I was thinking about this. Since SPOT has two buttons (HELP and OK) that let you send a predefined message, in theory it should be possible to use it as a morse code transmitter. For example you could define HELP button as dot and OK button as dash (after all the HELP button on the SPOT looks like dot and OK button is longer in shape).

A person that would receive these messages could decrypt the transmition manually or I belive it would be possible to write some simple program that would take care of everything. The program would process the e-mails/messages, identified HELP messages as dots, OK messages as dashs and then it would translate the morse code.

For this to work effectively the SPOT would have to allow you to send messages in sequence, one shortly after the other. I don´t have SPOT so I don´t know how quick it is as far as sending e-mails/messages. Maybe someone here who has one could test it.

Some common words could be transmitted as aliases (shortcuts) like some people like to do when they write SMS. So it could save some time and effort.

It´s just an idea. I don´t know how well it would work and whether it would be applicable or even useful at all but if you needed urgently transmit a special message via SPOT or just for fun it might be the way.

Won't work

Or you could just walk out your message using the tracking function then when they look at google maps on the computer screen.... or even send a pictogram like Cerne Abbas Giant.

Why wouldn´t it work? (I am not saying you are wrong, I am just curious). Is it just impractical (because of long delay between messages or other issues) or it wouldn´t work at all?

I would imagine something like that could work, if you had someone listening to the messages in that kind of format. But in this case, your receiver is in a satelite, seeking messages in one of two given formats. Making modifiocations as you discussed would be changing the format into something the receiver, both man and machine, was not looking for.

It seems to me as if you would be sending out FM radio waves to be received by an AM receiver. If you could get the signal right so it was received, it's probably only going to sound like static.

The buttons probably send "do it now" type signals to code burned into the chips- they aren't on/off, they are the knocking over the first domino. Never mind that without the proper version of "hi, my name is" at the front of the message, the satelllite will think it is just noise- a packet with the wrong structure isn't a packet, computers are stupid. Too stupid to be fooled by something like this.

And more importantly, why would you want to do this?

The buttons probably send "do it now" type signals to code burned into the chips- they aren't on/off, they are the knocking over the first domino. Never mind that without the proper version of "hi, my name is" at the front of the message, the satelllite will think it is just noise- a packet with the wrong structure isn't a packet, computers are stupid. Too stupid to be fooled by something like this.

And more importantly, why would you want to do this?

I am not sure whether everyone understand what I mean. The concept is very simple.

From what I read SPOT lets you send 2 predefined messages. Say I enter some normal text. For HELP button: "I have some problems. SAR not needed." For OK button: "I am OK."
The person receiving the messages knows that "I have some problems. SAR not needed." = dot and "I am OK." = dash.

Then I start to transmit messages from wilderness. I want to send letter "C" which is _ . _ . in Morse code. I press OK button, then HELP button, then OK button and then HELP button.

When the recipient opens his/her mailbox he will see 4 new e-mails from SPOT device arranged by time of receiving (or creation):

"I am OK."
"I have some problems. SAR not needed."
"I am OK."
"I have some problems. SAR not needed."

The recipient translate it as:
_
.
_
.

which means _ . _ . and letter "C".

So this way he can decrypt whole words/sentences just from two kinds of e-mails. And I believe the decryption could be handled by some software that would process the e-mails and display directly (in this case) the "C" letter for the recipient.

Why would I want to do it? Well, it´s just an idea. I will probably never buy SPOT (PLB seems better to me) and I would rather buy satellite phone if I needed to communicate from the remote places. But for those who use SPOT and in some rare situation need to send some special message it could be useful. Or just for the fun of the "hacking" .

The problem with e-mail order is its not gaurenteed. e-mail queues up in a buffer and typically goes through anti spam and anti virus scanners which may delay processing of individual messages depending on how those process the threads. So that couple happen in this example is the longer of the two messages would take slightly longer to pass though so you culd end up with:
"I am OK."
"I am OK."
"I have some problems. SAR not needed."
"I have some problems. SAR not needed."

Or remember there are redundant and load balanced routes across the internet so some messages could go one route while others go another and the end result could be a completely different order.

The ther question is does the SPOT system have any debouncing. bouncing is inherent in anything electrical, take the kayboard of your computer for example. When you press a key on the keyboard there will be some noise or bounce as the key contacts makes its first connection. The electronics in any switch/button are designed with this in mind so once it sees the keypress it waits a fraction of a second to see if the key is still pressed. Now systems such as this work the same way just with a longer delay. They may wait a minute from the first receipt of the signal to see if its still transmitting, this would cut down the "oops I bumped the button" false alarms. I know if I were designing a system like spot I'd add in a minute or so delay just for that case. So you may need to stretch your dots and dashes out over a long period of time to get a message thorough.

Well stated. Those were my thoughts too, but you put it really well.

Morse code via satellite seems to be an inefficient use of the spectrum. One thing the folks at SPOT could do is add a few additional buttons to enhance the call for Help (not 9-1-1) so you end up with Help "A", "B" or "C". Allow the user to predefine what "A", "B" and "C" means to his/her email list. This would only apply to the "HELP" button.