With Summer here now, maybe some of you haven’t used your SPOT unit for awhile. Here’s a friendly reminder to make sure that you are using it correctly to get the best results.

• Turn your SPOT unit on and go to where there is a clear view of the sky.

• With a quick push, press the OK button. To ensure delivery, leave your unit on for at least 20 minutes. These 20 minutes allows the unit to sync up with the satellite systems and get a GPS fix. In fact, the SPOT unit sends your messages multiple times but contacts receive only the first one that arrives. This is a redundancy so that you have increased success that all of your messages are sent. We encourage you to just leave your unit on in most usage situations. The battery life is outstanding, so you won’t have to worry about much battery drain.

• It’s always great to log in and create a test profile so that you can test how the system works. To learn more about creating multiple message profiles, check out this week’s tech talk column.