"Larry" wrote

Is this what they are?!
http://www.batterybank.net/digital/master/aalith.html


Yup, that's them.

I just realized that the SPOT probably doesn't have a GPS in it but works
like the cell phone GPS. All it does in tracking mode is wake up ever 10
minutes and transmit a short series of numbers to the satellite. One is the
unit identifier and the other is the raw GPS data received. This little
burst probably takes a millisecond. The rest of the time, it's just
sleeping unless someone pushes one of the buttons. All the position
processing is done on the big computer back in Texas. Everything except the
unit ID, is input into the website by the user so does not need to be
transmitted.

--
Roger Long