Details on the New SPOT 2

Hi,

I have just updated my web site with details on the new SPOT 2. It has some
nice improvements over the original SPOT. It will be available on Oct.
20th, 2009.
http://www.cumulus-soaring.com/spot.htm

Best Regards,

Paul Remde
Cumulus Soaring, Inc.

About a year ago, there were some folks on this group that claimed to
be working with Spot on a version to transmit altitude. Can anyone
update on that matter? Spot 2 doesn't seem to resolve two basic
weaknesses: that 10 minutes is too long and we need altitude reporting.

On Aug 5, 6:33*am, Steve Koerner wrote:
Spot 2 doesn't seem to resolve two basicweaknesses:
that 10 minutes is too long and we need altitude reporting.

Can't help with the altitude, but you get 5 minute points out of
'Help' for an hour. Help messages are delivered immediately. Tracking
points are cached by Spot on their server, so updates can take a few
minutes extra on top of the ten minute gap.

--
Philip Plane

No help Philip. The help button is reserved for special meaning.

Consider how much more interesting Spot would be if we had say 1
minute reports in track mode that included altitude. And its not just
a matter of being interesting -- it would also be much more useful for
safety as a reliable reverse ELT.

I was going to tackle the matter of communicating our special needs
with Spot until someone here posted that they were doing it. That was
quite awhile ago -- I'm wondering what the results were.

Steve,

I was communicating with the SPOT folk earlier this year. I had
exchanged e-mails with someone in their R&D department, in which I
begged them to add altitude to the message structure. I gave them all
the reasons why this was a great idea, at minimal cost (GPS altitude
already being part of the NMEA sentence, etc), so I'm very, very
disappointed to see they went the cheapest possible route and left the
message content alone.

I'm now hoping a competitor will pick up this fumbled ball and run
with it. (NK .... ?)

-ted/2NO

I'm trying to get a direct answer from my contacts at SPOT but I was
sorry they didn't do it for this model of the SPOT (I think they call
it version 1b internally). They have a model 2 on the books though
and I'm pretty sure they intend to include altitude with that model.
If I get confirmation of this I'll post again.

Later!
-Mark
On Aug 5, 9:23*am, Tuno wrote:
Steve,

I was communicating with the SPOT folk earlier this year. I had
exchanged e-mails with someone in their R&D department, in which I
begged them to add altitude to the message structure. I gave them all
the reasons why this was a great idea, at minimal cost (GPS altitude
already being part of the NMEA sentence, etc), so I'm very, very
disappointed to see they went the cheapest possible route and left the
message content alone.

I'm now hoping a competitor will pick up this fumbled ball and run
with it. (NK .... ?)

-ted/2NO

On Aug 6, 2:35*am, Steve Koerner wrote:
No help Philip. *The help button is reserved for special meaning.

The Help and OK (and the new message button on the Spot2) are
just buttons that send messages. The 'special' meaning is whatever
you want it to be. So repurposing the Help in a one hour tracking
function loses no specialness.

Because Spot intended the OK button to mean OK and the Help button to
mean Help
doesn't actually restrict them to those uses.

You can easily reverse those functions and use the Help to mean you're
flying and
provide tracking, and OK to mean you've landed out and want a
retrieve.

--
Philip Plane

“When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, "it
means just what I choose it to mean - neither more nor less.”

On Aug 5, 2:04*pm, Philip wrote:
On Aug 6, 2:35*am, Steve Koerner wrote:

No help Philip. *The help button is reserved for special meaning.

The Help and OK (and the new message button on the Spot2) are
just buttons that send messages. The 'special' meaning is whatever
you want it to be. So repurposing the Help in a one hour tracking
function loses no specialness.

Because Spot intended the OK button to mean OK and the Help button to
mean Help
doesn't actually restrict them to those uses.

You can easily reverse those functions and use the Help to mean you're
flying and
provide tracking, and OK to mean you've landed out and want a
retrieve.

--
Philip Plane

“When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, "it
means just what I choose it to mean - neither more nor less.”

Yes, I suppose I could install a coo-coo clock in the glider so that
when the bird comes out, its beak will push the help button once every
hour. And then I will hope that all who view my public spot page will
not be confused by the concept that help means OK and OK means help.