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hey folks welcome back to the prepared
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wanderer today we're diving into
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something that can literally mean the
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difference between life and death
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signaling devices and survival kits from
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mirrors signal panels to strobes we're
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asking the big question do they actually
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work well stick around we've got real
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statistics real world examples and I'll
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even demonstrate a few of these in
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each year in the United States more than
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3,000 search and rescue SAR missions are
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carried out by the National Park Service
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alone that doesn't include state and
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local operations the real number is far
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higher according to the MPS over 75% of
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these rescued are hikers or day trippers
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folks who didn't expect to get into
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trouble in a survival situation
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signaling is critical you might have
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shelter you might have water but if you
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can't be found you're not going to go
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home anytime soon and here's the harsh
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truth most rescues rely on being seen or
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heard not found by accident
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signal panels colors contrast with
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natural surroundings bright panels or
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even your tent fly can be used to draw
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attention from air or land but as we see
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in this demonstration even the best
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military survival signal
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panel doesn't show up that well when it
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starts getting into the 400t range the
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pink side does far better than the
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orange side as you can tell in this
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i could see you waving but I couldn't
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see the mirror really
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on a sunny day a signal mirror can be
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seen from over 10 miles away that's what
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they say but the problem is they take
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practice and they don't always work when
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you're signaling directly above to a
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passing airplane or helicopter they tend
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to work better when you're signaling
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across a long distance in a more flatter
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plane as you can see in this video the
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signal mirror is barely visible at 400
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ft and I would suspect that a pilot
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passing by may not see this
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movement so here's a signal mirror that
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was actually used for the demonstration
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that you see on video this is from um
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Stay Ready Gear uh this came with the
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survival kits that I've been reviewing
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of theirs and it is a very standard um
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style signal mirror it has an aiming
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device in the center lanyard hole and
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then instructions on the back now how
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you use these is very simple is that
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you're angling the mirror um towards the
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sun um and catching that light and
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angling it towards the uh helicopter or
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airplane that you're trying to get
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attention so if you can actually see
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that what you do is you put your hand um
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up in front of it kind of aim it and
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then um using the mirror you reflect the
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light until you see the light on the on
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your hand and then you move your hand so
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that's kind of a simple way of doing it
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um and I was actually doing that trying
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to locate the drone and aim the light
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towards it but as you can see in the
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videos um you know during bright bright
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daylight uh it was not getting much
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reflection back and I don't know why i
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don't know if it's a technique issue um
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or I don't I certainly don't think it's
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the mirror's fault because it's just a
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mirror signal mirrors do have a place in
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your kit you just have to know how to
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use them and you should be practicing
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with them um and try different ones
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there's uh a lot of different sizes and
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shapes mini ones larger ones uh military
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civilian but they all do essentially the
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the buzzsaw signal device is basically
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just a glow stick or light stick that
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you attach to a string and you spin it
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above your head and this is a way of
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signaling to um passing helicopters um a
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lot of times this is used as a signaling
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method for a helicopter to land it's
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very effective uh in the right
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conditions and it's very easy to make
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here we're just setting one up and of
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course doesn't weigh very much and it's
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a very easy thing to add to your kit and
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can be used in a variety of ways
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so do signaling devices and survival
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kits actually work the answer is a
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resounding yes but only if you carry
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them and know how to use them and you
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limitations all right guys if you found
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this video helpful hit that like button
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subscribe for more wilderness wisdom and
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share it with your adventure buddies
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stay safe stay prepared and as always
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keep wandering and we'll see you next
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time on the Prepared Wanderer
