How do you use the "help" message on your SPOT?

[OzSwaggie]

Thank you Almost There (love that name!).

I guess our problem is just one of not having a suitable person here in Australia to leave the info. with - everything you said is true, phones work, familiarity with terrain does not matter and all that. Thanks so much for all the insider info.

Taking trips that involve wilderness backpacking (whether here or overseas) is a bit of a balance between doing what we love to do, and trying not to be a problem/worry for others. (We have had one memorable experience where a person in Australia forgot about the time difference ...Australia is a day ahead...)

We do of course have permits and leave an itinerary with the ranger, but I don't know how a ranger would know whether or not we emerged safely when/where we planned. (I'm not suggesting that they should take that responsibility upon themselves, they have enough to do!)

It was a bit reassuring to hear that you feel that pushing SOS would trigger a search regardless of whether or not SPOT was able to verify the authenticity of the message with a third party. So maybe it is worthwhile for us after all ...

Anyway apologies not wanting to hijack this thread about use of the "Help" button so will stop here!

Thanks also for the other thread suggestion Maverick, we'll have a look at that.

[AlmostThere]

We do of course have permits and leave an itinerary with the ranger, but I don't know how a ranger would know whether or not we emerged safely when/where we planned. (I'm not suggesting that they should take that responsibility upon themselves, they have enough to do!)

They don't have to know whether or not you emerged. When family doesn't hear from you, they call, and then the park/NF ranger goes to the parking lot at the trailhead to see if the car is still there (unless of course you were dropped off). If it is, that's where the search starts. If the car is gone - well, my hunch is that the family gets another call to check in to see if the missing party has been in contact yet, and informed that the car is gone.

There's a system in place for all of this - they have lots of practice.

[rlown]

He raises a good point. One which i never understood. We have to check in but we never check out. Until someone reports us missing.