Soaring with SPOT

Messenger, that is...

OK, so I've just been driving with it recently. But I have kinda
figured it out, and have also set up an email filter to generate a
much more useful email or text message position report. What follows
will be most useful for someone who already has one of these, but it
may also give you a good reason to buy one.

If you have a SPOT, send me an email with the ESN number of your SPOT
and the configuration information I describe below, and I'll add it to
my email filter to process your position reports. I'll reply with the
email address to add to your profile.

I bought the full support package at $150/yr on top of the initial
purchase price of $150. This gives me the live tracking or
SPOTcasting option. I will be using this on every flight I make, as
it will provide my wife and friends with a position report every 10
minutes of my flight. If, for some reason, I fail to return home,
this track will provide a good starting point for a search if my ELT
fails to trigger.

I also want to use it to send back an occassional position report
(SPOTcheck) using the 'OK' button. This sends an email or TXT message
to a list of email addresses and mobile phone addresses.
Unfortunately, the unit must be turned off and on again to switch from
SPOTcasting to sending a SPOTcheck. Here's the process I've worked
out over the last few days of driving to and from work:

At the start of the trip, turn on the unit, then press and hold OK
until it's LED goes out after about 5 seconds. Now, a position report
will be transmitted every 10 minutes and available on the website. To
send a SPOTcheck position report:

Press and hold ON/OFF button for 5 seconds to turn off power.

Wait 5 seconds, then press ON/OFF for a second and verify power LED
flashes every 3 seconds.

Tap OK button, then verify it begins to flash in unison with the power
LED. I have observed that typically within less than a minute, the OK
LED will illuminate solid for about 5 seconds to indicate the position
report is being transmitted to the satellite. Within seconds, my
mobile phone will beep to indicate a new TXT message.

Wait 5-10 seconds after the above 'solid green' event, or if too busy
to watch the LEDs, wait 5 minutes after tapping OK - perhaps setting a
countdown timer. Then press and hold ON/OFF for 5 seconds to turn off
power again.

Wait 5 seconds, then power on by pressing ON/OFF for a second or two.

Wait 5 seconds, then press and hold OK until LED goes out after 5
seconds or so. The unit is now back in SPOTcasting mode.

A bit of a pain, but overall a fairly simple process that one would do
every hour or two during a flight. The crew is now free of the radio
and only needs to have a mobile phone handy to receive position
reports. If the crew has internet access, then the SPOTcheck is
unnecessary, as the SPOTcast provides all that's needed.

The next 'problem' is that the TXT message sent to the mobile phone is
not very useful for a crew without a map handy. It looks like this on
my mobile phone screen:

Fr:noreply@findme
spot.com
((1/1)) Tom's
doing OK.
Latitude: 39.0721
Longitude: -
104.7616
Dec 30,8:32pm

The email message is a bit more user friendly, but still a bit
cryptic. At least it includes a hyperlink to a google map. This is
one from a drive I took today:

from
to
date Dec 30, 2007 1:31 PM
subject OK Unit Number: 0-9999999


Tom's doing OK.
Unit Number: 0-7349736
Latitude: 39.0721
Longitude: -104.7616
Nearest Town from unit Location: Unknown
Distance to the nearest town: Unknown
Time in GMT the message was sent: 12/30/2007 20:32:40
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=e...UTF8&z=12&om=1


To improve on this, I created an email filter to process the above
message so it now looks like this as an email or TXT message:

from SPOT Check
to ,
,
date Dec 30, 2007 1:32 PM
subject SPOT OK: 5Z

At 12/30/2007 20:32:40 UTC
39:4.326N 104:45.696W
12 sm @ 211 From Kelly
4 sm @ 172 From Green Roof Strip


The email filter processes a configuration file that looks like this
one I set up for my daily commute to work.
ID=5Z
TZ=MDT


HPT=39:13.358N,104:38.510W,Kelly
WPT=39:02.138N,104:50.629W,Aardvark
WPT=39:14.999N,104:53.449W,Perry Park
WPT=38:56.982N,104:34.365W,Meadow Lake
WPT=39:07.884N,104:46.285W,Green Roof Strip
WPT=38:58.183N,104:49.322W,USAF Academy

The script will accept any number of email addresses and waypoints.
The difference between WPT (WayPoinT) and HPT (HomePoinT) is that I
display distance and bearing from all HPTs, but on WPTs, it only
displays the nearest. So when I do actually go fly, I'll set up a
dozen or so WPTs about 50-100 miles apart, which will provide a decent
position grid for my wife to use. I haven't yet implemented the time
zone, so all times are UTC or ZULU. If it was just for me, I'd hard
code US/Mountain time, but if there's more than just a few subscribers
to my translation service, I'll have to come up with a set of rules.

If the US contest committee allows this, I would likely configure all
the turnpoints so the crew could get a TXT message with a very easy to
interpret position report while I'm flying at a contest.

I will continue to also provide feedback to the folks at SPOT so they
can improve and enhance their website and customer services. But in
the meantime, I think this is a really good start.

If I get more than a handful of responses for the translation service,
I'll also add a way to automate the configurations, so you will be
able to make changes with immediate response instead of waiting for me
to do it.

-Tom