The Spot, or, Where the heck are they???

The spot satellite GPS messenger is one of the ways we can let people know during our trip that we are not at the bottom of the ocean. It lets us send a message that we are fine as well as a GPS location with a map link. It also has a SOS button so if we did get in trouble it would send out the location we are at and help would be sent to us. When we are in the gulf this is the one of two ways we can reach the rest of the world. The other is by UHF radio but it has limitations of around 12 to 20 miles, depending on many factors.

 

We plan to send out a daily "we are OK " message each day we are on the trip to let everyone know we are OK and let people know where we are.


Here is a link to the spot website http://www.findmespot.com/en/index.php?cid=102


Below is a test message email that we sent from the boat the other day. It is very accurate to the location Dave sent it from. I am hoping to find a way so it will post to the blog automatically when we send the "OK" message during the trip, and would let people that want to follow us as we travel.


Subject: Check-in/OK message from Bettie P SPOT Messenger
X-SPOT-Latitude: 44.50151
X-SPOT-Longitude: -92.31683
X-SPOT-Messenger: Bettie P
X-SPOT-Time: 1302366369
X-SPOT-Type: Check-in/OK
X-ELNK-Received-Info: spv=0;
X-ELNK-AV: 0
X-ELNK-Info: sbv=0; sbrc=.0; sbf=0b; sbw=000;
 Bettie P
 Latitude:44.50151
 Longitude:-92.31683
 GPS location Date/Time:04/09/2011 11:26:09 CDT
 Message:This is the default SPOT Check-in/OK message. Please update.
 Click the link below to see where I am located.
http://fms.ws/4ZMQ3/44.50151/\-92.31683
 If the above link does not work, try this link:
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=44.50151,-92.31683&ll=44.50151,-92.31683&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1
Bettie P