Matches and night vision goggles

Hi - must be the phosphorus -

On a fire training course lately this was discussed. As you mention - matches are said to be very good. But a lighter is also ok. Or torch. Even cellphone or suchlike with the screen lit up and facing up is reasonable to spot in the open using night vision. Just don't shine a torch or similar up at the pilot as he's trying to land as it will overload the night-vision and blind him. If you're using a torch to indicate a landing spot, shine it down at the ground once the chopper's spotted you. It was also mentioned that most choppers used for rescue carry radio direction finding gear with a wide range of frequencies supported, which capable of locating not just for the locator beacons but also VHF, UHF radio transmitters (when transmitting, of course). The presentation also included cellphones in this list. However, as an ex- telecom engineer, I have some doubts about the latter. My understanding is that GSM cellphones will not transmit anything unless they can hear a signal from the cell tower on the paging channel. So this may only work when in coverage. Also it seems to me that the occasional bursts of transmission your phone does ('location updates') when you're not on a call are very infrequent, and short, so would be hard for the chopper to home in on. So it seems that this would be most likely to work when actively making a call.

I thought that as well but this weekend a hunter lost near Thompsons track The hunter was talking to police via cellphone and they still couldnt work out where he was. It wouldnt be hard to transmit a paging signal as well as listen.There wouldnt be a lot of cellphones in that area

People laugh at me for being in the habit of skiing on Ruapehu with an emergency beacon and a survival bag, but this story illustrates exactly why it's not a silly idea to do so...