Try updating our Testing Expedition
This tutorial will guide you step by step through the simple procedures to update a ExpeNews tracking page, to keep your family, friends and followers up to date about the progress of your adventures anywhere around the world.
You can also download our Illustrated User manual
There are four ways to update ExpeNews from the field: Voice messages, E–Mail, SMS text messages and Satellite beacons.
This tutorial will show you how to send Voice and E-Mail updates, with real examples updating our Testing expedition
Posting by Voice message
Voice messages updates, allows updating the map with your coordinates and leaving an audio message in the web. You just need a satellite phone or a mobile within coverage.
Step 1. Call
To send a voice dispatch you just have to make a call to 'ExpeNews Voicemail server' dialing any of the following phone numbers:
| USA | +1 786 45 42 385 |
| Chile | +56 2 897 3973 |
| Skype | expenews.voicemail (Skype calling tips) |
Once you have dialed, you have to wait for the answering machine to ask to enter your 'expedition code' and then enter a personal identification code. There is a code for each member of the expedition and a general one to be used when you don't want to identify yourself or is a non-member who is leaving the message.
Every time a expedition member is added to the Team, a new code is generated to allow the new member to self identify when leaving a voice dispatch on ExpeNews voice server.
| Sir Ernest Shackleton's personal identification code: | 01202 |
| Robert Scott´s personal identification code: | 01203 |
| Otto Nordenskjold´s personal identification code: | 01204 |
| Roald Amundsen´s personal identification code: | 01205 |
| Generic identification code : | 01200 |
The answering machine will guide you through three simple steps.
Step 2. Enter your coordinates
Example number 1
Let's say you are in 'Aconcagua Base Camp'
| Latitude | 32° 38' 51" South |
| Longitude | 70° 03' 29" West |
| Altitude | 4390 meters |
First you have to enter the latitude. To identify it is as south, you must first put an * before it (if it was north you enter the number directly), then the coordinates in degrees, minutes and seconds, using 2 digits for each. To finish press #.
Then the whole latitude sequence would be *323851#
Enter the longitude the same way (using a * before west coordinates). The longitude would be: *700329#.
Finally you have to enter the altitude 4390 and press # to finish.
Example number 2
If you were in 'Denali Base Camp'
| Latitude | 62° 58' 04" North |
| Longitude | 151° 10' 14" West |
| Altitude | 2172 meters |
First you have to enter the latitude in degrees, minutes and seconds, using 2 digits for each and then press # to finish.
Then the whole latitude sequence would be 625804 #
Enter the longitude the same way (using a * before west coordinates). The longitude would be: *1511014#.
Finally you have to enter the altitude 2172 and press # to finish.
Once you have entered the coordinates, you have three options. Press '1' to leave a voice message, Press '2' to check the coordinates and Press '3' to re-enter them (if you made a mistake).
IMPORTANT NOTE To enter coordinates using the voice mail you HAVE TO use degrees, minutes and seconds. Also you have to use the WGS84 Datum (standard GPS and Google Earth reference Datum).
Tip GPS units: You have to configure the units of your GPS to show the coordinates in degrees, minutes and seconds, what is usually is written as 'dd mm ss.ss', this type of coordinate is refered to as a 'geographic' coordinate. You also have to check that WGS84 is the chosen datum. An incorrect datum would lead to errors up to several hundred meters.
Step 3. Leave a voice message
Finally record the message after the tone as with normal answering machines and press # once done.
Then, once the message has been recorded you have three options:
1 Send the message to ExpeNews
2 Play back the message
3 Record the message again
If you press 1, wait a few seconds to hear the confirmation that your message has been sent and is on-line.
If you don’t want to wait, once you finish speaking, press #1 and hang-up. A few seconds later, you will see your dispatch online on ExpeNews Testing expedition tracking page. Simultaneously, the update will be notified to all expedition’s subscribers.
Posting by E-Mail
E-Mail updating allows you to update the map, send text and images. You just need a e-mail enabled device with an internet connection. In the field, you need a satellite phone (or a mobile within coverage) and a PDA or Laptop.
To send a dispatch by e-mail you can use your normal e-mail client (Outlook, Eudora, etc...) or any other available on PC's, PDA's, Palm, Windows CE, Windows Mobile, etc. Just send an e-mail to the following address:
NOTE Normal expeditions must write to d@expenews.com or our short e-mail d@xpe.in. All incoming messages will be rejected unless they come from an authorized e-mail address. You can set one or more authorized addresses for your expeditions, in this way you can be sure that nobody will be able to post on your expedition unless you want them to.
The content of the subject field of the email is used as the title for the dispatch. This title will appear above the general text of the dispatch. To send photos just attach them to the e-mail as you usually do, all attached images will be included in your dispatch (only jpg, gif and png image formats are allowed) and the file name will be shown as its caption.
In e-mail messages, you can include your coordinates by writing them anywhere in the message. For latitude and longitude you have to use degrees, minutes and seconds indicating with the sign if they are North (+), South (-), East (+) or West (-). Then your altitude, a colon (':') and the name of the waypoint WITHOUT SPACES.
Example number 1
Let's say you are in 'Aconcagua Base Camp'
| Latitude | 32° 38' 51" South |
| Longitude | 70° 03' 29" West |
| Altitude | 4390 meters |
You have to include the coordinates in your message in this way:
-323851-700329+4390:AconcaguaBaseCamp
Example number 2
If you were in 'Denali Base Camp'
| Latitude | 62° 58' 04" North |
| Longitude | 151° 10' 14" West |
| Altitude | 2172 meters |
You have to include the coordinates in your message in this way:
+625804-1511014+2172:DenaliBaseCamp
After this, write the rest of the messages and attach any image files.
Send it and after 20 to 30 seconds, you will see your dispatch online on ExpeNews Testing expedition tracking page. The update will be notified to all expedition’s subscribers simultaneously.
