On Star - would it have saved the KIM family???

[hammersley]

In case you forgot that was the family that was lost in Southeran Oregon for 9-10 days in December and the Father died when he tried to walk out... ... . It appears as though OnStar is Satellite Based and not linited by towers... is that true??? If so - that is a fantastic safety feature IF YOU NEED to communicate when your cell phone is AWOL... ... Normal Satellite Service phones are very expensive... ... ... ... .

 

[PToombs]

The guy I work with flipped his 4 wheeler over on his head up at camp. In the middle of noplace. He was driving his wifes van with Onstar. They pushed the button to find the nearest hospital or whatever. No answer! His buddys loaded him up to take him to the hospital near home, an hour away. They pushed the button a few more times on the way. Finally, 35 minutes after they left, someone answered.

Real lifesaver that is.

Needless to say, he didn't bother to renew his subscription.

 

[Signal73]

Onstar is as good as the cell towers in the area...

 

[Signal73]

found this on the site as reference material:

OnStar services require vehicle electrical system (including battery), wireless service and GPS satellite signals to be available and operating for features to function properly. Subscription Service Agreement required. The U. S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) ruled that wireless carriers will no longer be required to support the analog wireless network beginning in 2008. As of January 1, 2008, OnStar plans to offer service only through equipment that operates on the digital network which may require the purchase of a system upgrade for eligible vehicles.

 

[mattymac]

We were snomobiling in a small town a few years back and I seen a guy who locked his keys in his truck while unloading his sleds, his truck was running so he called onstar from a landline and they coudnt unlock the doors because there was no signal where his truck was! Also everyone says that a chevy wont lock the doors with the keys in the ignition! Ive seen it first hand. The guy had to call AAA, in a few hours he got into his truck.

 

[abrankod]

The only reliable rescue signalling device out there are the new 406MHz Personal Locator Beacons (similar to marine EPIRBs) that have a GPS onboard. They actually send a satellite signal up to low earth orbit satellites and they notify emergency services to come looking for you. The downside is that this is NOT A VALET SERVICE... Its for REAL LIFE OR DEATH only. Pressing the activator button will start a ball rolling and real rescue efforts.



The units cost about $500-$600 and must be registered with the FCC and the Coast guard. If you value your safety and travel on these un-patrolled logging roads or are an offroader or even just a hiker that has the chance to get caught in a bad spot, this is probably the only reliable device to get people to you in an emergency.





-Daniel

 

[Timebomb]

The only reliable rescue signalling device out there are the new 406MHz Personal Locator Beacons (similar to marine EPIRBs) that have a GPS onboard. They actually send a satellite signal up to low earth orbit satellites and they notify emergency services to come looking for you. The downside is that this is NOT A VALET SERVICE... Its for REAL LIFE OR DEATH only. Pressing the activator button will start a ball rolling and real rescue efforts. The units cost about $500-$600 and must be registered with the FCC and the Coast guard. -Daniel

When I was in Maine working on lobster boat engines for there races. One of the guys pointed out such a divice on his boat. He said one time he was doing some cleaning and lade it down in his little shante were he keeps the rope,nets and things. He lost track of were he put it and piled stuff on top of it, Well it went off and in minutes the coast guard was flying overhead. Imagine explaning that one... . LOL Im sure they were not amused.

 

[Nate]

Other thing that will work is a satelite phone.



The 4x4 club I was in in AK had one. It was like $400 to buy and then $1 a minute when you use it. Not bad at all.

 

[Ol'TrailDog]

Maybe I'm just an old timer, but a large dose of common sense would/could have worked too. Plus, its cheaper and works day, night, cloudy, sunshine, or even in a cave.

 

[bighammer]

Maybe I'm just an old timer, but a large dose of common sense would/could have worked too. Plus, its cheaper and works day, night, cloudy, sunshine, or even in a cave.

Trouble is, there's a LOT of people with more dollars than sense.

 

[EKlem]

When I was in Maine working on lobster boat engines for there races. One of the guys pointed out such a divice on his boat. He said one time he was doing some cleaning and lade it down in his little shante were he keeps the rope,nets and things. He lost track of were he put it and piled stuff on top of it, Well it went off and in minutes the coast guard was flying overhead. Imagine explaning that one... . LOL Im sure they were not amused.

What boat were you working on? I work on a schooner out of Rockland.



Sorry for the off topic comment. It is true though that the only thing that really hold up is an epirb. I have even had bad luck with sat phones. There are several types of epirbs that are classified by whether they have gps or not and the frequency they opperate on. The ones without gps rely on 2 passes of a satellite to get a fix. Don't even bother looking into a 125MHz one since the 406 ones are so much better and more reliable. As was stated earlier, these are for REAL emergencies only.



And yes, they do work. I have seen them work a few times under some horrendous conditions. If you monitor channel 16 vhf, you will hear the coast guard report that they have picked up an epirb signal every three or four months.



If you are serious about communicating, you need several forms of communication available to you. Having both an HF and a VHF radio is critical because they complement each other well. A cell phone is great if you are in a place that it will work. One note on cell phones is that if you have one old enough that you can actually hook it up to an external antenna, an antenna with a good ground plane will greatly increase your signal strength. For the average person, having all of this is not practical but for boats that go offshore, we carry it all. Part of having it is being able to help others out both by monitoring the distress frequencies and by being able to relay information and provide assistance when there is a real emergency.