[pct-l] About my first generation SPOT

Wed Oct 17 23:35:51 CDT 2012

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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