Ewen McPhee Posted January 17, 2009 Posted January 17, 2009 I am posting out of interest and to ask if anyone has any experience of the Spotme SPOT International Landing Page I have just purchased one and we used if on my NAVEX this morning. It seems to have a lot going for it. I could send a message to my wife (or whomever) by Email and SMS telling her we were OK and leaving. The Spotme then broadcast my location every 20 minues while flying, and I could text her to let her know we were back (I know I am on a short leash ). The instructor and I could then log into the website and look at our track on Google Earth. It has an emergency button that notifies SAR as well, using globalstar satellites, but I assume it isn't using the frequencies used by the EPIRB. Seems the Bee's Knee's for $200 and USD150 a year.
Guest Brett Campany Posted January 17, 2009 Posted January 17, 2009 Doesn't seem to bad. I've seen people talk about these but it's American based, hence the "911" button. I'm not to keen on the cost of the item and the yearly fee of $170 AUD plus there's other costs for other uses. You could spend $400 on a 406 EPIRB and that can be used anywhere in the world and there's no other costs what so ever.
Ewen McPhee Posted January 17, 2009 Author Posted January 17, 2009 I think you have to have an EPIRB anyway - someone could clarify that for me. My interest was piqued when my son had a failure of his Nav equipment in a Rental and followed a wandering gyro well of course; a while ago now. He landed at an available airfield in a small country town and phoned us to ask us where he might be . While he has a lot more airtime now, at least I could tell him to push a button next time. There could be some utility for Training schools to track their solo nav students and their wet hires. I agree that it isn't cheap, but I have gained the impression that nothing in Aviation is anyway. I think of it as a half tank of fuel in the Cessna.
Guest Brett Campany Posted January 17, 2009 Posted January 17, 2009 At the moment you don't "have" to have an EPIRB, I reckon it's highly recommended though for cross country's. Have you bought the SPOT Messenger yet? If not, have a look at other live tracking software on the net. My dad uses some system to track his trucks up and down the NSW coast which he can watch live online.
Ewen McPhee Posted January 17, 2009 Author Posted January 17, 2009 At the moment you don't "have" to have an EPIRB, I reckon it's highly recommended though for cross country's. Ah OK thanks. Our Cessna has one hardwired in so I assumed they were standard requirement. Still waiting on the local LAME to put a 406 version in it though. I bought the Spotme, seemed a good idea and seems to work. I have had a look around but most others seem to need either a GPRS connection for data logging or to be built into the vehicle. The cheapest was $390 for a built in device. Cheers :thumb_up:
Tomo Posted January 17, 2009 Posted January 17, 2009 My dad uses some system to track his trucks up and down the NSW coast which he can watch live online. My uncle has a lot to do with that...:thumb_up:
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