Doug Lloyd posted: > Anyone else had >experience with digital/ analogue differences? We experienced it in the Everglades. We had taken a wrong turn in the mangrove channels and ended up in a large lake that had several types of trail markers, but none of the type that we'd been following. My husband's tri-band phone had one bar of service. My new digital flip phone had no service whatsoever. Using the tri-band, we were able to reach the outfitter and get the assistance we needed, although it took a number of calls and some shouting as the signal kept breaking up. GPS would have helped -- that's what I kept telling myself. Then, as we double backed up the channels, we met a fisherman with a GPS unit, and he was having trouble getting reception due to the overhanging mangroves. Perhaps VHF would have been a good solution here. A better map than the vague photocopied one the outfitter gave us would definitely have been an aid. The biggest lesson I learned was to closely quiz outfitters about trail markings and about whether any changes had occurred to the trail that might present problems. As it turns out, an older trail had been reopened a day or so before, and the outfitter knew that several paddlers had run in to trouble. The turn that we missed was marked with a piece of fluorescent string. I had actually taken a photo of bromeliads on the stump that had the string, but didn't grasp at that time that the string had a Very Important Meaning. We made it out, but the 'glades were getting quite dark by the time we reached the take-out point. Margot Pantalone mpantalo_at_tennessee.edu *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************Received on Tue Jun 08 2004 - 12:46:31 PDT
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