Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board SPOT II GPS Tracker & Messenger

I kinda figured that this would be covered someplace here, but I didn't find anything with the search.

My wife insisted that I get one since I am going up solo. The only thing that is important to me at this point is that I can send the "I'm OK" message when I get to Consultation Lake.

So, does anybody have any experience with the SPOT II on the MWT?

BTW: the one thing that I have learned about this thing is that it doesn't work at all if it is hanging from your belt. It's clear in the instructions that it should be pointed straight up into the sky, but I was surprised that it didn't work at all hanging from the belt with my body blocking the signals.

Otherwise the tracking and messenger features are pretty cool.

My SPOT II loses some messages in canyons (including above Whitney Portal) but otherwise works well. It should work fine at Consultation Lake. Read the manual and be sure to orient it correctly (antenna facing the sky).

Bob,
thanks for the input. I feel pretty comfortable assuring my wife that she'll get the "I'm OK" message. I'll probably send it a couple of times....just in case.

I do hope that most of the tracking signals are received as it would make a nice little visual of the trek.

I fashioned a little holder on the top of my pack and I am going to give it a try on a hike this evening.
Tom

I sent an OK from Upper Boyscout Lake and from the top of Mt Russell a couple weeks ago. Not exactly the same as the main trail, but in the neighborhood. The SPOT II does seem to work a lot better than the original unit in all respects.

The one downside to the SPOT II is that they saved weight by using smaller batteries. Those expensive batteries don't last very long.

Is there any truth to the caution of the signal from a GPS device interferring with that of the SPOT transmissions? (I am one of the last people on the mountain who does not own a GPS device....)

I used the SPOT "OK"function every day on my recent 17 day Sierra trek (Trail Pass, across the Kern, Coyote Pass, Shotgun Pass, little 5, 9-Lakes and out over Cottonwood Pass via Junction Mdw and the PCT). My wife received an OK signal every day from my campsites - even from some fairly enclosed places.

I put the Spot on a rock - or on the grond - with the OK function activated and left it there until it indicated a message sent. Sometimes it took nearly 30 minutes - but always eventual success. Works for me - I highly recommend it.

Bee:

All GPS receivers, including SPOT, receive signals from the same US government satellites. This is one-way communication, so multiple GPS receivers should have no effect on each other.

SPOT devices transmit to civilian satellites when you push OK, Custom (SPOT II only), Help, SOS/911, or Track. This is also one-way communication, so there is no way to confirm that a satellite actually received your SPOT message. (The green LED on SPOT II only indicates that your message was SENT.)

SPOT sends the OK and Custom messages three times, ten minutes apart. The SPOT system discards duplicate OK and Custom messages if more than one reaches a satellite. Be sure to leave your SPOT on for at least 20 minutes to increase the chance that at least one of the three messages reaches a satellite.

Bob

I agree with Bob. Two GPS devices that are receiving on the same frequency and are in close proximity should not interfere with each other. If the other GPS device is somehow transmitting on the same frequency as the satellite GPS signal, then there could be some interference. (In the real world, I sell RF devices).

I am finding that the SPOT does help inspire those training hikes. I did one today from Triffin Ranch (topanga canyon) to near my home in Tarzana. I like that it gives an altitude profile, though the distances are pretty meaningless since they cut off all of the corners.
http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=08Yun3CjbDZHSZIUEJJQbg0B0WfkY3953

It gives my hike a distance of about 8.8km (5.4mi) and a detailed measurement on google earth gave me a distance of 11.1km (6.9mi)

I decided to put together a little visual explanation on why the orientation of the SPOT tracker/messenger is important.

http://picasaweb.google.com/tfdietz/Whitney0709#5509366489996329266

This is what my SpotTrack looked like from Sunday's MR -> MT Loop with Mike and .........Dug. This is a Spot II device.

There were only 58 track points for a 15 hour climb/hike. 15 X 10 = 150, so quite a few messages didn't make it out. No any different from what I had happened with the original Spot.

Richard,
that is great!

Is the topographic google earth view available with the standard package?

Fewer messages were dropped than you think. There should only be 6 messages per hour (messages sent every 10 minutes). In 15 hours there would have been 90 broadcasts. So only about 1/3 of the messages were dropped rather than 2/3.

That's close enough for me. And it is good to get a visual on the shadow zones. It looks like I may have to hike to trail camp to send my first "I'm Ok" message since Consultation Lake looks like it is probably in a shadow zone.

Ooooops, you're right.

Yes, just go to My Account, select the points you're interested in and click on Show On Map. Then select Terrain after the map comes up.

One positive of Spot II is that I haven't noticed any of my track points bouncing over to the Meysan Lakes canyon like my Spot I did when transmitting from the Whitney area.

The thing I love about the whole SPOT concept, is that when you get the "Tracking" feature ($49 per year), any number of family and friends and go to your shared site and watch your movement in real time.
Last summer my brother and I spent an inordinant amount of time on the internet watching our sons travel the John Muir trail. It was great fun marking their progress, guessing where they would camp, etc., etc.
This summer our families watched my brother and I summit Mt. Rainier.
Very cool!

My wife and mom both really enjoyed watching my progress on my training hikes.....I'm sure that when I am actually going up they will be glued to the website.

here's what my spot (old version) recorded on the descent from Trail Crest on July 28 - data points are about 20-30 minutes apart, but they seem to work in most areas. I had it strapped to the top of the pack. Why it numbers this stuff in reverse, only the Spot folks will know.

Fishmonger,
that spot track looks like there is pretty good coverage.

I was just reading about Claire and Damien. Pretty impressive. I'm hoping to convince my son to do the JMT in 3 years (he'll be 14 then.

Well I'll be honest prior to this year I didn't know anything about SPOT. Now I absolutely loath them! I do not wish to start counting the ways I hate this technology in the backcountry but I do wish to request a little common sense in their use
1. Complete your owner's info on the SPOT website.
2. Make a detailed route plan readily available to who ever may be called should you push the 911 button.
3. Explain to all friends who may receive a "Help" message exactly what you want done.
4. Remind Friends that help does not mean call the Sheriff's Office!
5. Remember Search and Rescue will NOT come running if you push the "Help" button or forget to push the "I'm OK" Button!

Sorry to rant, I do applaud the two way messaging option which has been developed, but people who go into the backcountry should always have a back up plan! That is the sign of a true mountaineer....

I shall now step off my soap box,
Wink

Hello Wink
I personally have no desire to ever use the 911 button. On the MWT there is enough traffic that I would flag a fellow hiker if I needed help.

However, I certainly did put together a whole plan if the button is every pushed. Or....if an "I'm OK" message isn't received.

Because a few people have abused the "yuppie 911" feature, doesn't mean that all or even a significant percentage of users of this device will abuse the feature.

There are people who call into 911 and complain about their order at McDonald's or that they can't get a ride to the liquor store to buy more booze (real and recent incidents). This doesn't make 911 a bad service.

Would all of the abuses that happen with the SPOT be worth it if it saved one life?

hell, the only reason that I have it is so that my wife has some level of comfort with me going out in the (semi)wilderness overnight alone....oh and to get the cool tracking maps as mementos of the hike.

"oh and to get the cool tracking maps as mementos of the hike." problem with that, at least for us, is that they only store this stuff for 30 days, and our trips are generally longer than that, especially if you add the days right after the hike you don't even care to look back at all the data. A GPS track is much more accurate and detailed anyway and there are pretty easy ways to import those into Google Maps or use otehr tools to display your grand achievements after the hike.

Here's one day of our 2009 JMT:

View Muir 2009 Day 17 in a larger map