K-9 Unit Meet and Greet

[gypsyRR]

xx

[DarthRider]

Hope you find Mr. Spot, Kristi.
Did that cop have the dog sniff your bike or was it a demo ?
Where are those trails ? They sure look like the Sam Houston & Angelins National Forests where we used to trail ride and race Hare Scrambles...

[gypsyRR]

xx

[JCsman]

It's an interesting process, isn't it? Our oldest is a State Trooper with a
K-9. He's used our car for a test, hiding a small amount of narcotics in the vehicle. It was fascinating to watch him work the vehicle and pinpoint the contraband. No clawing, he just froze and sat staring at the spot until I opened the trunk, then he pointed out the hiding place to a greater degree.

Great dog too, but he only takes commands in Dutch!

[Ed K]

"I think her nose got a little too close to the cylinder heads and exhaust. She prefers to work cars rather than motorcycles." :)

Glad the bike and you left without incident... sorry about SPOT losing his way.

Where did you have SPOT on the bike? Was it secured to the outside of a bag or bike uncovered... or inside a bag?

I have been trying mine out the last couple of days, and have noticed it works inside of my seat bag... but did not work some of close-caynon roads I ride.

[gypsyRR]

xx

[AZBMWRIDER]

Glad you bought a SPOT, Ed.

I had SPOT clipped on a tail pack. Not secure enough for trails and it is my fault he is gone. I did not think he would work inside a bag unless there was a clear view of the sky.

On my R1150R, I have a tank bag with a clear pocket and put SPOT in there, but on the Suz DR 650, I only have a pack on the tail rack. I didn't know he could still pick up signals while inside a pack.

Did you get the tracking service too, or just the basic service? Some of the times when I was in California, it would take him 20 minutes to get a signal sent rather than 10.

Next time - if I get SPOT back, or if I get a new one, I will keep SPOT more secure and I will also put a name/phone number and reward offer if found on him. I had grown dependent on him (and attached!)


This past Sunday I placed SPOT in the back of my tail bag… It wasn’t facing up; it was facing towards the rear of my GS.

During my entire ride I was "SPOTcasting" every ten minutes…

I logged onto https://login.findmespot.com/faces/welcome.jsp after my ride and saw that it worked just fine..

Next time you ride, place it in your tank or tail bag… It will work…
(Not on the bottom of the bag)

Also, you need to write your name and phone number on the back of SPOT.
(Black Magic Marker)

[fganger]

"Mandolin" - we know about mandolins, they are the worst carriers of illegal drugs. They have that big hole in it. Who knows what one can place in that space?

You may have gotten by this time, but we are watching. :pot:

[gypsyRR]

xx

[Ed K]

Glad you bought a SPOT, Ed.

Did you get the tracking service too, or just the basic service? Some of the times when I was in California, it would take him 20 minutes to get a signal sent rather than 10.

Hey folks... just catching up with this thread...

Yup Kristi, I also got the tracking service too.

Took a little digging, but for folks interested to know more technically about how SPOT works, here's a thumbnail:
1) SPOT interacts with both GPS and Commercial satellites
2) GPS satellites are used, of course, to locate position
3) Commercial satellites are used to receive messages from SPOT after location is determined, since GPS cannot perform this function
4) The commercial satellites are sometimes harder to connect to than the GPS satellites, but the commercial system SPOT connects to operates 8 satellites, in staggered two-hour orbits in five planes... providing good coverage.
5) If SPOT misses a transmission in track mode... it will keep trying.

I've put SPOT in my seat back, facing up, in the upper pouch. This bag is almost a mesh fabric, so that might help with transmissions. When riding my local caynon road referred to above, though, I missed a few messages... probably because of the caynons, not the bag.

In additon to the cool features that Kristi described, like the Google mapping feature (roads, satellite pic, hybrid)... it can also send to cell phones, and multiple emails.

Did you notice that they just upgraded the service and now and we can select local time to be included in notifications?

Also, there is a bug in the program... if your primary and second contact numbers are the same as emergency numbers, it will reject them. This can be worked around by adding "1-" in front of the number to make them different.

[supermotoC]

Industrial strength (streyenf) velcro would be your friend with Spot II.

http://www.velcro.com/CONSUMER/products_is.htm

No amount of vibration could loosen this from your bike. Attaching it to Spot II may not be pretty, but you want function rather than fashion.