BajaNomad

SOS call boxes now functioning south of El Rosario

BajaGringo - 4-30-2022 at 03:20 PM

With a few changes to the original project including adding Coco's Corner back onto the list, emergency response service is now available via a radio network utilizing satellite internet to connect travelers with emergency operators available 24/7.

The bilingual operators are located in San Quintin where my good friend Jorge Lopez - president of the council overseeing the formation of the new municipal government - worked hard to get this sorely needed project funded and completed by another very good friend - Elpidio Romo and his crew at Sistemas de Comunicación (Siscom).

Coco's Corner is now scheduled to get a tower installed there in the coming weeks.

https://talkbaja.com/sos-call-boxes-now-functioning-south-of...



SOS Communication Towers South of El Rosario on Mex1.jpg - 174kB

David K - 5-1-2022 at 08:15 AM

Thank you for letting us know!!
Interesting and noble. My best wishes for success.
Besides being a call box, it appears to also be a Wi-Fi location for cell phones?

Curious as to why there are some call boxes right in towns rather than all in remote areas, where finding help isn't possible? Perhaps it can be used by locals living there as well as travelers, for emergency needs?

The one labeled as 'Rancho Sonora' is actually at San Agustin (4 kms. away).

mtgoat666 - 5-1-2022 at 08:51 AM

Are there signs along hwy alerting travelers?
I drove up 1 a few weeks ago and did not notice the call boxes, and saw no signs.


[Edited on 5-1-2022 by mtgoat666]

surfhat - 5-1-2022 at 09:59 AM

From my early March 2022 trip to GN, I seem to recall some road signs for this new communication option. Just where at the moment is up to others to confirm.

I know these locations will be expanded in the near future, but even seeing them along the rural roadway, haha, two hundred miles long, was reassuring for future trips.

I have to believe that our favorite fuel station and hotel in the making in El Rosario had something to do with bringing this forward all the sooner than it would have without him.

Antonio, you are a treasure to everyone who passes by. I never pass by heading south without filling up, as much for the few stops to fill up before Jesus Maria and GN, but even more to support your generous efforts to provide help along that desolate, but beautiful roadway in the Valle de Cirios.

BajaGringo - 5-1-2022 at 06:28 PM

Quote: Originally posted by David K  
Thank you for letting us know!!
Interesting and noble. My best wishes for success.
Besides being a call box, it appears to also be a Wi-Fi location for cell phones?

Curious as to why there are some call boxes right in towns rather than all in remote areas, where finding help isn't possible? Perhaps it can be used by locals living there as well as travelers, for emergency needs?

The one labeled as 'Rancho Sonora' is actually at San Agustin (4 kms. away).


Yes, each location will have wifi available in a limited radius around the tower to provide more options for travelers needing assistance.

As far as the call boxes located near towns, they are placed where someone can keep an eye on the equipment and help ensure its well being. Remember, that entire region still has no cell service available and the help they can offer after hours / at night was and is very limited. The towers are placed approx every 30 miles in this first phase and will provide a very valuable resource as not only are travelers able to call for help, the very same system is now connected to each delegado in the different delegations as well as each patrol car, with their digital radio signal providing the emergency operators with an exact location of their unit to determine the best/fastest response.

Yes, they changed a few of the locations and I they are going to send me the new coordinates which I will soon publish.


[Edited on 5-2-2022 by BajaGringo]

BajaGringo - 5-1-2022 at 06:31 PM

Quote: Originally posted by mtgoat666  
Are there signs along hwy alerting travelers?
I drove up 1 a few weeks ago and did not notice the call boxes, and saw no signs.
[Edited on 5-1-2022 by mtgoat666]


There is a plan to install the signs but as it is a Federal Highway, the Municipality of San Quintin has to wait for the authorization to post them which will include size and distance from the highway requirements, etc.

They are well lit at night which is a big help for now.

BajaGringo - 5-1-2022 at 06:41 PM

Quote: Originally posted by surfhat  
From my early March 2022 trip to GN, I seem to recall some road signs for this new communication option. Just where at the moment is up to others to confirm.

I know these locations will be expanded in the near future, but even seeing them along the rural roadway, haha, two hundred miles long, was reassuring for future trips.

I have to believe that our favorite fuel station and hotel in the making in El Rosario had something to do with bringing this forward all the sooner than it would have without him.

Antonio, you are a treasure to everyone who passes by. I never pass by heading south without filling up, as much for the few stops to fill up before Jesus Maria and GN, but even more to support your generous efforts to provide help along that desolate, but beautiful roadway in the Valle de Cirios.



I like Antonio too and the work he is doing in El Rosario - always leaving cash in his jar at the gas station counter on my trips back and forth heading south.

But this particular project was one that was proposed by a consortium of business owners here in San Quintin who began making the request to Ensenada going back over a decade ago, as we have had the technology to implement something similar to this for a long time but Ensenada always turned a deaf ear to the requests.

If you want to give credit to anyone it is due to Elpidio Romo - owner of Siscom who designed the entire system, wrote the technical reports and proposal and then basically donated all the labor required to install the system along with Jorge Lopez, the president of the Founding Council on the new municipality of San Quintin, who worked with him and got it approved by the council that is dealing with a long list of requests for infrastructure from the local community that has suffered from being left off of Ensenada's annual budget, year after year after year.

Don't get me wrong - I admire Antonio and all the work he has done but I have to give credit here where it's due...

surfhat - 5-2-2022 at 12:45 PM

Thanks Baja Gringo for the clarifications and good on your friends in San Quintin for providing additional safety where there was little previously. A heartful shout out to Elpidio Romo.

David K - 5-2-2022 at 12:57 PM

There also has been a local effort to set up 2-way radio relays on hilltops so that El Rosario's Desert Hawkes and others can have emergency communications in the non-cell section of Baja Norte. Nomad 'mothership' sent me photos of the repeaters being installed.




Repeater.jpg - 54kB

[Edited on 5-2-2022 by David K]

BajaGringo - 5-2-2022 at 02:26 PM

Quote: Originally posted by surfhat  
Thanks Baja Gringo for the clarifications and good on your friends in San Quintin for providing additional safety where there was little previously. A heartful shout out to Elpidio Romo.


So much of what been done here in San Quintin was accomplished due to the efforts and generosity of so many of the business leaders here in town who have worked to keep the dirt roads graded, gifting equipment and labor to help keep what local infrastructure exists repaired and working.

Elpidio sends his crews out each year to repair and paint the street light poles and puts up the Christmas lights every year, all out of his own pocket.

It's the pioneering spirit that many of the old timers like Elpidio here understand and still practice, just like the Muñoz family has done down in El Rosario.

It's a wonderful community to live in and a large part of why we love it here so much...
Quote: Originally posted by David K  
There also has been a local effort to set up 2-way radio relays on hilltops so that El Rosario's Desert Hawkes and others can have emergency communications in the non-cell section of Baja Norte. Nomad 'mothership' sent me photos of the repeaters being installed.


That's awesome although they are probably using a different type of network to communicate; otherwise it would have been simple for Elpidio to tie them in. I have no doubt however, that the emergency call operators in SQ will be working with Desert Hawks to help provide the best/fastest response time when needed...



[Edited on 5-2-2022 by BajaGringo]

tiotomasbcs - 5-2-2022 at 04:09 PM

I would think most of the problems are due to a narrow Highway and no gasRosario












This has always been the departure Zone...El Rosario South to G Negro...this is no LA Fwy! Be prepared, read up, ask Qs . It's great!! Call boxes for emergencies but over many years I've never needed one....locals have always stopped to help. Turn off your phones and dig deep into Conversation. My take.














BajaGringo - 5-3-2022 at 06:50 AM

Quote: Originally posted by tiotomasbcs  

...Call boxes for emergencies but over many years I've never needed one....locals have always stopped to help. Turn off your phones and dig deep into Conversation. My take.


I am glad you never needed one but I assure you the friends and family of the accident victims who died alongside of the highway waiting (sometimes for hours) for an ambulance to be called and be transported to trauma care would probably have a different opinion...