On May 1, 11:59 am, Happy Trails wrote:
On Wed, 30 Apr 2008 18:52:31 -0400, Pat Russell

wrote:
all the trouble of determining an accurate fix in three dimensions,

Is there somewhere in the specifications where it actually says this,
or are you just making an assumption here?

As far as I can tell, it can fulfill all it claims to by determining
lat & lon only. Did you mistakenly think you were buying an accurate
altimeter or something?

The GPS chipset used calculates location in 3D, like which GPS chipset
would'nt. The SPOT device does not send that over the Globalstar link
for reasons noted earlier (message length, device intended for
hikers). The specifications on GPS chipsets used in SPOT and the
Global star message formats are all public information. Lots of
information at http://www.axonn.com.

As for being ashamed, wrong! It would be great to have altitude data,
but Globalstar should be proud of their little SPOT child for leaving
home and doing well the first year away.

If people really want a 3D capable unit, designed for aviation etc.,
they are available on the Iridium network. Your imagination is only
limited by your check book.

Darryl