[pct-l] About my first generation SPOT

Thu Oct 18 16:39:12 CDT 2012

Ned, 

I am not at all familiar with the new gen SPOT. Does " - - - real failure-to-transmit stories from the trail"  refer to texting via satellite? I wonder if some SPOT failures might be due to impatience. You have to allow the device time to go through the complete cycle - at least that is true of my SPOT. During my early tests, I discovered that it is necessary to wait until the lights indicate that the cycle is complete and that the OK message has been sent. On mine it is when the OK lights go off and the only light flashing is the on/off one. This can take several minutes.

MendoRider-Hiker

________________________________
 From: Ned Tibbits <ned at mountaineducation.org>
To: Edward Anderson <mendoridered at yahoo.com>; pct-l at backcountry.net 
Sent: Thursday, October 18, 2012 10:09 AM
Subject: Re: About my first generation SPOT

Hey, Ed!  

Good to hear from you and your success with a first-gen SPOT. 

The system certainly sounds good and fool-proof, yet we still hear of real 
failure-to-transmit stories from the trail. Perhaps these were due to improper 
placement of the device beneath “open sky.” 

Ned 
Tibbits, Director
Mountain Education
http://www.mountaineducation.org/ 

From: Edward Anderson  
Sent: Wednesday, October 17, 2012 9:35 PM 
To: Ned Tibbits ; pct-l at backcountry.net  
Subject: About my first generation SPOT 
 Hello Ned, 

There has been a lot of recent posts 
on the SPOT. I was given my first generation SPOT free by their SoCal sales representative in 
2008 more than a month before I started my PCT ride. They also gave one to Zack, 
a 17-year old who wanted to sail a boat 
around the world - and he succeeded. All I was 
asked to do in exchange for the free device was to promise to press the OK 
button every night and at each of my camp locations. They put Zack and myself on 
their WEBSITE. If you visited the SPOT website, it would say "see where Ed (or 
Zack) is now.  I had received instructions from the SPOT rep and from the 
manual that comes with the SPOT. I was careful to always have a good amount of 
clear sky above where I placed the device - always laying it in a horizontal 
position, as instructed. I was ALWAYS able to send my "I'm OK" message to SPOT, 
to my wife, and to eight others. It never failed., and I still have records to 
verify that. My wife had the peace of mind of knowing that I was OK. All 10 on 
my "team" (which included the SPOT website) could look at a satellite photograph 
and see my location, accurate within a very short radius. I never needed the 
"911" button. It gave my wife a much appreciated "peace of mind" to know where I 
was, that I was OK, and that I had a means of summoning a rescue if needed.  

Riding a horse, solo and mostly 
unsupported, it was to take four seasons to complete the PCT. Since I resupplied myself 
(by leaving my horse in safe care and driving my rig ahead, caching as I went, 
then parking it in a safe and prearranged place near the PCT), I mostly lived on 
the trail. I didn't have the option of hitching into towns and using a telephone 
as many hikers can do, I relied on the SPOT to communicate my well-being.  
Again, my wife really appreciated that - and I felt that it was the right thing 
to do. 

I would like to point 
out that if Donivan had had a Spot (It was not yet on the 
market) he would not have died. The couple who chanced to find his body a year 
later did not have a SPOT either. They were also badly lost and desperate for 
rescue. They finally resorted to setting a forest fire to call attention to 
their own life-threatening  situation. There was a TV program about it that 
most on this list have probably seen.  There has been an entire TV series 
called "I Shouldn't Be Alive", it showed the Donovan story and the desperation of the 
lost hikers who chanced to find him - and then had to be rescued themselves. If 
all of those people who had gotten themselves into desperate, 
life-threatening situations, had a SPOT, or some other emergency communications 
device (such as those mentioned by Ned), along - there wouldn't be much material 
for the TV series.  

Again, I want to mention that I 
never had a problem sending my messages via SPOT satellite. I never 
had my lithium batteries run down. I did test them whenever I rode to where I 
had parked my rig. I had a GB, GBT-502A battery tester there (It is small, and 
weighs 1.25 ounces - but, since I am a UL rider, I keep it in my camper).  
It is a simple, and inexpensive  
device for testing the voltage of AA and AAA batteries. After receiving my free 
SPOT, and several weeks before starting my PCT ride (during March and the first 
half of April of 2008), I did a LOT of testing. I tried out the "tracking" 
option.  It would track my progress in real time every 10 minutes. My 
"team" could view that information on satellite pictures. 
Pretty cool!  I tested it on several multi-day checkout rides. I discovered that it 
used too much battery - so did not use the tracking feature during my PCT ride. 
I even tested it under conditions that did not meet the "clear open sky" 
requirement and it still worked - I tested it INSIDE my house and also inside my 
barn. And the signal still went out. Of course, while on the PCT I always sought 
out some clear sky - even if I had to walk a few hundred feet to find a good 
location. By observing the two green lights were doing (blinking, steady on, 
off), I could always tell when my OK signal was sent by satellite. 

My device was a first generation 
SPOT. It weighs 7 ounces. The second generation SPOT is both lighter and 
smaller. I have never tried the newer ones. The manufacturer claims that my 
device will work at temperatures ranging from about -30 degrees F. to +140 
degrees F. I have never tested it at nearly those extremes.   

This morning I sent an OK satellite message to my wife from INSIDE my 
house, while I was eating breakfast. Off this list, I am forwarding it to 
you. 

Kind Regards, 
MendoRider 

From: Ned Tibbits 
<ned at mountaineducation.org>
To: Jeffrey Olson <jolson at olc.edu>; 
pct-l at backcountry.net 
Sent: Saturday, October 13, 2012 6:24 PM
Subject: Re: [pct-l] To SPOT or not to SPOT 
[AND] Money along the

>From our point of view as 
practical wilderness safety instructors, the SPOT 
system provides a fallible 
sense of security. Do not place your safety, 
security, or peace of mind on 
anything electronic in the backcountry. They 
can fail in more ways than one 
and the ripples can be felt a long ways (you 
may not know that your friends 
back home are getting really worried or that 
30 or 40 SAR people are being 
mobilized to go look for you!)

However, the idea is a good one. It's just 
not perfected yet! During one of 
our SAR training exercises we had an Air Force Captain 
teaching us about how 
the Emergency Location Transmitters (PLBs, ELTs, SPOTs, etc.) and the 
system 
of satellites they work within connect to his National Response 
Center (out 
in Nebraska or Kansas, if I recall right) and forces get 
dispatched to aid 
the lost or injured. In essence, the SPOT works on a 
different and smaller 
network of satellites from those used by the military 
and commercial 
aircraft (think multiple satellites flying two grid patterns 
across the 
globe both longitudinally and latitudinally compared to two flying just one 
direction). Thus, it takes longer to connect with the SPOT system (which 
then has to call the National Response Center to request help for you) and 
get resources mobilized your way.

As many of you have already said, 
the SPOT units, themselves, do not always 
make their daily signal 
connections either (and unfortunately, you don't 
know this at the 
time).

Either way, you, the user, thinks that everyone back home is 
merrily 
watching your progress and getting your daily "I'm fine" messages 
while you 
figure that if anything does go wrong, all you have to do is rely 
on 
technology to "call for help" when it may either not be able to do so or 
just take quite a while to do it.

Then we have the issue of battery 
maintenance--don't let them get cold or 
run out of power or let the unit get 
wet. Will you be able to guarantee this 
once you hit the 
backcountry?

Yes, they are lighter and cheaper than a more definitive 
answer, but are 
they a sufficiently reliable and predictable method of 
safety 
communications? What do the smart Guide Services use? They are 
leading 
novice hikers and climbers all the time into remote, rugged 
international 
locales. What works for them?

A Satellite 
phone.

Ned Tibbits, Director
Mountain Education
http://www.mountaineducation.org/
-----Original 
Message----- 
From: Jeffrey Olson
Sent: Saturday, October 13, 2012 2:47 
PM
To: pct-l at backcountry.net
Subject: Re: 
[pct-l] To SPOT or not to SPOT [AND] Money along the

Having started 
hiking alone before there were guidebooks- only topo maps
- let alone SPOT or iridium satellite 
phones, the idea of carrying
something that would let my loved ones know how 
I am is a bit over the top.

I hiked a long section hike with a girlfriend 
in the early 90s. Her dad
was dying of colon cancer.  We were hiking at 
a pace where we would get
to town and a phone every week or so.  The day 
we got closer to town
she'd get emotional cry her way down the trail.  I 
totally got it and
left her alone.

She'd check in and her spirits 
would rise and we'd have a great time
eating town food and doing couple 
stuff.

The listserv started back in 1994 or 1995 if I 
remember correctly (Brick
of course knows).  If you have access to 
archives, spend a half hour or
so reading what people talked 
about.

One thing that's pretty obvious, is there were few, if any, 
women
participating in discussions, or starting the trail alone.  That 
has
changed wonderfully!

There was also no way that someone on the 
trail could communicate with
the outside world outside of towns.

I 
totally support young men and women, who often times for the first
time, are 
doing something outside of parental influence, gently insist
that s/he will 
check in when they get to a town, and that the parental
units may not hear 
anything for a couple weeks. You might help them,
"Get used to 
it..."

I know it won't be long before you'll be able to lie in your tent 
near
Tyndall Creek and talk to your Mom (mine is 86) on the phone.

The 
question will become, do you want to...

Jeffrey Olson
Rapid City, 
SD

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