"You know how to whistle don't you? Just put your lips together... and blow"
Today I thought I'd discuss a very simple, but very easy to overlook piece of kit that can potentially save your life... a whistle. Yeah, I'm talking about the little piece of moulded plastic or stamped or machined metal that when air is forcefully blown through it produces a disproportionately loud shrieking sound. By "forceful", I merely mean directed as one of the advantages of using a whistle is that it produces a lot of sound with minimal effort (like a small weak puff through a whistle can still produce a significant blast that can be heard at a great distance). It is useful for attracting attention in survival emergencies, for sports, for signalling, for self-defense, for directing traffic, etc, etc. A good whistle is one of the first pieces of gear that I would supply young kids with.
Today I thought I'd discuss a very simple, but very easy to overlook piece of kit that can potentially save your life... a whistle. Yeah, I'm talking about the little piece of moulded plastic or stamped or machined metal that when air is forcefully blown through it produces a disproportionately loud shrieking sound. By "forceful", I merely mean directed as one of the advantages of using a whistle is that it produces a lot of sound with minimal effort (like a small weak puff through a whistle can still produce a significant blast that can be heard at a great distance). It is useful for attracting attention in survival emergencies, for sports, for signalling, for self-defense, for directing traffic, etc, etc. A good whistle is one of the first pieces of gear that I would supply young kids with.
Imagine, getting lost in the woods while hiking, or inadvertantly skiing out of bounds (and not being able to get back to the proper side of a mountain as the sun goes down and the temperatures are dropping). Or imagine skidding off the road in your vehicle and crashing, unseen, in a ditch or ravine just off the road, and you find yourself injured and unable to walk out. Or maybe you take a wrong turn down a dark deserted alley in a big city, and suddenly find your way blocked by a group of crackheads who intend to mug you (or worse). Or imagine your boat/kayak flips over and you genuinely need some assistance as the current takes you out to sea, and help is within sight, but being so low in the water, nobody can see you. Or imagine that you are the first on the scene of a medical emergency and you are rendering aid, you call 911, and the police/fire/medics are just down the block but they cannot see where you are, partially obscured by cars and landscaping. I can go on and on with these hypotheticals and variations thereof, but the point is, in all of these situations, merely having a simple whistle on hand would be very useful.
A whistle falls under the category of "signaling devices" to announce an emergency or alert rescue personnel and along with visual panels, flares, smoke, marker panels, water dyes, and strobes are an important part of any survival kit. Most emergency survival situations are assumed to be temporary situations, with the eventual goal of getting rescued. Signaling is a very important part of an emergency survival kit if you ever want to get help. 3 whistle blasts (or 3 firearm shots, 3 flashes, 3 puffs of smoke, any series of 3) is generally accepted as the universal distress signal (even if you don't know International Morse Code). Many people at least know the Morse (CW) for "S. O. S.", which is easy to learn/memorize ". . . - - - . . ." (dot dot dot, dash dash dash, dot dot dot), or (short short short, loooong loooong loooong, short short short).
Ideally, the whistle should make a slightly shrill, annoying, unpleasant noise so that it tends to capture attention above regular background din or loud crowd noise. A whistle sound that is too soft, harmonic, musical (tonal) and pleasant to the ear can more readily be ignored. Like, although it is a good whistle, I think that the Acme of London "Bobby" style whistle is too pleasant and musical in tone for emergency use. It sounds kind of whimsical to me, like a circus calliope or something. You might remember the sound of it from old Sherlock Holmes or perhaps Jack the Ripper films, with Bobby whistles sounding off in the "fog". I think most wooden whistles have timbres that sound too warm and friendly also, they "tooooot" like low flutes or tiny train whistles. Also, I would like to mention though it is a small consideration that I would always prefer a NON-METAL whistle no matter how good the design, not only because it would be lighterweight and quieter (as far as noise discipline), but also because of the real problem of metal whistles can get extremely cold (below freezing) and can freeze to and injure ones lips in cold climates (unless you pre-"thaw" it, or keep it deep within insulated layers).
After decades of technological stagnation, whistles have suddenly jumped technologically ahead in the past few decades, becoming "pea-less", much easier to blow, double-chambered or triple-chambered, louder and more focused, more ergonomically shaped, and even now able to function underwater!
I guess I happened to be more aware of whistle technology because I was an MP and many of us felt that the standard issue whistle (bulky OD green with a cork pea and OD green lanyard), although adequate, was somewhat of a dinosaur compared to the sleek, super-loud Fox 40 which was just hitting the market in the mid-80s. The Fox 40 and the Mini-Fox 40 is my whistle of choice. The double-chambered Fox 40 deafeningly "shrieks" with half the effort, and some of us started using them (for directing traffic and catching attention at long distance). Luckily they made it in a tactical black colour as well as the blaze safety orange. Also, I found that Fox 40 included two semi-circular "flanges" to the body of the whistle, ostensibly to make it more shaped like a conventional whistle, however, I discovered that they are superfluous decorative adjuncts only. They can be easily snapped off (with pliers) and filed smooth if you wish to make the Fox 40 a bit flatter and less bulky (like on a keychain).
A whistle falls under the category of "signaling devices" to announce an emergency or alert rescue personnel and along with visual panels, flares, smoke, marker panels, water dyes, and strobes are an important part of any survival kit. Most emergency survival situations are assumed to be temporary situations, with the eventual goal of getting rescued. Signaling is a very important part of an emergency survival kit if you ever want to get help. 3 whistle blasts (or 3 firearm shots, 3 flashes, 3 puffs of smoke, any series of 3) is generally accepted as the universal distress signal (even if you don't know International Morse Code). Many people at least know the Morse (CW) for "S. O. S.", which is easy to learn/memorize ". . . - - - . . ." (dot dot dot, dash dash dash, dot dot dot), or (short short short, loooong loooong loooong, short short short).
Ideally, the whistle should make a slightly shrill, annoying, unpleasant noise so that it tends to capture attention above regular background din or loud crowd noise. A whistle sound that is too soft, harmonic, musical (tonal) and pleasant to the ear can more readily be ignored. Like, although it is a good whistle, I think that the Acme of London "Bobby" style whistle is too pleasant and musical in tone for emergency use. It sounds kind of whimsical to me, like a circus calliope or something. You might remember the sound of it from old Sherlock Holmes or perhaps Jack the Ripper films, with Bobby whistles sounding off in the "fog". I think most wooden whistles have timbres that sound too warm and friendly also, they "tooooot" like low flutes or tiny train whistles. Also, I would like to mention though it is a small consideration that I would always prefer a NON-METAL whistle no matter how good the design, not only because it would be lighterweight and quieter (as far as noise discipline), but also because of the real problem of metal whistles can get extremely cold (below freezing) and can freeze to and injure ones lips in cold climates (unless you pre-"thaw" it, or keep it deep within insulated layers).
After decades of technological stagnation, whistles have suddenly jumped technologically ahead in the past few decades, becoming "pea-less", much easier to blow, double-chambered or triple-chambered, louder and more focused, more ergonomically shaped, and even now able to function underwater!
I guess I happened to be more aware of whistle technology because I was an MP and many of us felt that the standard issue whistle (bulky OD green with a cork pea and OD green lanyard), although adequate, was somewhat of a dinosaur compared to the sleek, super-loud Fox 40 which was just hitting the market in the mid-80s. The Fox 40 and the Mini-Fox 40 is my whistle of choice. The double-chambered Fox 40 deafeningly "shrieks" with half the effort, and some of us started using them (for directing traffic and catching attention at long distance). Luckily they made it in a tactical black colour as well as the blaze safety orange. Also, I found that Fox 40 included two semi-circular "flanges" to the body of the whistle, ostensibly to make it more shaped like a conventional whistle, however, I discovered that they are superfluous decorative adjuncts only. They can be easily snapped off (with pliers) and filed smooth if you wish to make the Fox 40 a bit flatter and less bulky (like on a keychain).
One option that I will mention, mostly because of their durability, are the single piece machined metal whistles that are like very small cylinders, and can conveniently and inconspicuously be carried on a keychain, or zipper pull. They are great because they are cheap (about a buck), very small, nearly indestructible, and for their size, decently loud. Most of them are made of aluminum, and thus feather-weight. There are some custom machined titanium versions out there, but they tend to run into the exorbitant range as far as price (like cost vs. benefit is really dubious IMO). I thought this small keychain whistle is worth mentioning because... remember my favourite survival adage, "what's the best _____?" (in this case the piece of gear is a whistle). Answer: the one that you have on you. I see it all the time with people that buy big, fancy, expensive gear, and guess what? when an emergency happens, it will most likely be sitting in a nice protective case, probably packed away safely at home, where it is doing zilcho good.
There is a popular 5 in 1 mini-survival kit with a compass, matchcase, flint, fishing kit, etc. that has a built in whistle included. Bright orange and relatively inexpensive, it's a good all in one survival device if you invested in nothing else.... lol. I think that I insist that all my family members have one of these, at a minimum, in each of their vehicles.
In the category of overkill and double redundancy, many of my Fast-tek clips (like on my headlamp, my sternum strap, my cell phone case) are the mini-whistle clip versions, which have a very small, but effective "pea-less" whistle.
As part of my early survival kits, with ACR signal mirror, came the flat ACR "hurricane"-type whistle, also called the "Howler" whistle in England. ACR included it for free with the signal mirror or with their signal flare kits. It's like the flat rectangular double chambered whistle, safety orange or black in colour, that is often attached to PFDs as a zipper pull. It too is incredibly loud for it's size and has a wide comfortable mouthpiece so that it is possible to blast a large quantity of air through it with minimal effort.
Probably the smallest, really loud whistle on the market is the Jetscream, which is flat and slightly larger than a housekey. It is nicely designed to be very portable, and it produces a very respectable 122db sound.
Probably the loudest safety whistle at 130db +, and unfortunately probably the LARGEST, is the Wind Storm emergency, made by the All-Weather Safety Whistle Co. It can be heard up to half a mile a way, through obstructions (like helmets and vehicles), and can even be blown and heard underwater, up to 50 feet. The only drawback, I feel, is it's size, because the whistle is, literally, a handfull. It's bulky and oddly shaped like a hand grip with a protruding mouthpiece, and can barely be worn around the neck. Once a whistle gets this big, I start thinking, maybe I will just get a mini air horn, or just carry around a bugle or hunting horn or something... LOL.
Probably the loudest safety whistle at 130db +, and unfortunately probably the LARGEST, is the Wind Storm emergency, made by the All-Weather Safety Whistle Co. It can be heard up to half a mile a way, through obstructions (like helmets and vehicles), and can even be blown and heard underwater, up to 50 feet. The only drawback, I feel, is it's size, because the whistle is, literally, a handfull. It's bulky and oddly shaped like a hand grip with a protruding mouthpiece, and can barely be worn around the neck. Once a whistle gets this big, I start thinking, maybe I will just get a mini air horn, or just carry around a bugle or hunting horn or something... LOL.
Now, Fox 40 has developed a new 110 db Rescue Howler flat whistle with THREE chambers. A triple chambered whistle produces three separate tones simultaneously. So far it comes in a bright yellow colour. They are currently sold in two packs for a nominal $9 or so, retail.
I know. Big deal. A whistle may not be the most exciting or important piece of safety equipment, but it's at least worth the trouble of paying a buck at the local drugstore and attaching to your keychain, just in case. A mere $1 investment in preparation. It's better to have one and not need it than to need it and not have one. It may someday save your life.
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