US, Retrieve Cell service getting worse, Analog service disappearing.

On Dec 14, 9:46 am, JS wrote:
Have ordered the SPOT Tracker to see if it works. Press a button and
a text message is sent to your crew with lat and lon. Anyone on RAS
try this thing yet? Seen some reviews, it appears to do what it
claims. Caveat: it cannot be wired to external power or antenna.

Got one in early Nov and so far only made a single flight with it, and
made a few tests while driving and walking around. Works pretty much
as advertised.

Requires two lithium AA batteries (about $4.00 to replace), but
lifetime claims on batteries are pretty good. With live tracking,
they claim something like 14 (24 hour) days, if I read the docs
correctly. So that's a lot more than my typical soaring season of
around 150+ hours.

I think the live tracking option ($150.00/yr on top of the initial
$150.00 purchase price) is a "must have" extension to flying with an
ELT. Carry the SPOT in your shirt pocket and just before takeoff, arm
the live tracking. So now your friends can see your position every 10
minutes or so for the next 24 hours by visiting their website (still
under construction, currently one must use the owner's login to get to
it) to see a history of position reports on a Google map. While
airborne, I'm guessing there's a 99% or better chance that all
position reports will be successfully transmitted within a reasonable
time frame. If something bad happens to me, and I'm unable to press
the 911 button, unable to activate my PLB / ELT and the ELT fails to
trigger, then my track will at least get the search party to within 10
minutes of my last known location.

-Tom