How it works

BOISE -- Two new emergency radio repeaters are now up and running in the Wood River Valley and Sawtooth National Forest.

They’re filling the gap in emergency response that was desperately lacking according to amateur radio operators.

The Sawtooth National Forest is a dead zone for cell service and radio communication was frequently impossible.

But one local group is changing that and helping to keep outdoor recreationists safe.

Two years ago 24-year-old Jon Francis of Minnesota went missing in the Sawtooth National Forest.

His friends and family searched desperately but Jon’s body wasn’t found until the summer of 2007.  He had fallen down a steep embankment on the way back down from Grand Mogul, a mountain peak, but Jon’s father says the search for him was tedious and frustrating.

“We termed the Stanley area communications hell after we discovered that we just could not respond,” said David Francis.

The Wood River Amateur Radio Club has fixed that.  They've spent $15,000 installing two radio repeaters, one on Mount Baldy and the other on Galena Summit.

“It takes the signal from a 5-watt handheld, takes it to the top of Galena or Baldy and the retransmits it, so that’s why you can get the range that you would never get at a handheld,” said Joe Yelda, president, Wood River Amateur Radio Club.

So now lost hikers can signal out a distress call and emergency responders can communicate with each other.  It's especially valuable during a search.

“I’m pleased to hear that they are improving communications in the wilderness because it's sorely needed.  Thank them from the Francises would ya?” said David Francis.

“We all feel it's just a question of time that somebody's life is gonna get saved, and that' probably the most important thing,” said Yelda.

You must be licensed according to FCC regulations to use radio communications.

Yelda says several search and rescue and ski patrol employees have already signed up for a class in November.