[pct-l] SPOT Thoughts

[Wayne Kraft]

I am a SPOT user.  Like any other tool, using SPOT properly requires  
some thought and practice.  Here's how I use it:

1.  The primary reason for carrying this device is NOT to summon  
rescuers.  It is to tell your loved ones that you are OK so they can  
sleep at night.  In my case, that would be my wife.  Before I leave on  
a trip we have a discussion about the SPOT and what to expect.  I  
explain, ad nauseum, that I will not have the SPOT device on unless I  
am stopped in a location where I think I have satellite access and  
then I will send from one to several OK messages. I turn on the  
device, leave it on for 20 minutes, send an OK and then send two more  
at 20 minute intervals thereafter. I generally do this in the morning  
while making breakfast and packing to leave, at a lunch time stop and  
before bed.
2. It is important to cover this question:  What should I do if I  
don't get an OK message?  This depends on where I'm going.  In the  
"green tunnel" trails of Western Oregon, it is important to understand  
that I might not be able to get a clear sky whenever I want to send a  
message, so missing a transmission or two shouldn't be construed as  
trouble.  On the other hand, when I'm trekking about in sage and  
juniper country in SE Oregon, I can almost always send a message and a  
long period without an OK should be taken more seriously.
3.  Ultimately,  the OK messages are just as important to a rescue as  
the 911 message.  It seems to me that a true backwoods disaster is  
quite likely to prevent me from sending a 911 message and that my  
trail of OK messages may be the best way for searchers to narrow down  
the search area if I should disappear.  This would, at least, give  
searchers my last known location.
4.  The "Help" message has to be considered a specific user-defined  
message.  Personally, I won't push the help button unless I know it is  
sending a specific pre-defined message to my wife.  For example, on a  
trip last summer that involved a lot of driving on back roads in  
remote locations in Harney County, Oregon (where there jack rabbits  
far outnumber people and there is no cell phone coverage) we agreed  
that "Help" meant:  "My car has broken down far from anywhere and I'm  
going to need a tow truck.  I'm not in any immediate danger.  I have  
adequate food, water and shelter for now. See if you can get a tow  
truck to come out and get me.  If I decide to try to walk out, I'll  
leave a trail of OK messages as I go.  If all hell breaks loose I"ll  
use the 911 button.
5.   As for me, my plan is to use the 911 button only when I've  
abandoned all hope of self rescue.  I am immobilized and can't walk  
out or I am hopelessly lost and have run out of food/water/shelter to  
keep me alive.  It would be my intention to NOT use the 911 function  
in the sort of situation in which Censored found herself.  I would, in  
fact, send an OK message in that situation in order to fix my last  
known location should things turn out for the worst.  I mean no  
criticism of Censored when I say that.  I very well might crumble and  
learn a lesson about my own resolve if faced with the same situation.   
As far as I'm concerned, Censored made it out alive and well and  
tragedy was averted.  The rest is comedy.  I hear Desi saying "Lucy!   
You've got some 'splainin' to do!"  A lot of people literally die of  
embarrassment.  Censored didn't and for that we are all thankful.

One scenario I have yet to resolve is this: what should I do with the  
SPOT if I'm rattle snake bit several miles from the trailhead.  It  
might be better for my over all health to hit 911 and sit quietly  
waiting for extraction.  On the other hand, I could almost certainly  
walk out on my own and find my way to a hospital without fatal  
consequences.  I guess I'll have to decide that one when and if it  
happens.

Wayne Kraft