Matthew et al: InReach is a good device.
I owned the original SPOT from prior to their creation of the "shared
page" and then had a SPOT2.
Delorme introduced InReach a couple of years ago. A friend still uses
the original (cube-shaped) one. I switched to InReach when my SPOT
contract ended at New Year's, started flying with it at Keepit in February.
The InReach SE works very well, tracks more often and more reliably
than SPOT. Like APRS, it tracks
Latitude/Longitude/Elevation/Speed/Direction. Have only tested the
duplex messaging. You can = connect a cell phone by bluetooth and
dictate messages to send by satellite. InReach uses a better satellite
network than SPOT. The batteries last for several days of flying and are
recharged by USB.
It is slightly more expensive to subscribe than SPOT, but for those
who only want to use it a few months a year they offer a subscription
for that. There's a newer device than SE if you'd like "navigate to"
function.
Don't remember the deal I received from DeLorme, but there was a $50
rebate check and some sort of discount on tracking for a period.
Currently billing me $1 a month which raises a red flag at the credit
card company.
My parachute rigger made a hard point for the SPOT on the left
shoulder of the Mini-Softie harness that puts the tracker in a good
position and will not interfere with parachute deployment. He recently
built an airworthy pouch for the DeLorme SE. The original SPOT fit in a
modified ELT pouch, SPOT2 came with a decent pouch.
In Australia the cell phone network might be a viable alternative,
but in southwestern US you're booted off the network at altitude, then
the phone goes into search mode and runs the battery down. Seems as more
people find uses for it, the mobile data network is getting saturated.
Jim
On 5/28/2015 2:29 AM, Matthew Scutter wrote:
Since we're going down this tangent, there's a new kid on the sat
tracking block - Delorme's InReach.
Offers higher update frequencies than SPOT's, *two* way messaging
(this is the killer feature), and I believe they also send altitude
information, unlike the SPOT's.
Roughly twice the cost though.
I think this one is especially cool, includes a solar panel -
http://www.inreachdelorme.com/product-info/inreachse_extreme_bundle.php
I haven't used one myself but I have heard very good things from
pilots overseas.
Do check of the coverage maps for both SPOT and InReach, they're not
actually global (ask the pilots in Namibia...)
On Thu, May 28, 2015 at 7:07 PM, Mark Newton <new...@atdot.dotat.org
<mailto:new...@atdot.dotat.org>> wrote:
On 28 May 2015, at 4:25 pm, Mike Borgelt
<mborg...@borgeltinstruments.com
<mailto:mborg...@borgeltinstruments.com>> wrote:
>
> It has been pointed out to me that all we really need is the
cellphone network.
> Implement flight tracking for everyone using the web via the
cellphone 3 or 4G and receive the information on tracked aircraft
via the same method. Essentially unlimited range and 15 second
updates are plenty at longer ranges.
> AMSA are about to implement the tracking via AvPlan so you can
let them know you'll be doing this. If you don't show up it will
help the search.
That’s essentially what Spot Trackers are: Hockey-pucks that know
how to send Iridium satphone SMSs, so they can work anywhere,
including where terrestrial cellphones aren’t.
- mark
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