[pct-l] About my first generation SPOT

[Kathi]

My new SPOT (the SPOT II) failed to send an "I'm Ok" message and track 
me through about a 5-6 mile portion of trail this summer. I had done 
several tests at home and learned I have to, as you said, let the entire 
cycle complete and even after I see that the OK light is flashing I have 
to give it at least another 15 minutes to complete the sequence. The 
portion of the trail I was on had very large peaks around me although I 
was not in a canyon and I had pretty dense tree cover. Throughout that 
portion of the trail even though my SPOT showed that my messages went 
through they did not. I basically would send my messages while I set up 
camp and ate each night so the device sat in one spot after I pushed the 
"I'm okay" for about an hour.

Because I was clear with my peeps back home that not getting a message 
did not necessarily mean trouble they didn't get too panicky, although 
my dad was pretty worried but knew better than to go into rescue mode. I 
did make it clear to them that unless they got an "I'm in trouble" 
message that they shouldn't do anything until I didn't come out of the 
woods at my designated time. Then they were free to panic and do 
whatever they deemed necessary.

I certainly wouldn't rely on it for a rescue. I try not to ever get 
myself into that type of a situation but as we know stuff happens to 
people of all skill levels. It's nice to know that I "might" be able to 
send an SOS message if I had too, but I honestly just really carry it 
around so that my husband and dad can track along on my adventure and it 
makes THEM feel safer knowing I have a way I "might" be able to get help 
if I need it. If I really wanted to make sure I had some way to get 
rescued if I needed it I would carry and PLB or a satellite phone.

The other thing I let my peeps know before I left on the trail with my 
brand new SPOT was that I would use it if I came across another hiker 
that needed an immediate rescue. So they shouldn't freak out just 
because there was an SOS sent. Of course, I am sure they would have but 
I just wanted them to know that was a possibility too.

I've only used my SPOT on that one trip so far because I got it for my 
last backpacking trip of this summer. Prior to that I carried nothing 
except my cell phone and I didn't have a signal except once I think. Of 
course, I wasn't checking very often either.

Puddles

On 10/18/12 2:39 PM, Edward Anderson wrote:
> 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
>
>   
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