The mobile phone is like the Swiss army knife of our generation.  It is a phone, but it is also a camera.  It can tell us where we are on the world, and we can access the internet with it.  It is a little marvel of technology that allows us to do everything we possibly need to do.  And considering how much they have advanced since they were invented just 25 years ago, it is sometimes frightening to consider what they will be like in the next 25 years.  Did you know that if you are in the great outdoors and get lost, your phone can rescue you, even if you have no signal?  That is something most phone sales people won’t tell you now, is it?

Understanding Phone Signals

As soon as you switch your phone on, a signal is sent to the nearest mobile tower.  Then, it sends another one, which gives you your reception.  This is known, in highly technical terms, as a handshake.  It uses the handshake to send all information, including exactly where you are.

Now, if you only have a tiny bit of signal, you know that making a call is going to be pretty much impossible.  However, the phone and tower are still having excellent communication.  The handshake may be totally failed, but the tower still knows that you are there.

What Does This Mean?

It means the world!  If you are lost in the great outdoors, a search and rescue team has the ability to go to mobile tower and look at whether it has received signal from you.  That little bit of signal can pinpoint your location to within a 100 yards of where you are.

How Does This Keep Us Safe?

Even if you are going into the great outdoors to escape the hustle and bustle of city life, bring your mobile.  Switch it off if you want so you can’t get disturbed.  However, should you get lost, switch it on straight away, and the rescue teams may be able to find you.  If you are running out of battery, switch off every app your phone has and put it in power save mode (almost every mobile has this).  Alternatively, switch your phone on every once in a while to send out a new signal.  However, don’t rely entirely on your mobile phone.  Bring a map and a compass and learn how to use it.

Safety Tip

Before you venture into the great outdoors, make sure you know what the weather is going to do.  Don’t decide to camp in a ravine or a creek bed, as you may just find yourself floating away in the middle of the night.  We are having quite insane rain lately, and this can be a real disaster if you’re camping in the wrong place.  Not just that, if your mobile phone gets wet, it may just break and that would be your last chance at rescue quite literally down the drain.

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•  License: Creative Commons image source 

Brian recently purchased a new Samsung Genio Qwerty Black.  He loves the fact that he can find his own way around through the apps that it has available, but he likes the fact that it may just save his life should he ever get lost.