CST radios ‘come to the rescue’ at giant abseil raising funds for wounded British servicemen and women
It takes guts to climb a 45 metre-high tower crane, walk 45 metres along its horizontal jib, then abseil down to the ground again. It takes some higher level of insanity to repeat the exercise sixteen times, finishing off in the early hours of a Sunday morning in torrential rain. But that’s what teams from the army, navy, air force, police, ambulance, coastguard and fire & rescue services did, in aid of Help for Heroes (H4H), the charity that supports wounded servicemen and women. The aim was for the twenty participants to climb the equivalent of Mount Everest between them.
[The maths: while the crane was 45 metres high, the actual climb was 38 metres. Everest is 8850 metres high, so the crane needed to be climbed 233 times, but the organisers decided to aim for 250. Some participants achieved sixteen individual climbs during the 22 hours the event lasted.]
Teams came from all over the UK (one army team came from Cyprus) to the event organized by HART, the High Access Rescue Team, on 25 and 26 July 2009, in central Glasgow, with former Miss Scotland and I’m A Celebrity contestant, Nicola McLean, on hand to lend support. HART provides specialist help to services called to rescues in inaccessible places (such as cranes!)
With five teams taking part, each with four members, and abseiling continuously for nearly 24 hours, safety was a complex issue. HART supplied the safety crew for the event, but needed to source some two way radios, so organizer Donald Ritchie contacted UK communications specialist Call-Systems Technology (CST) to ask for their help. CST, based in Edgware, ‘came to the rescue’ with eleven Kirisun PT558 radios and 22 batteries, to ensure however heavy their usage, there would always be live radios to hand.
“Working through the night in such a potentially hazardous event meant we really needed to be able to rely on the radios,” says Donald Ritchie. “We already use Kirisun radios, so we know how good they are in a crisis.
“Although the H4H event was a huge success, we had real problems with weather – it started tipping it down at 4am on Sunday morning. But the safety crew decided the event could carry on, to allow the teams to complete their cumulative target of climbing the equivalent of Mount Everest.”
Ritchie adds that many of the teams had never abseiled before and some of those taking part were seriously scared of heights. “It took real bravery to overcome their fear, but they managed,” he says. They were also incredibly fit: “Some of them were almost running up the tower, even after 15 or 16 ascents.”
As for the radios, they performed admirably, too. “They’re rugged and reliable, which they have to be in our job,” says Ritchie. “They really are tremendous, with a really clear signal and excellent battery life.”
So far HART’s abseiling event has raised over £10,000 for H4H. For more on the High Access Rescue Team, or to make a donation to the H4H abseiling event, visit www.hartrescue.org.uk
For more on Help For Heroes visit www.helpforheroes.org.uk
For details about Call-Systems Technology freephone 0800 389 5642, email the company at sales@call-systems.com or visit www.call-systems.com
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Help For Heroes works for soldiers and other servicemen and women both directly and through its support of other service charities. The HART Abseil Event took place on 25 and 26 July 2009 at the Ritchies Training Centre in Central Glasgow.
The High Access Rescue Team Ltd was formed in September 1996 offering support, equipment and expertise to any service or organisation requiring its services. The team is on-call for high, inaccessible, difficult and confined space rescues, using rope access methods to reach and recover casualties. HART’s trained experts in technical line rescue can also offer medical and first aid support to the emergency services, in areas which would normally be inaccessible. The team is sponsored by Richie’s Training Centre, Glasgow.
Call-Systems Technology (CST) supplies an award-winning range of specialist communications and software products. The company has introduced many technology innovations which have enhanced service, safety and efficiency.
The CST portfolio ranges from simple pager systems to sophisticated packages for improved facilities management. CST’s award-winning Call range includes WaiterCall™, CustomerCall™, PageCall™, StoreCall™, ButlerCall™ and EasyCall™. ResPAK™ is an advanced conference and table management solution. CST’s latest products include the ConnectSmart® portfolio of restaurant automation products, developed and proven in the USA by QSR Automations®.
The Kirisun PT558 two way radio is a 16-channel professional licence free radio. It is extremely robust, making it suitable for most applications. The PT558 features an emergency signal to alert people when emergency assistance is required. When the channel is changed, the voice audible channel announcer identifies what channel has been selected, an invaluable feature in darkness and for the vision impaired. CTCSS/DCS tones prevent interference on busy channels and the unit features a clear LED indicator (Red-Tx, Green-Rx, red flash – low battery). Functions include SQUELCH disable/enable and Scan, which can automatically find active channels. The Radio uses a 1200mAh lithium/polymer rechargeable battery and has a range of up to 500m in urban areas.