I was brought up on the old DDD MM' SS.S" N39 18' 23.2" \ W121 36' 52.5" format. (Degrees, Minutes and Seconds) This is the format seen on most maps.
Now I am getting just a little bit confused. The rescue aircraft and others are using the Degrees and Decimal Minutes format. This format is commonly used when working with electronic navigation equipment. (Degrees and Decimal Minutes) DDD MM.MMM'. To change back and forth in my Garmin Legend I go to Main Menu>Setup>Units>Position Format and select the Format that I want to use. To the average outdoors man the Format makes little difference. As long as everybody in your party is using the same Format. Now if your hunting buddy is down and in serious trouble and you have your handy cell phone along with your gps you have a good option. You can give the responding agency your location using the Decimal Degrees Format. Apparently other formats cause some sort of problem with aircraft. Anyway that is the direction most Emergency Command Centers are providing in the wildland.
Now for an old guy all these different formats cause me just a little bit of "brain damage." BUT the key is that everybody in your group use the same format. That way there is a "sameness" in you communications and gps maps.
Now you might kick back and say what the Heck does this mean to me. Well my lights turned on this weekend when the rescue helicopter went out to the wilderness and picked up a hiker with a broken leg, to a cowtown to pickup accident victims, to a lake to recover a drowning victim. And last but not lest another injured party at a lake. When I heard the dispatchers give out Lat/Longs in the Degrees and Decimal Minutes format I thought I better ask some questions. I also heard the dispatcher ask the rescuers for the Lat?Long in Degrees and Decimal Format and then had them repeat to make sure. The correct location save rotor time.
I quess if an Old Buck Hunter is going to play with electronic toys he better develope a little Nerdism. Over the years I am aware of a number of hunters in my part the woods falling off a cliff or breaking a leg in a lava flow. I understand the Right Coast, and down South folks fall out of tree stands. Do you have a plan if thanks go bad?
