FRS/GMRS 9 11
My son and grandson are snowboarders. A great way of staying in shape, but like all outdoor sports there are risk.
A fellow snow boarder has a gps and Motorola FRS/GMRS radios. Many of the ski resorts are now monitoring Channel 9 tone 11, (911). I called a friend of mine who is associated with a number of ski areas. He told me the ski patrol has its own radio system, but the Lift Houses at the top of the lifts are monitoring FRS 9 11. The lift operators can pass emergency information to the Ski Patrol. How this is handled will very with each ski area. How closely these radios are monitored is unknown. But in one case a call for help was monitored at ski area A. A skier had gone down an icy draw and was injured at Ski Area B. The injured skier called for help on 9 11 and Ski Area A answered the called and relayed the traffic to Ski Area B. This cooperation resulted in the skier being rescued.
Lift houses are idea radio locations on a mountain because they are normally at a high point. The location will extend the coverage of the FRS radio. The down side is that there is no external antennas allowed on FRS radios. The up side is that there is good FRS 9 11 coverage in some areas. The Central Serrias being one of those areas. There are a number of ski resorts with high elevation lifts. These not only over look the ski areas but thousands of acres of National Forest. During the winter these areas are actively used by snowmobiles, cross-country skiers, hikers, and ice fishermen. The other advantage is that other outdoor users are plugging in 9 11. I have read that Midland is pushing Channel 1 as a National Calling Channel.
While I normally do not monitor my radio full-time I will setup channel 9 with tone 11 when I am going out for the day. If you are aware of FRS channels being used by different ski areas please post them. FRS radios can be rented at some ski areas. One ski area in Montana recommends you drop a radio in your kids pocket at the start of a day.
A well-regulated radio system has problems with traffic walking on each other at different times. FRS/GMRS is not a well regulated system. It is subject to accidental or intentional abuse. In a true emergency this maybe the systems down fall. Death-by-idiot. Over the years I have heard a lot of idiots on CB radios. The same thing is happening with FRS system.
