While Bill Eberle, AB0MY, of Boulder, Colorado, and his wife Mary were hiking in the back country on July 21, they encountered a team of paramedics rendering aid to a 67-year-old man — Michael Schuett, of Broomfield, Colorado — who had lost his footing while crossing a stream near the Fourth of July Campground west of Nederland, Colorado. Schuett had struck his head on a boulder and was found unconscious and face down in the water by a Good Samaritan, who pulled him to safety. The paramedics, who had been heading to a youth camp, also had stumbled onto the scene.

With no cell telephone coverage available, Eberle put out a distress call on the hand-held transceiver he always takes along when he hikes. Promptly answering his call on the statewide Colorado Connection Repeater system was Ryan Frederick, KD0TSZ, in Colorado Springs. Frederick contacted the Boulder County Sheriff's office. The authorities quickly turned to Scott Whitehead, KA0QPT, of Longmont, a sheriff’s department radio specialist and 30-year veteran of the Rocky Mountain Rescue Team. Whitehead was able to contact Eberle via the repeater network, and the two coordinated equipment and rescue personnel.

Crews from Nederland Fire and Rescue and the Rocky Mountain Rescue Team arrived on the scene within due course, and Schuett was evacuated from the scene, treated at an area hospital, and released. Schuett credited ham radio for bringing the rescuers to him. — Thanks to John Bigley, N7UR, Nevada Amateur Radio Newswire