What colour emergency strobe light?
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when we talk about strobe , should that be a strobe pattern ie, three blinks and off for 3 seconds then three blinks, etc, rather than a steady on-off-on-off. Or some other pattern, or a strobe with different colours/patterns that cycles through them.
Alex.
Alex.
No idea about the strobe frequency. I'm going to slightly disagree about the value of a whistle. I recall a capsized boat on Grafham water where we could not hear their whistles even from quite close by. We could see them easily and were sailing to help them.
If there is any amount of wind it whips away the sound, and the higher pitches can easily be mistaken for the wind whistling. It is possible, but not easy, to identify/seperate the normal signal from gusts of wind.
Conversely, the old Police whistles had a very distinct lower tone, that carried much better and was easy to distinguish from wind noise, but needed more "puff" to blow. If the person is weak/injured, they might not be able to sustian this with enough effort for it to carry far. I've tried and don't think I could blow a sustained note on a regular timing for very long.
If there is any amount of wind it whips away the sound, and the higher pitches can easily be mistaken for the wind whistling. It is possible, but not easy, to identify/seperate the normal signal from gusts of wind.
Conversely, the old Police whistles had a very distinct lower tone, that carried much better and was easy to distinguish from wind noise, but needed more "puff" to blow. If the person is weak/injured, they might not be able to sustian this with enough effort for it to carry far. I've tried and don't think I could blow a sustained note on a regular timing for very long.
No, forbidden by a UN charter. Fish might get epilectic seizure. 
Still, a whistle sound carry further than your own voice. If a person is too weak to blow a whistle they sertainly won´t get shouting sound of their own. So in any case a whistle is better than no whistle. And since I do not spend any time on water my emergency would appear on land, probably in the forest.
Most SOLAS strobes are cool white, so I’d not bother trying to reinvent the wheel with whatever reasoning comes to your mind. Stick with the industry standard - cool white and learn SOS in Morse or just buy a strobe that transmits SOS. Light without context is just that. A flashing light is a flashing light, a strobe permanently on is just a constant light source. A strobe signalling SOS is the gold standard and totally unambiguous to SAR.
If you’re going to carry a strobe because you are doing something with an element of risk, I’d advise carrying a proper strobe that has been designed for that purpose, like an ACR Firefly. Also worth considering a headtorch that has a strobe function like the Nitecore HT60 (which also strobes SOS in Morse) and will sear the retinas off you.
If you’re going to carry a strobe because you are doing something with an element of risk, I’d advise carrying a proper strobe that has been designed for that purpose, like an ACR Firefly. Also worth considering a headtorch that has a strobe function like the Nitecore HT60 (which also strobes SOS in Morse) and will sear the retinas off you.
This is also correct, there’s a reason you get a whistle on your life jacket. Yet another opportunity to break out your Morse code and start blasting SOS.
True, Something is better than nothing, so long as one is not too reliant on it. Whilst that experience was on water it applies, maybe even more so, on exposed mountains and areas. In woods though, I should think it would be a pretty good option.
Athos: thanks for good advice, but just seen the prices, sadly out of my price range. This thread kicked off because I saw a cheaper strobe make and thought it might be an option. Non-essential, Something better than nothing, but will probably come with limitations compared to those you have suggested.
IMHO those lifejacket whistles are pretty useless, and forget trying to blow morse while paddling around in the freezing cold sea. On rivers, maybe. Keeping an arm aloft so that they can see you is far more important and effective.
Had to look it up. I hadn't thought of footy whistles, I think that's a great idea. Tone & "warble" that carries and not likely to be mistaken for wind/gales. I might have one somewhere, the sort with a pea, and it would be much better than my decorative ear-blasting antler tip.
Those sheepdog whistles seem to carry distances but when I looked at one they seemed to be very directional.
No problem, an ACR Firefly is about £70 (or under 5 cheap strobes) and will provide many years of reliable service, I carried a military version as part of my diving kit for years and years - always worked without fail as long as you look after it. Whilst I agree that knowledge is King, being able to exploit technology is a crucial skill and leaves less to chance. Someone with no tech but all the knowledge in the world is probably not going to be rescued before someone with basic knowledge and an EPIRB.
Sound carries very well over water, even with a crappy life jacket whistle. An arm held aloft will be very hard to see in significant swell. Arm signals generally mean you’ve got nothing else to use. Just a little advice from someone who has spent their entire career in the maritime environment. Hopefully haven’t strayed too far from the original topic, if you get one let us know your opinion on it. All the best and good luck in your endeavours!
This is interesting
orbiloc.com
It may, or may not be helpful
Colours - Orbiloc - The Safety Light
Unique design CHOOSE THE RIGHT COLOUR There are several factors influencing how the different light colours are perceived, such as how the eye perceives different light colours and which specific weather conditions such as fog, rain etc. they are used in. The unique design of the lens and the...
orbiloc.com
It may, or may not be helpful
How about a Piccolo, not known as the screaming stick by orchestral players for nothing. When you are rescued you can play the sailors hornpipe on it
Nah, I had one once and to me glotoob is not nearly as bright as the Orbiloc. Orbiloc claims to be seen at 5km.
FWIW, the last time I participated in a SAR activity, an agency working with us deployed a drone that used thermal. Thick, wet, rainy forest certainly didn't help that technology.
We were out assisting with a search for a National Guard member that had gotten lost during a land nav exercise. He had been lost for approximately 10 hours before we got called. We slogged through the rainy woods all night, with men, with drones, with tracking K9s. He eventually stumbled out the woods the next morning, after spending the night in a swamp with a leg injury, and made his way to a nearby home, which summoned aid.
Know what I believed would have helped us out more than anything? A whistle.
Talking with the Sgt, I learned that they weren't allowed to carry anything that could have assisted in cheating on that land nav course. No whistles, no blank ammo, no radio.
Unless he had a strobe that could have been hung up high in a tree, it wouldn't have had the reach that I believe a whistle would have in that environment. Yeah, probably would have been deadened by the wet vegetation a bit, but would have had more reach than a blinky light in a still, wet forest.
We were out assisting with a search for a National Guard member that had gotten lost during a land nav exercise. He had been lost for approximately 10 hours before we got called. We slogged through the rainy woods all night, with men, with drones, with tracking K9s. He eventually stumbled out the woods the next morning, after spending the night in a swamp with a leg injury, and made his way to a nearby home, which summoned aid.
Know what I believed would have helped us out more than anything? A whistle.
Talking with the Sgt, I learned that they weren't allowed to carry anything that could have assisted in cheating on that land nav course. No whistles, no blank ammo, no radio.
Unless he had a strobe that could have been hung up high in a tree, it wouldn't have had the reach that I believe a whistle would have in that environment. Yeah, probably would have been deadened by the wet vegetation a bit, but would have had more reach than a blinky light in a still, wet forest.
Denying safety rescue kit as staff more concerned with cheating than the life of one of their troop. They could have died of exposure or injury in that 10 hours. Great.
They had lot of trouble finding the crew and tank that sank in a bog on exercises in the EU. Wonder if they could have done something better there too, like a satnav tracker.
They had lot of trouble finding the crew and tank that sank in a bog on exercises in the EU. Wonder if they could have done something better there too, like a satnav tracker.
from Orbiloc colour guide - "Yellow is often associated with joy, optimism, and energy.""Recommended for an energetic and confident look. Red has a strong emotional association with danger, making it an effective safety colour."This is interesting
Colours - Orbiloc - The Safety Light
Unique design CHOOSE THE RIGHT COLOUR There are several factors influencing how the different light colours are perceived, such as how the eye perceives different light colours and which specific weather conditions such as fog, rain etc. they are used in. The unique design of the lens and the...
It may, or may not be helpful
What's so silly about it is it's not rocket science to provide something like a whistle and seal it up so you can instantly know if someone's used it when they shouldn't have.