[pct-l] Spot Satellite Tracker

[mattjolley at comcast.net]

 Well  regarding arrival times in the far North,
 PCT hikers were in Cascade Locks July 29,  and probably at least 20 since then.

Well the SPOT works in most places,   the more robust Aviation emergency beacons were 
  described previously in pct-l  in April or May.

More than a few PCTers carry and use these,  and as long as you know you dont have
  100 percent coverage,  and expect hours long drop outs if using in track mode,  I think
   most users are actually happy with these.

 Steve and also Ellie aka retro on postholer.com 
 Claire's web site has a GPS coordinate track list embedded in a google map.
  Steve wont be the first to visit you,  but he appears to be the farthest  North one posting 
   SPOT locations this week,  since Claire has slowed down.

 The tracking function is intermittant even in the desert.   Instead of 6 reports an hour there might be
  3 or 4.  This is not surprising to anyone who has done geo-caching.   When the cache was
  under vegetation,   you had to walk the GPS device out to where there was clear shots to the sky.
  SPOT "tracking"  mode drop outs can extend for hours for various reaons.

 Previous reviews indicated sensitivity to location on the wearer for tracking.  Does not work in
   the pack,  or on the shoulder of the pack etc etc.

 Our user now just uses the OK function to send a report once a day,  
   and that fails about once a week, so sometimes
  the user does both a track and then an OK report for redundancy.

  My impression is the SPOT device could have had an improved user feedback to indicate that the
 OK  report has transmitted.

  Matt