SPOT transmitter saves 2 CAWG members

[Eclipse]

^ No highbirds?  Or did the mountains negate their usefulness?

[wingnut55]

HIGHBIRD DOES NOT MEAN "GOOD COMMUNICATIONS ALWAYS"?

ERRATIC COMMUNICATIONS!!!!
THAT INCLUDES HIGH BIRD, HOW HIGH CAN HIGHBIRD BE USED TO COVER AN AREA THE SIZE OF THE FOSSETT MISSION?

14,000 FOOT MOUNTAINS MEANS HIGH, BE IN THE VALLEY AND CLIMB BACK TO 16,000 HOW LONG DOES THAT TAKE??? 30 MINUTES, 20 MINUTES?? AND THEN GO BACK DOWN.

But if you live in Florida I apologize

The Spot can and should be used by CAP

[isuhawkeye]

no need to get upset. 

I think most of us are supporters of the Spot technology

[wingnut55]

Sorry I hit send before I edited

[bosshawk]

This is all very interesting, but there are some of us dummies who have no idea what a Spot is.  How about a lead for those of us less fortunate than some of you guys.

[EMT-83]

www.findmespot.com

[RiverAux]

At $150/year for basic + tracking services per device (which may not include the actual cost of the device itself), I'm not entirely sure it is worth it for CAP purposes.  It would eat up most of our annual training budget at the wing level to outfit all the planes and ground teams with it.  Having 10-minute locations of our teams and planes would be nice, but isn't a critical need. 

[isuhawkeye]

Here are a few notes, thoughts, and observations on the SPOT

http://isuhawkeye.typepad.com/halbrook_associatescom/2008/09/the-spot-rescue.html

http://isuhawkeye.typepad.com/halbrook_associatescom/2008/06/sopt-at-eaas-ai.html

http://isuhawkeye.typepad.com/halbrook_associatescom/2008/05/spot-track.html

http://isuhawkeye.typepad.com/halbrook_associatescom/2008/05/spot-rescue-bea.html

http://isuhawkeye.typepad.com/halbrook_associatescom/2008/04/spot-e-mail-ale.html

http://isuhawkeye.typepad.com/halbrook_associatescom/2008/04/spot-recieved.html

http://isuhawkeye.typepad.com/halbrook_associatescom/2007/12/the-spot.html

[wingnut55]

I started to Order a Spot tonight but when I went to my REI web site here are the bad reviews.

I have tried to use this product on about a dozen occasions over the last several months principally on the Olympic Penninsula at hiking trailheads and hiking destinations. Except for at my home in Poulsbo, I have only been successful in sending/receiving check-in messages less than half the time. In all trials I was able to get the function and power lights blinking in unison within a couple of minutes or less. However, to get them to turn solid green may take 15 minutes if at all. The "solid green for 5 seconds" indicator is a poor feature requiring the user to focus on the transmitter so as not to miss this signal; a solid light after sending or a different color would free up the user. Those few messages which were received showed accurate locations. One had better get injured on top of a peak with a clear view of the sky if they hope for help from this product.

[wingnut55]

Another Customer review

As we had agreed, I would send a morning and evening "OK". I tested from home and it worked fine. I sent the next "OK" from Fresno on the way up and then every evening and morning until the last one from the parking lot on the way out. When I got back into cell phone range, I called and got an ear-full!My girlfriend was in a panic. It turns out that she received the 1st "OK" from Fresno and then nothing until the last one from the parking lot 3 days later!

Again, another.
My first tests of the unit, in Wisconsin, were perfect. For the first three days of my ride, my unit worked perfectly. But from Central Mexico to Argentina, it was completely unreliable. Less than 50% of tracks and OK messages went through in Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Chile, and Argentina. When I contacted SPOT customer service, they said my unit was defective... but how could I send it back, from Central America? When I returned from my trip, I tested it again, and in Wisconsin, it worked perfectly. It's impossible to know, from the field, if the tracking and OK messages actually go through.

The biggest problems are poor statelite reception; an inability to know, from the field, if your messages are going through; poor battery life; hard-to-push buttons; ignorant customer service; a poorly designed website; and ambiguity regarding post-subscription 911 transmittal. The belt-clip is some kind of bad joke. There are so many loopholes in the "extraction insurance" that it's worthless.

[wingnut55]

And Some more

This product gives people a false sense of security. I am a professional guide and one of my clients asked me to take this with me on trips this summer to see if and where it would work.

Several of the trips were canoe based and on several other occasions with sat phones and gps units I simply got on the lake in the canoe and everything worked, this unit didn't. On several occasions, there was no receipt of the broadcast, although it said it did.

The unit does come on accidentally unless it is in a hard case, by itself.

While I truly like the idea, I am afraid that it is just going to give people a false sense of security.

[wingnut55]

A more interesting

I have tried to use this product on about a dozen occasions over the last several months principally on the Olympic Peninsula at hiking trail heads and hiking destinations. Except for at my home in Poulsbo, I have only been successful in sending/receiving check-in messages less than half the time. In all trials I was able to get the function and power lights blinking in unison within a couple of minutes or less. However, to get them to turn solid green may take 15 minutes if at all. The "solid green for 5 seconds" indicator is a poor feature requiring the user to focus on the transmitter so as not to miss this signal; a solid light after sending or a different color would free up the user. Those few messages which were received showed accurate locations. One had better get injured on top of a peak with a clear view of the sky if they hope for help from this product.

[DNall]

At $150/year for basic + tracking services per device (which may not include the actual cost of the device itself), I'm not entirely sure it is worth it for CAP purposes.  It would eat up most of our annual training budget at the wing level to outfit all the planes and ground teams with it.  Having 10-minute locations of our teams and planes would be nice, but isn't a critical need. 

I don't know that we actually paid anything. Our wing ICP kit has about a dozen cell phones with free air time via the provider, now it has a fully field ready sat internet system courtesy of FEMA w/ I believe free service at least for the next year... I think the 20 or so SPOTs we had were the same kind of thing. They were all numbered & linked up on the same acct. I haven't been on another major mission since then, so I don't know if it was maybe just for the Hurricane, but I don't think think so.

Obviously this doesn't preclude check-ins. You could probably push to 1hr check-ins instead of every 30mins though. This is a backup when comms don't work, and a command and control tool so I can manage my forces in the field. It works fine for that. I like it.

Now, I don't know how it functions in other terrain. I would expect the same as any other GPS, but I don't know. I've only seen it in our nice flat coastal plain, and it worked great. If that's not the case elsewhere, then maybe this particular technology is not quite ready for prime time for this particular use by CAP. Even if that's the case, I certainly think it's a good look at the future for us.

And I don't know about message functions. I never saw or used any of that. I wouldn't be counting on that. Certainly not to replace radio check-ins.

[bosshawk]

EMT-83: thanks for the info.  With all of the user comments, it appears that I would be wasting my time even pursuing learning about the thing.  I will look, because we have folks in the Sierra Nevadas who I am sure will use the thing and we will get to go look for them, although we rarely go looking for hikers or bikers.

From the post that started this whole thing, it appears to work well in the flat lands of the California deserts.  Not too many folks plant their flying machines in that terrain, although I have searched for a couple over the years.

[RiverAux]

No matter what is going on now, this is obviously a technology that will probably be ready for prime-time probably within 5 years or less.