A few months ago, I watched most of an at least 7-season series on Prime called "I shouldn't be alive". Recreations of non-fictional events, usually shows about events in the 2000's.

Nearly every episode involved someone stuck in the outdoors, somewhere, in what would be life-threatening conditions.

What was fascinating was that the events in virtually every episode would have been trivially sorted out in a few hours if the victim(s) had an EPIRB, ELT, PLB, or Satphone.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergency_position-indicating_radiobeacon?wprov=sfla1

Amazingly, none of these episodes contained ads for any of these devices, even though the episodes were made during the 2000's. Who missed that opportunity?

On Nov 7, 2021 12:41 PM, Steven Schear <schear.steve@gmail.com> wrote:

In order to provide an emergency satellite locating service (e.g., like the EPRB system routinely used for ships at sea) there would need to be monitored frequencies and capabilities both via the satellites and the mobiles. The intelligence and capabilities already built into some mobiles (e.g., GPS and dynamically modifiable WiFi chip firmware) might make possible practical ground to satellite signaling. The Nexus phones had these features as did (does) some Samsung models. With up to 60 MHz of possible transmission bandwidth and the use of spread spectrum encoding, a mobile phone could use SS process gain to achieve an output well in excess of a >1000W baseband transmitter. If satellites were able monitor either existing WiFi bands (or adjacent frequencies newly authorized for radio location) and the WiFi hardware / firmware modified to transmit a unique emergency beacon I think this service might be practical.
On Sat, Nov 6, 2021, 11:23 PM jim bell <jdb10987@yahoo.com> wrote:
https://www.kgw.com/article/news/local/missing-oregon-mom-found-dead/283-3913515e-2105-404c-a579-f12e966f3c3a
Jim Bell's comment:

Might satellite 911 have saved them?

A few weeks ago, someone criticized me for talking about a possible future cellphone/smartphone service, akin to '911', with satellite service around the world.

Ostensibly, the criticism was somehow based on security and/or privacy. Somehow, somebody would 'have to' sign up for this service. I don't think so.

I then pointed out that for many years, cellphones without actual cell phone service contracts have been programmed so they are always capable of '911' service, assuming that they can receive a cell phone signal. I see that as an excellent idea.

The problem is that many areas in America, especially in the western US, there is no cell service to be had, especially in mountainous and forested areas.

If such a satellite service begins to be available, even if it is only capable of text transmissions, a similar always-available service can be provided.