Sri OT at the beginning, but I get back to radio topics at the end. Mike wrote:
> It seems to me that shock is often psychologically induced. In emergency medicine the term "shock" usually refers to hypovolaemic shock which is caused by large volume bleeding. Excessive blood loss reduces the ability to get oxygen to the cells. The body can compensate for some blood loss, but past a certain point death will occur within minutes. Typical situations where hypovolaemic shock may occur include external bleeding, or internal bleeding secondary to femur or pelvic fractures, or internal abdominal injury. Psychological "shock" doesn't refer to a particular medical problem, but is a combination of imaginary or real symptoms including anxiety, panic, reaction to pain, natural adrenaline reaction etc, etc. Psychological "shock" is not particularly relevant in an emergency situation, except when it causes inappropriate reactions to the emergency. In my limited experience, most people with serious injuries react in a measured and sensible way, as did Mike with his leg fracture. As a rule-of-thumb, those who scream and yell and make a big fuss usually have only minor injuries. > It certainly emphasizes many of the reasons why I consider HF QRP gear > to be a priority inclusion for backwoods outings like this. For those who may be interested, the Canterbury Mountain Radio Service www.mountainradio.co.nz hires out HF QRP radios to the general public for hiking, mountaineering, and other back-country travel here in ZL. Main operating frequency is 3261 kHz USB. There are typically about 12 emergency calls handled per year. The service works well, providing fairly reliable coverage of the South Island of New Zealand. Schedules occur daily at 0630 or 0730 UTC with weather reports and message passing. There is also a phone patch system available. The antennae are of NVIS design, so DX signals will likely be poor, but any signal reports would be gratefully received. The main disadvantage of HF radio in an emergency is that you have to put the antenna up! This can be difficult to do if you have serious injuries. For this reason HF radio is best suited to those travelling in a group. For lone hikers a better solution is to carry a 407 MHz personal locator beacon www.beacons.org.nz. In ZL there will always be a search and rescue response to a PLB activation. I don't know how well they are supported in other countries, but it is a global system. 73 Paul ZL3IN _______________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Post to: Elecraft@mailman.qth.net You must be a subscriber to post to the list. Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com
