[AT] Satellite Tracking was Warning and apology.

[charlie hill]

Steve we have enhanced 911 in my county and I don't believe that will work 
with any broadband UNLESS it's the DSL broadband that the phone company 
provides.

You are right about calling 911with the cell phone but lots of us live in 
areas that don't have seamless cell phone coverage.  The Spot device sends a 
signal to a satelitte just like an EPIRB.  There was a story many years ago 
when the EPIRBs first came on the market about a guy in road rally race in 
Africa who went off the side of a hill into some heavy brush.  He was 
severly injured and where he was located he would  probably never have been 
found.  He had an EPIRB on the race truck.  It went off automatically.  I 
don't remember the exact sequence but it was something like this.  A Russian 
satelitte picked up the signal.  This was in the days of the cold war so the 
Russians contacted Germany.  The Germans passed the message along through 
several different countries until the guy was finally pinpointed by a and 
pulled out by a rescue chopper.  The chopper knew precisely where he was 
because of the locator beacon.

Charlie
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Steve W." <falcon at telenet.net>
To: "Antique tractor email discussion group" <at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
Sent: Saturday, April 05, 2008 6:07 PM
Subject: Re: [AT] Satellite Tracking was Warning and apology.


> Indiana Robinson wrote:
>> Hi Charlie:
>>
>> Actually I think such devices are a great idea... as long as they have
>> an off switch...
>> :-)
>> One could solve a bit of concern I have had. I am seriously considering
>> dropping our two land lines and replacing it with the broadband service
>> my neighbor has (I forget which one right now) that he is really happy
>> with. Diana and I both carry prepay cell phones all of the time and the
>> broad band would allow long visiting phone calls with internet phone
>> service which would limit the need for many cell minutes. Our cells are
>> not used for visiting calls, just basic contact use. One concern was not
>> having a phone in the house in case we were both gone when a couple of
>> our grandsons get off of the school bus but I decided that I could
>> activate a third prepay phone I already have and have a specific spot
>> where it would always be sitting and charged. Our prepays cost us less
>> than $10 a month each. My other concern is the problem of not having the
>> 911 locater of the land line. They can only get within about a mile with
>> the cell phones.
>> We can pay for our three cell phones and the broadband and still be
>> paying substantially less than we now pay for the 2 line basic phone
>> service and the snail speed dial up ISP service and our 2 cells. It
>> would almost be like free broadband.
>> :-)
>> If I was saving that much money I could then afford a unit like you
>> mentioned. I personally knew of about 4 fatally injured farmers locally
>> that might have been saved by such a unit as well as a couple of heart
>> attack and stroke victims. Of course none of them even had cell phones.
>> I still find myself up on a roof now and then and when I cut wood at
>> our woods in the next county east I have yet to see a cell phone show
>> service available in that immediate area. They barely get TV there
>> except satellite.
>>
>>
>
> Most of the broadband systems have a way to set up a 911 location based
> on your account information. BUT make very sure it works.
>
> Also on the cell phones. Most of the newer units are available with a
> GPS location sensor in them that gets the location error down to less
> than 100 yards. Now if you REALLY want to make it simpler contact the
> 911 dispatch center in your area and ask them what the alternate number
> is for emergency calls. Then program that in your cell. That way instead
> of getting your service providers 911 system you can deal with the local
> people. That alone can cut down a LOT of response time.
>
> -- 
> Steve Williams
> Firefighter,EMT
> VanHornesville Vol. Fire Dept
> _______________________________________________
> AT mailing list
> http://www.antique-tractor.com/mailman/listinfo/at