This all reminds me of that “Odd Couple” ep, where the gril scouts get lost in the woods and Felix/Oscar go looking for them:
Geeky Kid: Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou, Romeo?
Felix: Deny thy father! And refuse thy name!
Oscar: Whatever happened to “Help! I’m over here!”?
:person_facepalming:
What article? I’m talking about two Swedish climbers I know of. And no, they did not flash at the helo, one of them put it in blinky mode and pointed it to the hut, just as I described in the post I linked to.
I would agree with the Mission determines equipment but today I carry a BLF -A6 (bistro firmware) which allows me to carry one flashlight as my EDC and just change modes to one that suits the situation it fits best…. Today you find a lot of lights fit a multi-purpose role its more a case of find one you like the feel and UI of…. Only time my EDC does not fit the “mission” is diving but hey I have a few that are suitable…… I remember many years ago wishing for lighting we have today……
Anyway back on topic I guess…
Whats with the exclamation marks? You quoted my text with my link in it, so naturally I thought you where answering my post. You are aware that that is the normal way of responding? My post has nothing to do with that article.
Apologies for the offence cause….
No helicopter involved there.
It was a maritime rescue (where SOS is the correct signal to use)
“A Flashlight SOS Signal Brings Rescue
TOOLBOX
Resize Print
E-mail Reprints
By Matt Zapotosky
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, May 22, 2008
The U.S. Coast Guard rescued two English sailors near Hooper Island in the Chesapeake Bay Saturday morning after the couple, injured by a sudden storm that battered their boat, used a flashlight to signal SOS to a passing ship.
Members of the crew on that vessel called the Coast Guard at about 5:15 a.m., and within a half-hour, a rescue boat was in the water and on the way to the sailboat’s reported location near an island off the Eastern Shore just below the Patuxent River, said Petty Officer John Robbins of the Coast Guard station in St. Inigoes.
Albert Labos, 62, and his wife, Theresa, 64, were sailing from Annapolis back to their home in England Friday night when the storm hit, Robbins said. Albert Labos injured his hand and Theresa Labos broke several ribs, Robbins said. The couple was stranded on the boat for several hours.
The storm also damaged the boat, Robbins said, though he did not know the extent of the damage. He also said he assumed that the couple’s radio was out because they did not respond to Coast Guard radio inquiries and had used a flashlight to signal for help early Saturday morning.
“When the [Coast Guard] boat initially arrived on scene, they didn’t have a sight on any vessel,” Robbins said, adding that the weather had calmed by that time. “That was the only sailboat they saw, and they just went and investigated.”
Coast Guard officers transferred the Laboses onto the rescue boat and took them to the Route 4 bridge at Solomons, where an ambulance took them to St. Mary’s Hospital. Neither had life-threatening injuries, Robbins said.
Their 38-foot-6-inch sailboat was towed to Solomons.”
At no point does it say SOS mode only says used to signal sos….thread started to find out if SOS mode has saved anyone…
While your statement is true, it is also somewhat pedantic. It was the fact that an sos signal led to their eventual rescue that’s relevant. Maybe the light did have sos mode, maybe it didn’t, I doubt that fact was foremost on the rescuer or reporter’s mind when writing the article.
While I understand the distinction between marine and land distress signals now, the fact remains that sos is more universally understood by the general public than 3 flashes if your lost in the mountains in one part of the world vs 6 flashes in another. If I see an sos anywhere, land, sea, air or space, I’m going to think maybe they need some help. Not knowing Morse myself, besides sos, probably like 95% of the rest of the world population today, any other pattern of blinking would make me wonder if that’s just some guy playing with a flashlight, unless I’m actually involved in a search operation, in which case any light flashing would be cause to investigate.
Price, availability, form factor, runtime, output, color, weight are all much more relevant to my decision to purchase than whether it has sos or not. However sos timing in most lights could be improved.
Long story short, sos mode has never saved me, but I don’t mind having it on any flashlight.
KuoH
From an ancient CPF thread, where this was chewed to death:
“There must be some sort of standard set up by the Coast guard.
Here is the offical requirement for SOS from the 46 CFR 161.013.
So if you want it to be certified then …
PART 161—ELECTRICAL EQUIPMENT—Table of Contents
Subpart 161.013—Electric Distress Light for Boats
Sec. 161.013-7 Signal requirements.
(a) An electric light must have a flash characteristic of the
International Morse Code for S-O-S and, under design conditions,
(1) Each short flash must have a duration of \1/3\ second;
(2) Each long flash must have a duration of 1 second;
(3) The dark period between each short flash must have a duration of
\1/3\ second;
(4) The dark period between each long flash must have a duration of
\1/3\ second;
(5) The dark period between each letter must have a duration of 2
seconds;
(6) The dark period between eachS-O-S signal must have a duration of 3 seconds.
(b) The flash characteristics described in paragraph (a) must be
produced automatically when the signal is activated.”
So, over a repeat period, the torch will be on for 6x1/3 seconds, 3x 1 second. Over a period of 12 seconds. Meaning a mark-space ratio of 5:12, which will drain the battery pretty fast, if this is all done in turbo.
BTW, I have many torches with SOS mode, and none of them comply, usually not even close.
Hence my preference for the mountain beacon distress modes that, done well, could be very efficient and last a couple of nights, but I’ve yet to find one for sale. Perhaps I’ll have to DIY it.
A choice of three options, mountain beacon x6 or x3, and maritime SOS, would tick all the boxes for me.
Now we could also discuss those “disabling” strobe modes that are supposed to disorientate and frighten off an attacker, be it a bear, a human, a dog etc. Here is a clue, they don’t work, unless you happen to have a photosensitive epileptic animal in the beam.
This is a great example as to how a flashlight can help sar/mrt help us find folks using a flashlight…. it involves flashes from the flashlight not bany special modes…… This is often how a flashlight has been used in the UK to help locate someone.
Sheeeeit.
If I REALLY wanna attract attention to myself to get rescued it’s gonna go into STROBE.
Land, sea, outer space, IDGAS, I want them to notice RIGHT AWAY and not chance that an overhead 200 MPH aircraft misses some slow blinking beacon, SOS, cupped hand over the head, slow pulse pattern.
If I’m gonna sleep then yeah beacon or SOS. Awake different story. And common sense also sez that you get yer sleep during the day by napping instead. If you know rescuers are gonna come looking then you best stay awake all night long anyway. What good does a flashlight really do ya in broad daylight?
Otherwise I’m strobing.
And that’s why if yer gonna EDC in dubious surroundings carry TWO flashes on ya. Ya know, a SPARE.
Two Is ONE, ONE is NONE. If yer serious ALWAYS carry a spare not just for yourself butt for someone else.
Personally I carry a main uber-used EDC in AA and momentary switch format. Then my spare is uber-lightweight than in of itself is pretty capable. Btw that AAA spare is a dedomed XPG2 ZOOMIE. 
It can also run on an AA becuz it’s actually an AA flash butt has a AA to AAA adapter sleeve. Best of both worlds and saves carrying weight.
JMO……
That is super interesting, I wasn’t even aware there was timing specifications. I guess not many people are aware, because like you say, all firmware’s are different. And it’s scary that they require such a huge drain on the battery to comply with the specification. You’re flashlight isn’t going to get you rescued if it’s dead before someone notices it. At least beacon gives the best of both worlds, a full power pulse, and long battery life.
Somehow my email notifications stopped, so I fell 35 messages behind and read them fast. To tally, we have one story of a flashlight saving some mountain climers using some sort of blinking mode. Did I miss a second story?
^
From Post 5:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/20/AR2008052002322.html?noredirect=on
Stranded in storm battered boat. Husband injured hand, wife broken ribs, radio not working. Coast Guard could not see boat, but saw SOS from flashlight.
Sorry, I see it now. So SOS has been confirmed saving someone. We can wonder what if they used beacon or waved the light, but the short answer is, if SOS saves one life, then our suffering is probably justifiable. Good for SOS.
At any rate, as long as it sells flashlights to the masses, SOS isn’t going anywhere.
Big thanks to ImA4Wheelr for finding this story. The next time we are pissed at SOS for bothering us, we can feel some justification in these two lives saved by their SOS mode.
Interesting.
But really a 1 whole minute pause between the 3 or 6 blinks?
I imagine that could be overlooked / missed easily.
Wow, that’s a very ssllooowww SOS…
i wonder why.
Kind of explains / justifies the snail speed SOS on most flashlights though.
Maybe you remember, back in the day, on the AM bands (SW, MW, not sure about LW) on a radio, there used to be a lot of Morse code communication.
But that was usually really fast.
If concerned people are looking out for you, then 1 minute repetition will be fine. It is specified to save battery life and last through even a very cold night. And be manually do-able, preferably combined with a whistle. If you don’t have people expecting you, well, you are on your own, literally. So carry a PLB or a SPOT.
Trip plan.
If you just expect/hope some random person to call in an SOS from a blinky torch, well, good luck.
SOS at sea. Fine, it’s understood.
As a volunteer first responder I can’t recall one class in 20 years that even taught the SOS code. I’m sure the paid guys get a more in depth class.
I will say the only 2 times we had to go find somebody lost in the woods at night they were sitting beside a tree with a dead flashlight because they sit there with it on until it drained. One we found when they heard us and started hollering. The other we seen because he was smoking a cigarette. Neither had even thought to build a fire which would have made them 100x easier to find.
Aw, Hell, I remember the old SOS commercials where various pots’n’pans would clang their lids up’n’down to the SOS signal.
clackclackclack ... claaack claaack claaack ... clackclackclack
Unless they burn down half of Cali…
Whatever happened to “emergency strobes”? Typically a small Xe flashtube, usually run offa 1-2 C cells, clear plastic fresnel lens with optional red snap-on cap. One strobe every few seconds or so. Waterproof case, too. Fresh cells would last for quite a few hours. Had/Have one in my BOB for decades. Rat Shack had one, Eveready had one, they were fairly common.
Nowadays, you could use bright LEDs (red+white) to do the same thing for way less current draw, a Li cell to run for days nonstop, and probably be way smaller, too.