GPS setup for Rescue Helicopter

[Trials Rider]

Hi Guys

I needed to use my GPS on a trail ride to log a waypoint when a trail rider came off his bike and hit a post, the score was post 1 rider 0 as always.

For interest sake I had a chat with Stu from Westpac Rescue afterwards to make sure we had our ducks in a row as my GPS was set at factory settings and I gave them the Northings and Eastings which they converted for their system to fly too.

Westpac Rescue will accept whatever coordinates / waypoints you can give them however they have to use a calculator on some systems to convert it into something useful for them, obviously this is not ideal as you can end up with errors which could see the Helicopter going to the wrong spot.

After speaking with Stu he said their preferred units are Degrees, Minutes, Decimal Minutes as opposed to Degrees, minutes, seconds and True North is preferred as opposed to Magnetic North.
These are what the icon letters stand for

h = Hemisphere (North, South, East, or West )
d = Degree
m = Minute
s = Second
hddd.ddddd is Decimal Degrees Format
hddd mm.mmm is Degrees, Minutes, Decimal Minutes Format
hddd mm ss.s is Degrees, Minutes, Seconds Format

I have a Garmin 62s and have listed the steps below to check your settings.

From any screen press menu twice in succession, this brings up “setup” page, with the “setup” icon highlighted press enter, “system” should now be highlighted, scroll down to “Position Format” and press enter, “position format” is the top icon, press enter and you will have a list in alphabetical order, scroll down till you highlight hddd° mm.mmm’ and press enter, this is now exactly what Westpac wants.

Ok step two, press quit to go back one screen, then scroll down to “Heading” icon and press enter, on this page you will see an icon with “North reference”, press enter and scroll up or down to highlight the “True” field and press enter, all done, now press quit to go back to the main screen.

Obviously different GPS’s will have different menus but the end results are the same hddd° mm.mmm’ and True North.

It is not something we need to do often which makes it very important to get the GPS set up correctly before you need it as it is not a good time to learn if one of your riding buddies needs help, you will have enough on your mind without trying to learn GPS set up.

Now you have learned GPS 101 hopefully you never need to use it and ring for a rescue, however if you do need it you are ready to rock.

[Box'a'bits]

Useful info. Thanks for posting that. I've checked my GPS & its set up correctly for that

[Trials Rider]

Useful info. Thanks for posting that. I've checked my GPS & its set up correctly for that

Good shit thanks for reading

[Night Falcon]

Thanks Paul, having been a guest of the Lowe Walker Rescue helicopter, I think it is a great idea to assist them anyway you can. I have played with my Garmin Zumo 550 but it don't seem to have the features as you described - does have location coordinates but none of the formats you mention. Any way I did learn how to find myself if I ever had to and how to load a heap of photos onto it, so if I ever did get lost I'd have a good array of motorbike pics to look at until the chopper or wild pigs got me

[Waipukbiker]

Interesting reading, Even if you can just get a 6 figure grid reference out of your GPS, that's accurate to within 100 metres, Interesting though that they prefer True Nth. Obviously, The more accurate the location Co-ordinates are the quicker and easier the Rescue will be. I reckon if you ride a lot on your own off the main roads then a PLB is impossible to beat, It automatically transmits location data when activated.

[NordieBoy]

I reckon if you ride a lot on your own off the main roads then a PLB is impossible to beat, It automatically transmits location data when activated.

If it's a PLB with GPS built-in.

[Akzle]

as a matter of whoserwhatsit, the new standard is nztm2000 (transmercator) i think, not the old geodatum nzgdm86. Then theres utm and some other shit. All basically interchangable, but
I think gdm is out because humans have thrown the planet off orbit. (thus the 21+ degrees between mag and grid)

this should be a setting somewhere. 'units' setting.

But reading a map, youre not likely to get better that lat. long 'and about half a square...'

[Akzle]

If it's a PLB with GPS built-in.

do they exist? Probably.
Most plb just transmit rf distress signal that will be picked up by aircraft.

[R650R]

One thing I'd caution is giving too much information to the civvies they have in these call centres these days. Don't go getting too technical with them, just read out what ever set of numbers you've chosen and let the chopper guys do their thing. That's if their not too busy trying to talk over the top of you while your reading out the rego number of an offenders vehicle fleeing the scene....

This whole situation kinda implies a second person is unharmed and calm enough to pass on these numbers, in which case they can also eyeball the chopper and guide them in with more info. My house is on the flight path and I hear it from km's away in an urban environment.

Don't forget the classic smoke and mirrors. The crash bike will likely have donated some mirror glass for signalling, and if the bikes toast those tyres will be good for Indian smoke signals

I try and keep in mind last small town passed through and rough km's, good insurance against GPS numbers being transposed by call centre.

Just realised I can phone my sat tracker on bike and get lat/long GPS plus google maps link. If calm enough at the time I could also authorise ambos phone number o they could bring it up on their smart phone.

[R650R]

do they exist? Probably.
Most plb just transmit rf distress signal that will be picked up by aircraft.

New ones do, they will have GPS written on box and device, roughly $500NZ. Accurate to within 15m plus they have the secondary homing freq transmit also. Have a GME one, 7 year battery life

[Gremlin]

do they exist? Probably.
Most plb just transmit rf distress signal that will be picked up by aircraft.

Yes, I have a GME MT410G I think, that transmits GPS co-ord inside the signal. This drops the accuracy from a couple of hundred metres to 2-5m or so I think. Carry it on all adv rides.

I must have a look at which options the Zumo 660 has.

[Waipukbiker]

You can also register a personal ID when you purchase a PLB now so if its activated it also transmits your name or whatever you have chosen to assign to it to identify the user.

[R650R]

The other good reason to have a PLB is they don't need a cellphone signal/coverage.
And once activated the dat goes straight to RCCNZ in Lower Hutt who do nothing else except manage rescues.
Typically in remote areas they will dispatch a helicopter immediately.
Contrast this with phoning 111 where your call is in the que with all the other priority 1 jobs like domestic violence etc... And someone has to make the call whether to send chopper or not, sometimes these minutes matter.
Of course if you have cell coverage you should also make contact that way to confirm/ add more injury info.

When I did the VHF radio course the fella said if you call 111 the cops don't dispatch coastguard straightaway as they foot the bill for it. He said typically the operator will ask a heap of questions then dispatch a patrol car with binoculars to beach to confirm your dinghy is in flames and sinking... Vital minutes lost....

[Trials Rider]

Thanks Paul, having been a guest of the Lowe Walker Rescue helicopter, I think it is a great idea to assist them anyway you can. I have played with my Garmin Zumo 550 but it don't seem to have the features as you described - does have location coordinates but none of the formats you mention. Any way I did learn how to find myself if I ever had to and how to load a heap of photos onto it, so if I ever did get lost I'd have a good array of motorbike pics to look at until the chopper or wild pigs got me

Yes some GPS's may not even have the prefered information but like Stu said they will accept anything as they can recalculate it and any information is better than no information. Ha like the idea of bike pics, would pass some time anyway

[Trials Rider]

Interesting reading, Even if you can just get a 6 figure grid reference out of your GPS, that's accurate to within 100 metres, Interesting though that they prefer True Nth. Obviously, The more accurate the location Co-ordinates are the quicker and easier the Rescue will be. I reckon if you ride a lot on your own off the main roads then a PLB is impossible to beat, It automatically transmits location data when activated.

Yes any grid reference will see a chopper land within walking distance, not sure why True North other than Magnetic North is constantly moving so I guess True North is a constant, yes any form of PLB is good or Sat phones as they become cheaper to run