Which is why you need an elt for emergencies! Spot is for casual tracking only. Tom
--- On Tue, 15/12/09, DMcD <[email protected]> wrote: From: DMcD <[email protected]> Subject: Re: [Aus-soaring] How to get SPOT to send an SMS To: "Discussion of issues relating to Soaring in Australia." <[email protected]> Received: Tuesday, 15 December, 2009, 8:57 AM Hello Scott, >>* Yes you have an issue with phone numbers. I too have that. I believe it is >>the cheap way they are trying to do SMS for OK & Help. The reason they add >>the fairly strange syntax which looks like an email is so they can work out >>who to send it to to lower provider costs. So your testing has been around >>this issue, not about the reliability of spot in an emergency. The system >>used for the emergency does not rely on the SMS service we are talking about >>here. Your information you have collected on different providers etc will be >>useful for all of us, and I think everyone should be testing their OK & Help >>functions before they need to rely on it when outlanded. My testing... or rather use since the "testing" was done during some fairly remote area flying where I had hoped not to be "testing" but relying! The testing took two forms. One was messaging which did not work until two days after returning, and then only via Telstra numbers and not via Vodophone. FIne if my companion animal is with me and has her Telstra SIM in, but NG if she is at home and using her normal Voda SIM. The replies from the Spot help people have not resolved this issue in 7 days and each reply offers a different method which suggests that they have no idea either. The second part was the testing of the tracking. This failed in the glider. There were gaps of hours where no tracks were recorded. The follow up was trying to get some sense from their "Customer Support". I tried this over the week while I was away and and have done several times since. As you might fear, it's some hot-country call centre where the answers are read off a list and nobody knows what they are talking about. I have had four email replies and two phone calls and the results are contradictory rubbish. I'm sorry to say this, but nobody has either briefed the call centre or redone the website to reflect the fact that there is a new device and a new manual... and a printed addendum to the manual which was in the pack which revealed some new last minute product enhancements. I have copied some sections of these emails before and I won't repeat them, but they are rubbish, confusing, uninformed, time wasting and plain wrong. >>* But the statement here you made about emergency calls needs a bit of a >>citation - It may be true, but I for one would like to hear where that story >>came from and confirm it. A couple of news groups have info on the SPOT. Here's one and google for others. But remember, we don't have the opportunity to test the SOS function without calling in the helicopters. If 80% of the other SPOT functions fail in Australia, why would you trust the rest? http://www.exploroz.com/Forum/Topic/58040/Spot_Messenger__EPIRB_like_emergency_radio_device.aspx "Earlier this year a kayaker off Tasmania needed assistance and used his Spot Mesenger, it took many hours before the details were passed on. Since this, some arrangements have been put in place to have a contact point in Australia who then pass it on to the relevant state authority " "I also asked how long does it take. In fact this was my main concern because I was pretty sure SAR Canberra would end up with the info eventually but if GEOS did not have its act together in regard to other countries (and the product is, clearly, mainly targeted at North America) and doesn't really have much idea who to call in Oz, or Malaysia or Algeria etc and hasn't established credibility with that country, then the usefulness of the device as an EPIRB is zero. Frankly if the can't sort it out for Oz (a structured Western country) they do not inspire confidence. I shall e-mail GEOS and ask for details and assurances of their procedures - perhaps I should also enquire if they have a complaints division? :) " "I have managed to sort out the SMS issue so that when a message is sent a number of people will get SMS messages by setting up GMAIL to forward to a SMS service provider - not straight forward. However my first impressions of SPOT are not good. I tested the tracking option today in basically it was useless. In 7-8 driving trip around a NP near Canberra I only received 6 notifications of where I was (one is supposed to be sent every 10 minutes) and of the 6 4 were at the location I was having lunch ie there were 4 in the same location. I also sent an OK message which never got through to any one, even though the lights were flashing in unison and then went to one light after it was supposed to ahave sent it. " Maybe this is another excellent US product which is not designed for us foreigners. D _______________________________________________ Aus-soaring mailing list [email protected] To check or change subscription details, visit: http://lists.internode.on.net/mailman/listinfo/aus-soaring
_______________________________________________ Aus-soaring mailing list [email protected] To check or change subscription details, visit: http://lists.internode.on.net/mailman/listinfo/aus-soaring
