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Docs Field Operations & Rescue Trip Planning

Trip Planning

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Planning a trip with a beacon: route information, the beacon plan, and the paperwork that turns a device into a rescue asset.

Trip Planning

The beacon is only as good as the plan around it. This page is the planning checklist that makes the beacon useful to the people who will look for you.

The beacon plan

Before any trip, write down and share:

  1. Channel and frequency: what the beacon transmits on, and the schedule
  2. Payload: the callsign/name and coordinates it sends
  3. Entry and exit: trailhead coordinates, planned route, expected return time
  4. Contact: who to call if the return time passes (see Emergency Communications Plan)

The route sheet

Even with a beacon, leave a route sheet with someone trusted: start point, planned points, bivouac or hut nights, and the return time plus a 2-hour grace. The sheet is the search planner’s primary data, more valuable than the beacon’s existence.

Pre-flight the beacon

  • Charge the cell and confirm the voltage
  • Confirm the payload (callsign, coordinates) is current
  • Test one transmission into a second beacon or SDR
  • Check the case seals and antenna mount

The 24-hour rule

Review the beacon plan before every trip, even short ones. Settings drift, cells age, and the last trip’s configuration is not this trip’s configuration. The Pre Trip Checklist has the full routine.