turn off your cell phone in avy country

[Driver]

I turn mine off.

[smitchell333]

Yeah, and don't forget to activate it before every run!

Remember the kid who was activating his PLB that he got for xmas before every run on Berthoud pass?
http://berthoudpass.org/2009/12/27/p...am-needs-help/
.

Yeah that was funny. Some people are clueless.

[lisaaller520]

GET IT !!!

[vaquero]

Thanks for the link l, I'll check it out

[Name Redacted]

You get cell coverage when touring?

yeah, sometimes better up high than in the lot.

[NoPostholio]

hemp ropes

Who doesn't miss hemp rope in a jam

[Mr brownstone]

You get cell coverage when touring?

I most certainly do not, which is another reason.......

[NoPostholio]

But there is a 90% chance you use a 10+ year old flip phone that a luddite might scoff at -

[Mr brownstone]

But there is a 90% chance you use a 10+ year old flip phone that a luddite might scoff at -

no, i actually have a new flip phone like 3 months old. Even takes pictures i think. Not that i'd ever bother with that function.

so i guess the answer to this TR's riddle is to simply keep yer phone turned off when beeping. I'll make sure to remind touring partners when i go out with them.

[PNWbrit]

yeah, sometimes better up high than in the lot.

Yep.

In the Alps (Roger may have heard of them?) You get better coverage than most US cities. And a cell is considered essential safety equipment.

[Mofro261]

Yep.

And a cell is considered essential safety equipment.

How else can I take and post a selfie of me digging out a partner?

[PNWbrit]

How else can I take and post a selfie of me digging out a partner?

Did their sunglasses fall off?

[MagnificentUnicorn]

I was in the camp of no cell for a while and then I started carrying one for when it was my week to have the kids. I ski while they're at school. Not avalanche related but I was skiing just outside the area boundary and took a long uncontrolled slide last March and was skiing alone. If I hadn't had my phone I would possibly be dead. I was in the hospital for 4 days with basically a flail chest and hemo/pneumothorax.

In WA most places I ski tour have cell coverage with Verizon and I will likely always carry my phone and turn it off if I'm wearing a beacon.

My sunglasses did fall off, but it was so icy that they slid down the slope and came to rest right next to me. I was able to don them so I looked good when patrol showed up.

[NoPostholio]

My sunglasses did fall off, but it was so icy that they slid down the slope and came to rest right next to me. I was able to don them so I looked good when patrol showed up.

That is a pro move right there dude -

[Mr brownstone]

Naw thats farm league right there. Gotta grab em as you go down. Just make sure your wrist straps are snugged up. Always snugged up as loose straps can really turn the flailing vuarnet grab into instant disaster.

croakies is how the true ski mountaineers roll. Guy.

[Ottime]

Fuck. How do you guys post to Facebook and Instagram is you don't have your phone on, or worse, are traveling outside data coverage. If it is less than four bars, I don't go. And shit, I always bring my bacon, but I don't see how the phone effects it's flavor.

[bodywhomper]

if you wrap the gps in bacon, it's all good right?

[YoEddy]

So phones definitely operate at different & higher frequencies than beacons - interference in that regard isn't likely an issue regardless of the proximity of the devices. However, cell towers are generally placed where people congregate, and not where people go to get away from people (i.e. in the BC), and the further you get away from a serving site the more power your phone puts out to make it back to the tower.

Your little cell phone is capable of putting out 0.5Watts of power - that's not an insignificant amount of power, which it will be putting out even if your not making a call because the cell tower is telling it to turn up because it can't hear it (ever wonder why your battery dies so quickly in the BC when you never used it?).

Anyway, this transmit power can & will desensitize the front end of the beacon which is looking for a whisper of a signal, but it has your cell phone screaming in it's ear. Sure, it's a different language and frequency, but it still makes it really hard to hear what it's searching for. Separating the devices makes it easier for the beacon to hear what it's looking for.

Airplane mode 'should' more than take care of the desensing issue. I'm not sure why their study says it doesn't reduce the EM field, but assuming airplane mode means cellular, bluetooth, and wi-fi are disabled then I can't understand what would be generating RF?

Bottom line for me is that I'm never going to take a call in the BC. I only have my phone in case I need it, and if I do I'll turn it on then.

[coldfeet]

Airplane mode 'should' more than take care of the desensing issue. I'm not sure why their study says it doesn't reduce the EM field, but assuming airplane mode means cellular, bluetooth, and wi-fi are disabled then I can't understand what would be generating RF?

Bottom line for me is that I'm never going to take a call in the BC. I only have my phone in case I need it, and if I do I'll turn it on then.

It's the power supply most likely. I think I posted about testing this upthread or in one of the other threads. Modern power supplies generate a fair amount of radio frequency noise. Beacons operate at a much lower frequency than cell phones: 457 kHz vs 800-1800 MHz. I don't know how much of the cell phone transmit power is aliased down to 457 kHz, but probably not a lot. However, almost any electronic gadget with a power supply will generate RF noise, and having such a gadget right next to a searching beacon is a bad idea. Probably one of the reasons people have reported interference from Gopros.

If you have an old analog beacon, you can try this yourself by bringing it close to various electronic gadgets and listening for the static. For ex, my laptop power brick generates a ton of interference, not that I would carry a laptop AC adapter while ski touring obviously.

Your bottom line of not turning the phone on is of course very sensible.

[summit]

The caveat to turn off and space away electronics from your beacon is nothing new.

I think if you practice with your beacon a lot with the electronics you carry and are likely to have on, you learn what is a problem and how to address it whether it's spacing or the power button.