[pct-l] Emergency Devices

Tue Nov 30 14:13:14 CST 2010

The Air Force Command Center Captain explained that they have multiple satellites traveling around the world as well as up and down it across the U.S. from which each verifies the location of every PLB signal. The SPOT business utilizes just one direction which means that cross verification doesn't happen, thus finding you will take longer. Also, since PLBs operate on frequencies that are monitored by all military and commercial aircraft (as I understand it), your signal will be noticed sooner and by more different receivers than the SPOT operator located in an office somewhere. When the military gets into it, you get response (according to the Captain).

Regarding who to call from a sat phone: the best is to know all the Sheriff's Dispatch numbers along the route travelled, which is what we had when we called for Calorie's rescue this past spring. I don't know for sure how 911 is routed. 

Regarding GPS coordinate relayance to whomever you call, I also don't know if the Iridium sat phones do this automatically or not. However, since, in the snow, we always carry Garmin 530 rhinos, we have the Lat/Long or UTM info to give SAR.

"Just remember, Be Careful out there!"

Ned Tibbits, Director
Mountain Education
1106A Ski Run Blvd
South Lake Tahoe, Ca. 96150
    P: 888-996-8333
    F: 530-541-1456
    C: 530-721-1551
    http://www.mountaineducation.org
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Paul Robison 
  To: Gary Wright ; ned at mountaineducation.org 
  Cc: pct-l at backcountry.net 
  Sent: Tuesday, November 30, 2010 11:12 AM
  Subject: Re: [pct-l] Emergency Devices

  in this case,

  a call is placed to the SPOT call center with your GPS coordinates, from there a human determines who to call,  police, SAR, coast guard, etc.  and will get to the right agency to help you.
  if your GPS coordinates cannot be acquired  (you're in a dense forest perhaps), the satelite call is still placed and a human at SPOT will go through your history and try and find your heading and approx. location.
  a call center employee calls yoru family to apprise them of the situation as well as determine any more itinerary info, as well as descriptions.

  to be clear the SPOT calls use the EXACT SAME satelites as SAR and PLB satelites.  only difference is they are not given priority above SAR or PLB in the event all lines are busy.  this comes essentially as a TXT message and uses virtually no bandwidth.

  ~Paul

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  From: Gary Wright <gwtmp01 at mac.com>
  To: ned at mountaineducation.org
  Cc: pct-l at backcountry.net
  Sent: Tue, November 30, 2010 1:58:48 PM
  Subject: Re: [pct-l] Emergency Devices

  On Nov 30, 2010, at 1:03 PM, ned at mountaineducation.org wrote:

  > Just keep in mind that any true emergency will take longer to activate via a 
  > SPOT than a sat phone or PLB. According to the Air Force Captain (these are 
  > the guys that watch the whole country for emergency beacons) who taught a 
  > National Response Course I attended a few weeks ago, the best way to get 
  > help right now is via the PLB or sat phone.

  Just out of curiosity, who exactly would you call on a sat phone in an emergency?  Does 911 get routed to some sort of national dispatch group or would you have to have with you a Search and Rescue phone number to call?  Do sat phones incorporate automatic location tracking in some way or do you have to be able to verbally communicate your location accurately?

  I just recall several discussions on this list about the difficulty in finding the correct jurisdiction for a search and rescue on the trail.

  Radar
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