 Sorry, couldn't find the thread where this was discussed, but the BBC's reporting that a walker's been rescued after pressing the button on his SPOT locator beacon.
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 This reminds me to ask, is there a txt no. for 999 to send a GPS / Map Ref. to?
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 When I first saw the title of this thread Kate, for a minute I thought another Jack Russell had fallen down a rift on the mountain whilst chasing rabbits! 
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| Edited: 12/05/08 16:00 |
And Charles, in answer to your question, no there isn't, but why would you need to. 1/ you can pass it verbally on the 999 call and/or 2/ We (the emergency services) can triangulate the position of your mobile phone on our mapping systems whilst you are on the call. If you have a signal, we have your position, - instantly!
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| Edited: 12/05/08 16:03 |
 A Dane crossing Scotland coast to coast - quite likely to be a TGO Challenger? But at least it's not Weird Darren!! 
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 or maybe he's a Viking coming to check the place out before the conquest....? 
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Just noticed he lives in Sunderland.... surprised he bothered to press the button at all!!
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Tony(?) I guess you are right.
ps you can only triangulate a phones position if it can bee seen by two or more cell site, and in some backcountry I guess 1 cell tower is hard enough for the phone to find
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To get true dimentional fix, it actually requires three or more cellmast sites to lock onto the signal. Two will only give a point to point distance between the two. Having said that, the majority of mobile calls we receive are picked up by more than one site, even in rural areas. We actually get a "probability figure" with the triangulation, which can range between 75% accurate for rural up to 100% for urban. Practically though, since we have been using the system, I have not known the "probability figure" go below 85%, which is more than adequate for our purposes!
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 Anybody else get the feeling that these SPOT gizmos are going to be a pain in the a**e for MRT this summer? At least with a mobile-phone call out, you can speak to the 'casualty' to see if they really are in trouble.
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Shoud have bollocked him for moving after phoning then Wayne!
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 they were unable to phone in, they were 'pinging' it passively. Allegedly they can trace your phone location as long as its switched on as it tries to make sure it has signal.
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| Edited: 12/05/08 18:56 |
 I think I read somewhere that if you dial 112, it's an emergency number which any mobile phone system can pick up on, even if it aint your own network. Is that right? sounds like a good idea to me.
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No Mick, 112 is the international number equivalent to the UK 999 which is unique. It's use in the UK is soley intended to make it easier for foreigners to summon emergency help without necessarily knowing about the 999 service. 911 works too for American visitors.
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TGO challenge walker activates SPOT. Personally I think they are a good thing, and at £150 a pop they are not going to be as widespread as mobile phones.
I got my mobile smartphone on contract, but if you were to buy it outright, it would cost £450.
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They aren't phones though. Plus i think it's £90 a year on top?
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No but if you are suggesting that the cost of £150 is going to be prohibitive and prevent non serious gadget man from getting one then think again!
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Back to my first post.
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