You can’t get rescued until somebody knows you need help. So, carrying a means to signal for help is critical to your survival. Most of us live and work in places where help is just a phone call away. But out in the wilderness beyond cell coverage you need something else. Your survival kit needs ways for signalling for help. Today we’ll look at various means, from traditional to high-tech.

Signalling for help electronically

Both the US FAA and Transport Canada require most aircraft to carry an Emergency Locator Transmitter (ELT). There are a lot of models, and capabilities vary. But in general, they transmit a distress call if they detect a hard impact from a crash. Some also trigger when immersed in water. You can trigger them manually as well.

Some modern ELTs integrate GPS data from the plane’s navigation system into the distress call. But older models don’t do this. In that case rescuers must resort to radio triangulation to find you. That’s far less accurate, so searchers must cover a lot more area.

In either case, the government monitors for these distress calls, determines their location as best they can, and alerts local authorities to start search and rescue efforts.

No system is perfect, of course, and there are cases where ELTs failed for various reasons. The FAA document I linked to earlier discusses this a bit. So let’s talk about a backup system.

Satellite Communicators and PLB’s

Personal Locator Beacons, or PLBs, are essentially an ELT that sends GPS data in handy pocket form. You must manually trigger it.

Satellite communicators use different technology, but they also allow you to send a distress call that gets routed to local authorities. Like a PLB, they send your GPS location along with the distress call, making rescue much easier. Some satellite communicators also enable two-way texting, which could be very useful.

Two devices for signalling for help. A satellite communicator and a PLB.
Photo from the article linked below.

REI posted a very good article going into the pros and cons of these two systems. But I will give away the bottom line: PLBs only communicate one way, but there’s no ongoing cost to having it. Satellite communicators are more versatile, but have ongoing subscription costs to keep them active.

Some companies also rent PLBs and satellite communicators. That may be worth considering for a once-in-a-lifetime trip. I have no affiliation with any company that rents these, this is just one I found on the interwebs.

Pyrotechnics

You’re legally required to have two pyrotechnic signalling devices in your survival kit. These might include a flare gun and flares, smoke bombs, or road flares. Each comes with faults and virtues when it comes to signalling for help.

Road flares are very visible from the air at night, and they burn for a long time, so there’s plenty of chances for observers to see them. But they don’t get above the tree canopy, and they’re hard to see in the daytime from much distance.

Flare gun shells get above the trees, and can be seen day or night (though better at night). But they only last a few seconds: if nobody is looking the right way at the right time the shot is wasted.

Smoke bombs are visible in daytime (and somewhat at night). They help helicopter pilots judge wind conditions when landing to pick you up. But in gloomy weather when the campfire smoke hangs low so does the smoke from the smoke bomb. And on a windy day the smoke may dissipate too quickly to be seen.

Traditional Ways of Signalling for Help

Smoke from a fire is a time-honored way of signalling for help. You can just keep some damp leaves around to throw onto your campfire if you hear a plane approaching.

Signal mirrors only work in sunny weather, but can catch a pilot’s attention. Like fires and pyrotechnics, they might get the attention of random pilots in the area as well as anyone searching for you. Under the circumstances that’s pretty handy.

A whistle might be helpful in guiding searchers to your exact location, especially in heavy woods.

Emergency blankets waving in the breeze are another good attention-getting device. The shiny side can be seen for miles. And of course you can spell out “SOS” with logs on a beach. The key to all of these methods is to make sure that your message can actually be seen.

Hope that helps you sort out how you can go about signalling for help, and what you need to do it. Thanks for reading!