Incentive”

By Michael Coyle Posted on 13/02/2014 Posted in Blog Entry 4 Comments Tagged with incentives, recognition, SAR, taxes
Tax Credit not an “Incentive”

Media reporting on the federal government’s tax break for SAR volunteers as an incentive misses the boat; it’s recognition of service, and not a motivation.

Tax Credit for SAR Volunteers

By Michael Coyle Posted on 11/02/2014 Posted in Blog Entry 2 Comments Tagged with SAR, taxes, Tim Jones
Tax Credit for SAR Volunteers
Travel on lightly snow-covered rocks

The federal government of Canada introduced a tax credit for SAR volunteers. Full text of the section, and a link to the budget document.

Who is paying for SAR in BC?

By Michael Coyle Posted on 05/02/2014 Posted in Blog Entry 7 Comments Tagged with funding, numbers, SAR
Who is paying for SAR in BC?
SAR Funding Uses

Who is paying for SAR in BC? Where does the money come from & where does it go? What does it mean that SAR funding is not stable, & how do we fix it?

Avalanche Transceivers and Tin Foil

By Michael Coyle Posted on 28/01/2014 Posted in Blog Entry 3 Comments Tagged with avalanche, avalanche transceiver, experiment, transceiver, video
Avalanche Transceivers and Tin Foil

A demonstration of the attenuation of of the signal of an avalanche transceiver by an order of magnitude when wrapped in foil; how this affects you.

North Shore Five Four

By Michael Coyle Posted on 27/01/2014 Posted in Short Posts No Comments Tagged with Tim Jones
North Shore Five Four

In memory of Tim Jones

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BlueToque Software
BlueToque Software
My software company
Software Design, Architecture and Consulting

TrueNorth Geospatial
TrueNorth Geospatial
The mapping software I designed for SAR
Mapping Software for Backcountry Professionals

YourLo.ca/tion
YourLo.ca/tion
Locate people using their SmartPhones

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Recent

  • Backcountry Safety is a Shared Responsibility
  • Are “selfies” hazardous?
  • “Dog Walker” Behaviour Profile
  • Reflections on 2017
  • Accidental Triggering of SPOT device

Tags

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Blogroll

  • AdventureSmart
  • Coquitlam SAR
  • North Shore Hikers
  • North Shore Outdoor
  • Outdoor Vancouver
  • Roland Web Memorial
  • SARBayes
  • TrueNorth Geospatial
  • Wayne Flann's Avalanche Blog

Older stuff

Recent

  • Backcountry Safety is a Shared Responsibility
  • Are “selfies” hazardous?
  • “Dog Walker” Behaviour Profile
  • Reflections on 2017
  • Accidental Triggering of SPOT device

Blogroll

  • AdventureSmart
  • Coquitlam SAR
  • North Shore Hikers
  • North Shore Outdoor
  • Outdoor Vancouver
  • Roland Web Memorial
  • SARBayes
  • TrueNorth Geospatial
  • Wayne Flann's Avalanche Blog

Projects

  • BlueToque Software
  • Missing Poster Generator
  • TrueNorth Geospatial
  • YourLo.ca/tion

Resource

  • AdventureSmart
  • Canadian Avalanche Association
  • Canadian Avalanche Centre
  • TrueNorth Geospatial

Projects

  • BlueToque Software Software architecture, design and build BlueToque Software Software architecture, design and build
  • Missing Poster Generator Easy generation, printing and sharing of missing posters Missing Poster Generator Easy generation, printing and sharing of missing posters
  • TrueNorth Geospatial Mapping software for backcountry professionals TrueNorth Geospatial Mapping software for backcountry professionals
  • YourLo.ca/tion A simple location finding, sharing and tracking service for SAR teams YourLo.ca/tion A simple location finding, sharing and tracking service for SAR teams
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Oplopanax Horridus Copyright © 2013 by Michael Coyle
All content, except where otherwise noted, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 Canada License.
Read about what that means, and contact the author for commercial licenses if necessary.

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