Pixiq

It’s in the nature of nature photographers to work in out-of-the-way places where there’s no cell phone service. How do you handle an emergency when you’re hiking in the mountains, trekking the desert, or driving some back-country road? What if you’re ill, or you come across an injured person? What if you’re a hundred miles from the nearest outpost?

Exploring the What Ifs

Most people who know me wouldn’t call me reckless; I’ve always been pretty careful for a person who makes a living out of exploring the wilderness and the critters who live in it. But the harsh realities of advancing age, along with some recent incidents, have sharpened my awareness of the need for communication from the field.

Late last year, my wife Kathy and I were headed back from California to our home in Colorado along the most direct route, across Nevada on highway 6. It’s fast and deserted, and there’s no cell service for most of the way. After more than sixty miles without encountering another vehicle, we came upon a horrible one-car accident where the driver had lost control and rolled the vehicle numerous times alongside the highway. Police (but not yet an ambulance) were on the scene. I wondered how we would have gotten help if we’d been the first to arrive, with no cell phone service, no ranch houses anywhere near, no traffic for possibly an hour.

Then we heard from a photographer friend about a harrowing experience in the White Pocket Wilderness. Following a series of miscommunications and mishaps, he was lost for two days without water, food, or shelter from the intense heat. He needed help, and had no way to get it. I began to look seriously for the technology that would solve this problem, short of buying a satellite phone.

Spot-on with the Spot Satellite Messenger

Here’s the answer for outdoor enthusiasts of all kinds, from day-hikers to back-packers to crazy photographers with camera bags as big as SUVs: the Spot Satellite Messenger (www.FindMeSpot.com). This small stand-alone unit retails for $169. A year’s service subscription costs an additional $99.99. The unit gives you four communication options from nearly anywhere on the planet, but it’s not global: southern hemisphere extremes (Antarctica and southern tips of the South American and African continents) do not have satellite coverage.

With the Spot Satellite Messenger, you can send four different pre-programmed messages. The first (Emergency, as in stranded in the middle of the desert) is an SOS signal that goes directly to an Emergency Response Center (GEOS Search and Rescue in Houston, Texas). They know it’s you, they know your precise GPS location, and they set the rescue in motion immediately. They also keep your designated contacts informed. The second communication (Help), sends an e-mail and text message to designated friends or family and notifies them that you need help, but that the situation is not life threatening (think broken-down vehicle on a back road in the mountains). Your contacts are given the exact location, which they can view on a link to Google Earth, and can initiate assistance. The third communication is a simple “Check-In”. It lets those that you have designated know that all is OK and where you are. The fourth option is a custom message that you set up beforehand. In my case, I programmed a message that would be useful when coming across an accident in a remote location: “Have activated SOS for someone else. Am OK. No action is necessary.” That way, your friends and family are spared the worry of being concerned for your safety when the emergency isn’t for you.

Being rescued can be expensive. Sometimes there’s no charge, but you can be held responsible for the cost of the search and rescue, and maybe even a helicopter extraction. The Spot folks offer an insurance plan that covers up to $50,000 beyond your normal insurance, as often as twice in one year. The cost is only $12.95 per year.

Tracking your Trek

A tracking feature is an optional mode on the Spot Satellite Messenger. For $50 a year you can use your Spot to transmit a GPS location every 10 minutes that can be viewed by logging into a special Google map that displays your waypoints. You can even post these to your social network for everyone to see—no more keeping that special photo location a secret! The tracking feature shows my wife Kathy where I am as I wander on back roads. Recently, she could see that I was stopped for a long time when I had a cut tire on an off-road Rockies photo-trip in the middle of nowhere. It wasn’t an emergency, nor did I need help, so the only message was an “I’m OK”. When I got back, I could use the data to pinpoint the best photographic locations I discovered and to search for better ways to access them.

The Spot Satellite Communicator PN-60w

Santa (who knows a lot about pin-point navigation) just brought me a new advanced version of the Spot Communicator that is paired with a DeLorme Earthmate PN-60w GPS hand held unit. The combination gives you a sophisticated hand-held GPS with maps and the Spot Satellite Communicator as well, which lets you type and send 40-character messages along with your location data, via the satellite. Now the message can be “Flat tire, no problem.” Or “Engine dead, send tow truck.” All this comes with a price of $550 and the same $99.99 yearly activation fee. The Communicator also sends the same messages and performs tracking functions like the basic Spot. I’m planning some photo expeditions into some pretty remote areas of Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah this next year, and this is the unit I’ll be carrying for my peace of mind, as well as Kathy’s.

Go to www.FindMeSpot.com to check out a real lifesaving investment.