I’ve used the Viewranger App for navigation on my Android phones now for several years, both in UK and aboard. I recently started using the Buddy Beacon facility within the app so that other hams and my XYL can track my progress whenever I am going somewhere, and especially when activating. You can set the Buddy Beacon Tracker to send out your position every 30 seconds to one hour. I usually set mine to beacon every 2 or 3 minutes when I am walking or cycling. The effectiveness is dependent on having a mobile signal. It doesn’t seem to sap the battery very much.
The folks back home or the hams in their shacks can watch my progress on PC using my.viewranger or within the Viewranger app on their phones or tablets. The ham being tracked needs to give you their user name and PIN number so you can track them.
The service is free - you don’t need a subscription or to buy OS map tiles for it to work (although I have).
Wonder if anyone else on here has used the Buddy Beacon or a similar system using the cellular mobile phone network?
A number of England and Wales Mountain Rescue teams use this to track members on the hills. The data is exported in real time through an API into a private Mountain Rescue mapping system. Works well, as long as you have network coverage, which is surprisingly good in most England and Wales upland areas these days. Scottish and Irish teams may be doing something similar, but I am not aware.
Yes we used it to monitor the position of our flood rescue teams. I have used it myself, but my wife keeps forgetting how to use it, so I don’t bother now. I still use ViewRanger though and am very happy with it
I like the Viewranger mapping, but for family members to track me easily, I use “Glympse” (glympse.com). The app sends an email - all the recipient has to do is click on a link to open up the tracking window.
