[pct-l] SPOT usage & SR difficulty

[Lee Staley]

Hi Don,

My son and I have agreed to use the SPOT "HELP" feature to request a pickup
or rendevous to render assistance at or near the GPS location because of any
the following reasons:  1) gear or equipment failure, 2) out of food or
other needed supplies/gear 3) non-life threatening injury or illness, 4)
planned route cannot be safely executed, 5) or, unable to reach pickup point
as previously arranged for some other reason. In other words, any non-life
threatening situation or unplanned event requiring assistance, but in which
a SARs would be inappropriate.  Hope this gives you some ideas.

Cruz Control



On Wed, Jan 27, 2010 at 2:07 PM, Don Billings <dbillings803 at yahoo.com>wrote:

> I have a first generation SPOT which, true to reputation, often fails to
> transmit from under tree cover or in narrow canyons. The second generation
> SPOT just recently
> came out & they're already going through a REcall for some defect. (hope
> nobody was needing their second gen unit before that issue surfaced). I
> haven't heard yet whether the second generation's antenna has been improved
> as gps units were improved with WASS.
>
> But, as far as the "help" vs. the "911" .... I've wondered about the best
> protocol to set up with my contact back home.
>
> "911" is a no brainer as far as I'm concerned. I'm in trouble and can't
> continue or medical emergency or out of water x days.
>
> The "Okay" button is also a no brainer as I use that often just to post my
> location to my contacts.
>
> But the "Help" button... they leave it open as to how you want to use it
> despite the designation "help."
>
> Anyone else have ideas on how to use that function to make it more usable
> and more clear for the hiker?
>
> A secondary issue just came to my attention. A man who was having a seizure
> used his "911" to call for help on the PCT. The unit transmitted okay and
> the coordinates were received okay as is supposed to happen... but the S&R
> team in their report mentioned that the "datum" was different than their own
> units and there was some delay in their response while they sifted through
> several options to get the proper gps reading of the victim. Anyone know
> anything about this issue ?
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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