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Comment by EdwardDiego | Hacker News Reader

I always carry one when tramping or hunting, especially solo, but the caveat is you have to be able to activate them - as most fatalities in the New Zealand bush are caused by falling (then drowning, then hypothermia), they're less helpful when the person is severely incapacitated.

Sadly, if this person has been missing 30 days, probably the best bet of finding them is a cadaver dog - our SAR volunteers use them.

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Seems like it'd be smart to have a version with a "dead-man timer". Something like every X hours a beeper goes off and you have an hour to actively interact with the beacon (button, pin code, etc)

You could do something like that with an InReach device and it's satellite messaging functionality. Have a script (or person) expecte hourly preset message from you (it can send emails, sms, and even Facebook or Twitter messages) You could also use the tracking functionality as a double check that they didn't just forget to send the message by looking if their speed has changed inexplicably during recent intervals.

It's not as ideal as it does ultimately require a human to raise the alarm.

The false alarm rate would be way too high to be use useful just from people losing them. Maybe if you built it into a bracelet or anklet that's hard to take off, and there was a huge penalty for a false alarms?

Also if something happens to incapacitate you for several hours out in the wilderness, you'll mostly likely be dead before help arrives--even with a beacon.

A locator that can be remotely activated (periodically wakes up to check for an activation signal) could be pretty useful, but I think it would mostly be used to locate bodies. Requiring solo hikers to carry something like that might be good alternative to parks requiring rescue insurance.

Right there’s a limit, there’s also heat exhaustion and dehydration which affect ones ability to think. It looks like the terrain where Sam is a fall would immediately fatal due to the lack of trees and jagged rocks, your pack would increase your roll even.

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