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rmtjr
04-05-2005, 00:24
My wonderful wife of 42 years is really worried about me being on the AT this summer. I have talked her out of me carrying a cell phone - weight and unreliable service. What about a pager? She would like someway, other than the trail telegraph, to get emergency messages to me (what am I going to do?) Anyway, would a pager on the AT have the same reception issues as a cell phone, i.e., unreliable? Bob

Baker
04-05-2005, 00:27
If she pages you, how are you going to call her (save walking to the next town). ?

attroll
04-05-2005, 00:43
wbdent This is an interesting thought. You can get pagers that work off the satellites now. I have been told that they reach everywhere unlike cells phones. But that is only what I heard. You would have to look into that and not take my word for it.

wbdent First let me say I do not agree with cell phones on the AT. But I am not one to argue about it. To each his own. But that is not the discussion here. The only thing I can say about that is if you are miles from any road crossing and get the message you still may not be able to do anything until you get to a road crossing and then hitch to the nearest town. The only thing a pager will do is let you know that there is an emergency at home and worry you to death until you can get to a phone.

wbdent But I can see an up side to this also. If you were planning on skipping the next couple of towns and got the page on the pager to call home then you would not have missed calling home if it really was important.

wbdent The down side is that is your wife is too worried then she may be paging you all the time to call home just to get you to go into towns to have you call her.<O:p</O:p

SGT Rock
04-05-2005, 05:35
LOL. If she understands you can't call for up to 5 days after she pages you and won't panic if you don't get to a phone right away. And then if she accepts that fact, then explain to her you were going to call at every town already, so getting a page really won't get you to call home faster, so what is the sense anyway?

Tell her to get her a cell phone so whenever you get the chance you can call that number and always get her anyway.

Brushy Sage
04-05-2005, 09:28
A hiker in 2002 carried a satellite phone (big piece of equipment), and often she had trouble making a call -- had to get in a clearing, out from under the canopy. A pager might be just as uncertain. I'm not up to date on the technology, though; there might be a system that continues to send out a message until there is some feedback that it has been received.

Mr. Clean
04-06-2005, 05:20
I've done some research on satelite phones, and they don't appear much bigger than an old style cell phone. Used ones start at around $400. I'm not sure about reception, but they are supposed to work anywhere.
I met a guy at Full Goose shelter in NH who had one. He set it up every night to let it "home in" on satelites just in case his wife wanted to call him.

Doctari
04-06-2005, 06:09
I had one of those satalite pagers, even with it there were areas where i couldn't get a signal. Was only 45 miles from Cincinnati, moving (in a canoe) had "No service" on the pager the entire 4 hr canoe trip, well, everytime I checked it. No canopy, clear view of "miles" of sky. Even checked it several times on the bus trip back to the start AND the drive home. no service till almost @ home. Granted I was having a day off, so didn't check it more than about 5 times while in the canoe.

Anyway, I think my point is: on the AT you are probably going to find the same thing. And, unless the paging system will "hold" your pages till you get to a point where you get a signal, you miss any pages while out of touch. I did, wife wanting me to get something on way home. As I called her as we were leaving the canoe outfitters anyway, I got the message. As will you.

Assure your wife you will call from EVERY phone you pass. That you will make sure you pass as many phones as possible & call her weekly or better. I think the longest I have gone between phones on the southern 360 miles I have done so far is 5 days.

Some of the pay phones avalable early on a NOBO: Day 3 or 4 - Neels Gap, in front of the Yi, 2 pay phones. Day 7 or 8 Dicks creek gap - the Blueberry patch. In NC, the standing Indian Campground has pay phones, a bit out of the way, but easy to find near the shower building. NOC in Wesser has 2 on the front of the outfitters, 1 behind the snack stand across the river. The shower building on Fontana Dam has a phone. If you decide to hitch into Gatlinburg, there are several at/near the Happy hiker. Mt mommas & the standing Bear fams hostle have phones. And the list goes on.

Doctari.

MOWGLI
04-06-2005, 06:44
My wonderful wife of 42 years is really worried about me being on the AT this summer. I have talked her out of me carrying a cell phone - weight and unreliable service. What about a pager?

When I worked for Verizon, I had a satelite pager. It always worked really well when I was in the woods. As soon as I'd get home, I'd go pick it up off of my dresser and see if anyone had paged me while I was out hiking. :D

I was 38 when I hiked. I called home from every pay phone along the way. It was tough, but my wife & I both made it through.

Good luck.

Jaybird
04-06-2005, 08:52
pagers & beepers & cell phones...OH MY!!!




my wife is worried about me "being alone" on the trail for over 2 weeks this year...so, to appease that fear...i bought a TRACFONE (http://www.tracfone.com)...(pre-paid Cell phone)
& a few hundred minutes...& told her i would call her @ least once a week.

the phone is only 4.2 oz.


good luck with yer hike!

see ya'll out there:APR 28-May 5(w/"the Model T (http://www.modelt.net) crew")Hot Springs-Erwin
May 6 & 7 Carvers Gap (SOBO) to Erwin
May 8-20 Damascus to Pearisburg,VA (NOBO)

rmtjr
04-07-2005, 22:52
Many thanks to those who replied to my initial post. I sure appreciate the ideas that you mentioned. Bob

"ME & U"
04-07-2005, 23:01
ultralight freak here... go phone card. They work every where and no wt.

hiker5
04-08-2005, 08:24
ultralight freak here... go phone card. They work every where and no wt.

Particularly if you just memorize your calling card number.