Folks, for the past year I’ve had plans for an epic excursion into the backcountry for the week of Thanksgiving here in the US. It was something I’ve really been looking forward to all year long.
The day before I was to head out, I got hit HARD by the flu. I’m still dealing with it now as I write this on the third or fourth day. Healthy all year long all the way up until a single day before my excursion, it boggles the mind.
Naturally, I was looking forward to sharing that adventure with everybody, and the wilderness area where I planned to go is a really special, unknown area to most people, with waterfalls, interesting rock formations, and thick forests.
The only comfort from this is that I got sick before I went into the backcountry and not during my time in the backcountry. I’ve been thinking all week of how miserable that would be and asking myself how I would deal with a situation like that. Am I prepared for that possibility, or are there weaknesses in my preparedness there? I’ll tell you this: When you have a 102°F (39°C) fever at home and you can’t get warm even with the wood stove blazing, it gives you an idea of how much worse that experience could be out in the woods in the wintertime with only your sleep system and a campfire. Add on that the idea that work around camp can’t be put on hold if a person is to survive such a thing. So no matter how weak and miserable you’re feeling, you still have to be able to keep fuel on the fire, cover distance whenever possible to get back to civilization, and so forth. All of these expenditures of energy not only delay the body’s ability to recover, but can in fact make an illness go from bad to much, much worse very quickly.
So what to do? How to handle such a situation? What things should a person always have on hand in the case of such a scenario?
Even though I’m really disappointed about my plans getting ruined this week, maybe something good will come out of it. I think this would make an exceptional topic to discuss for The Practical Woodsman podcast.
Baofeng K63… I forgot to mention in the video that the battery has a USB-C charge port, so it can be easily recharged in the backcountry with a power bank or a solar charger. Also, the battery allows for something like 12 hours straight usage, and 22 hours monitoring.
Get yer’s here: https://a.co/d/ci7hOcA
I’ve been using AI to answer all my questions and learn these radios. Here is some of my conversations with my good ol’ buddy ‘Chatty’ George P. Tooley (some call him ChatGPT) for your benefit and so you can see where I started and how I began to learn the ins and outs.
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On your Baofeng radio screen, the two sets of numbers you see represent two different frequency channels, and here’s how they function:
Top Frequency (Display A):
• In your photo: 155.725
• This is the active transmitting/receiving frequency when you’re on “A” (upper) channel.
• It is usually the main frequency you’re using to talk or listen unless you switch to the other.
Bottom Frequency (Display B):
• In your photo: 471.665
• This is a second frequency you can monitor or switch to quickly.
• It’s handy for dual watch or dual standby — the radio can listen to both frequencies and let you know when activity occurs on either.
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Key Differences in Purpose:
Function Top Frequency (A) Bottom Frequency (B)
Primary Use Active/Selected channel Secondary or standby channel
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