What's more, even activating a beacon on this system will be illegal from 1 February 2010. As mentioned above, all beacons on this system should be disposed of through your nearest Battery World shop.
rsser wrote:And re tech stuff, it can tell you that you've got a GPS fix; it can't tell you whether your msgs have gone through.
rsser wrote:Hope you're right. If the red blink means it's talked to the sats, that must mean it can receive sat comms. I wasn't aware that it had this capability.
rsser wrote:Sorry, I was unclear.
The device can't receive AFAIK so can't confirm that a msg was got at the other end.
rsser wrote:Seem to recall that the Iridium sat constellation was low orbit? If so, not so good for those of us in the mountains. May be wrong though.
sirius Tas wrote:My two bobs worth re above recent posts.
First...SPOT works on the Globalstar system of satellites...hence has severe limitations for use in southern latitudes....check out thread by tasadam...
viewtopic.php?f=21&t=415&p=13184#p12557
Globalstar have been having satellite difficulties...also if you read the above thread you'll find the reason some people are having trouble with satellite reception with these units...mainly as these satellite are inclined to the vetical at quite a low angle.
Hence..if you're stuck in a steep gully or similar...you may not get the distress signal out.
Forget about any other type of mobile phone...they simply aren't worth relying on...as same as above. May be fine if you have an accident on top of Cradle Mt...or similar...but little use else where.
The cheapest and most reliable option is the PLB....that being the GME MT410G......these guys have been building EPIRBS and PLB's for many many years and are extremely reliable. If you want to know the difference with a non GPS PLB....read the thread above from Linda Berryman. I personally would only buy this unit...but my Sat phone IS reliable...so no need at this stage.
Everyone should be aware that PLB's are available for hire from Service Tasmania at a very reasonable charge of $40 per week.
While you may have battery concerns with normal electronic gear...I can assure you the batteries in PLB's are state of the art and guaranteed for several years.
While PLB's are expensive... is there any REAL alternative....WHAT IS YOUR LIFE WORTH???....or the angst it may be causing your family while you're away.
Re Iridium Sat phones....if contemplating purchase...you may be able to pick up a Motorola handset from Ebay at considerably cheaper prices.
I'd also steer completely away from the Optus Thuraya...until you actually know what the satellite configurations are....otherwise you may be like all the others with limited ability.
My thoughts only....sT.
adventures wrote:Happy to tell the story of the emergency if people are interested, but being new to this forum am not sure how to find the right thread for that ...
Ent wrote: everything suggest that a PLB is the best but it does have the limitation of only being able to send one message, HELP!, when at times a less melodramatic message might be in order.
photohiker wrote:From the Australian Magazine today, Article 'In the line of fire' regarding the WA Adventure race disaster where several competitors were badly burned by bushfire and lucky to escape death.
(John Storey, local Kununurra mango farmer/bushman with extensive local knowledge who trains Gurkha troops from Singapore in leadership and navigation):
"City people don't understand. Even satellite technology is not foolproof. Overhangs in the landscape, trees, a gorge, even a smoke cloud will block connection" he says. No matter how thoroughly people are trained to use satellite phones "they can still let you down in the field. Ninety eight percent of the time they're OK but the one time you really need them they might not work"
Lets remember that.
north-north-west wrote:
Yeah, I thought of this thread when I was reading that, too. Although I've never heard of smoke cutting out a sat link.
The signal EPIRB's use is transmitted on 406 Mhz, a lower frequency than the SPOT Satellite Messenger and other SPOT products. This enables the signal to penetrate cloud cover better. Also, true 406 Mhz EPIRB's use a full 5 watts of power, compared to only .4 watts used by SPOT products. This higher wattage, combined with a lower frequency, means that 406 EPIRB's can penetrate heavy cloud cover, tree cover, or perform better in marginal areas such as alongside cliffs. This means that for life and death situations, you'll be better served by a real EPIRB. The trade off in emergency functionality of an EPIRB vs. the message capability of the SPOT is something you must be aware of.
Ent wrote:For what is worth I came to the same conclusion but we are lucky in the group that there is a Spot 3 so we have the best of both worlds. Spot 3 is great for armchair walkers but be prepared to cope some flake if the owner of the Spot does not turn it on from home office. Not sure if I am a fan of the bluetooth link from phone to an emergency device. If some are honest they would admit to stuffing this link up. But then a Spot does not need a phone to send the dramatic come and get me now message.
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