SPOT satellitte messenger

Coverage
It has no coverage in South Africa where I’ll be using. What a bummer!

Not surprising
that it does not work under tree cover. My GPS doesnt work under thick tree cover either, nor will sat phones. Surprise surprise…not.



I figure SPOT is useful for my left at home family who worries that I am not OK when I am OK.



But a sat phone only has the flexibility I need for two way communications as with change of pick up points with fly outs.



Only seen one guy that had one and used it. Was happy with it except under mangrove tunnels.

Rescue this week
A spot messenger was used by kayaker Derek Crook when he got into trouble on the west coast of Tasmania. See the second last post at http://www.yukonriverquest.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=1229&highlight=#1229 and also the articles at http://nwtasmania.yourguide.com.au/articles/1171536.html?src=topstories and http://nwtasmania.yourguide.com.au/articles/1172657.html?src=topstories



I thought it worth noting that he was rescued by a local after 5hrs in the water and may not have survived to be rescued by the emergency services that were searching for him. How much of this delay was due to his spot messenger being registered in Canada and the time it took to get Australian services to respond I don’t know, although it was a very isolated location and any rescue would have taken quite a while. I expect the homing signal on an epirb or plb would ensure a faster location of a person in trouble. Anyway it’s good to know that he’s safe.



One other thing is I doubt that a spot messenger meets the legal requirement for an EPIRB in Tasmania. I know it doesn’t in Western Australia, seakayaks fall under the same rules as other boats here and are required to carry EPIRBs if more than two nautical miles offshore.



Kelvin

Boards
backpacker.com and BackpackingLight.com

Spot on?
It’s good that they fixed that.



Don’t get me wrong, the SPOT can save lives. That said, for a device that I might need to count on to save my life when I’m in a MAYDAY situation, I’m not willing to get “good enough”. I also go to some fairly remote places and what I use might be overkill for some folks.



The SPOT still doesn’t transmit a 121.5 MHz SAR homing frequency like an EPRIB (to help rescuers find you), is controlled by a private enterprise, is much less bombproof in construction and water immersion that a PLB and requires subscription fees (that make it cost the same as a PLB after five years or so).



This is a personal decision (where not governed by law). For example I don’t believe that Paul Caffyn had an EPIRB with him on his epic trips and a number of adventures don’t carry a satellite phone because they don’t want an umbilical cord to “diminsh” a wilderness experience. It all depends on the level of risk that you are willing to accept.



Greg Stamer