[pct-l] Anyone have experience with SPOT-2 satellite messengers? Any alternative options?

[River Malcolm]

Thank you to all who responded for the wealth of wisdom and experience with spot and alternatives.
I so appreciate the generosity of this group -- and the liveliness of the conversation.
Happy Hiking
River

On Tue, Jan 22, at Jan 22  1:30, Nina Zaikina wrote:

> I used deLorme with the smartphone last year. 
> Pros: According to my research it's more reliable then Spot, it uses better satellite network. It worked 100%, I was able to communicate 2 ways with my boyfriend, it even posted my progress on a Facebook, so my friends could track my GPS location and send messages to me.
> Cons: it's more expensive and bulkier then Spot
> Nina
> 
> Sent from my iPhone
> 
> On Jan 22, 2013, at 12:33 PM, Dan Jacobs <youroldpaldan at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
>> On Tue, Jan 22, 2013 at 12:16 PM, Kathi <pogo at pctwalker.com> wrote:
>>> Others on this list have suggested that you
>>> always push the I'm Ok a few times about 15 minutes apart in those
>>> areas,...
>>> Puddles
>> 
>> According to how I understand the units to work, this will not help
>> get a signal through. While in tracking mode, it sends out a few
>> transmissions, and then waits for the "get GPS position, send location
>> message" cycle to begin again. Pushing the OK button in this cycle
>> starts a "get GPS position, send OK message" cycle that sends the
>> location message for about ten minutes, and then tracking starts
>> again. Nothing special happens that helps get the messages through
>> other than repetition of sensing the messages for a longer duration of
>> time. Repetition won't help get the messages through until there is
>> enough open sky between you and the satellite. There are other factors
>> that are really geeky that need to be considered also, but I'm sure
>> this reply is long enough already ;-)
>> 
>> Without knowing where the satellites are in the sky in relationship to
>> your location and what barriers there may be to getting the weak
>> signal from the SPOT units to the satellites, the only way to help the
>> messages get through is to seek the largest swath of open sky you can
>> find within reason.
>> 
>> Dan Jacobs
>> Washougal
>> --
>> "Loud motorcycle stereos save lives"
>> Motorcycle to hike, hike to motorcycle
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