SPOT satelite messenger

Yes, I did looks at its coverage map. My only concern would be whether or not the 9-1-1 feature could be roeconfigured to suit our 000 system, and if it would be recognised by AMSA for search and rescue, as from what I beleive GEOS is US, and would be mighty expensive sending thm out to aus to pick you up ;)

Keep us up to date on anything you find out, Im going to do some more looking when time permits myself.

Mike

Copied from their website:

"ALERT 9-1-1: Use this function In the event of a life threatening or other critical emergency to notify emergency services of your exact location and that you need assistance. The GEOS International Emergency Response Center alerts the appropriate agencies worldwide – for example contacting 9-1-1 responders in North America and 1-1-2 responders in Europe."

As for re-configuring, my understanding is that the Emergency Response Centre they refer to is a service provided by another organisation, which is manned and capable of ringing whoever they deem appropriate. I would assume (and therefore may be wrong!) that part of the registration process covers this.

However, one of the strengths of this machine is that it is probably redundant as to where you buy & register it - it looks like it will work in most of the world (at least greater than half).

Have a look at 'The Bertsch Story'. It gives some indication of how to use the gadget.

From SPOT's website

Q: Tell me more about the commercial satellites that SPOT uses.
A: SPOT uses the Globalstar simplex data network to transmit messages. This is a proven data network that is also supporting tens of thousands of commercial and industrial data modems sending millions of messages each month for asset tracking and remote management applications. The simplex data network signal path works differently than the Globalstar satellite phone signal path, providing significantly better reliability and message completion rates.


With any new system, there is always a learning curve for the monitoring company dealing with emergency services from other countries. My first suggestion would be call 000 for Oz - after all, who else would we call ourselves in an emergency. In Europe they use 112 for emergency calls - this is also available in Oz.

Help & 911 can be activated at the same time, so if needed you can have additional people contact 000. Since you can customise your messages for a trip, have something like - Help 'I need help because vehicle is diabled and/or injury requiring assistance. If you get an OK msg after this then its just vehicle. Note - we are moniting UHF channel XX for assistance', then send an OK msg.

Im sure that in the future there will be expansion on this system to notify of the situation with more detail.

At the end of the day - having this and an EPIRB is cheaper and more practical than HF & Sat phone. But being over prepared is never a bad thing when it comes to your family.

The more people use this system, the better the system will work. In a convoy situation, 2 vehicles can carry SPOT, if one sends for help, home base knows that vehicle failure has happened, if both send for help, then its life threatening, and can raise help.