SPOT Telemetry

All the features, a fraction of the price

SPOT Receiver

SPOT is a Simple, Portable, Open Telemetry receiver. It has many of the capabilities of commercial devices, but in an affordable, readily-available unit that makes wildlife tracking more accessible.

SPOT refers to the receiver and accessories, configure the receiver settings to your liking, program channels into memory, and operate your receiver in the field.

Throughout the site we refer to the physical unit as a receiver, and the person operating it as an operator. The person who programs the receiver may be the operator or an administrator / support person. The firmware (low level software) that runs on the receiver is named SPOT, and the companion application used to program SPOT is called SPOT Tools.

Begin by taking a look at the Quick Start Guides:

SPOT Quick Start SPOT Tools Quick Start
Get Your Radio
Program It
Track
Fine Tune

Putting SPOT to Work

Overview

The SPOT ecosystem consists of a number of components:

  • The physical receiver
  • The software that runs on the physical receiver, called firmware. Our firmware is simply called SPOT.
  • The software that runs on your computer which allows you to program your receiver. Our programming app is called SPOT Tools.

In all likelihood, your organization or program has databases or spreadsheets with lists of specific animals, tag numbers and frequencies, grouping information, and more. This information can be useful in programming SPOT-based receivers.

A typical workflow is:

  • You enter information about your telemetry tags into SPOT Tools.
    • You can also create Lists that allow you to group tags.
    • Alternatively, your organization may provide a file with this information already organized for you.
  • You write all of this information to your receiver using a USB cable.
  • You take the receiver into the field for operation, where you can further adjust settings using the receiver menus and controls.

Those are the broad strokes, and you can learn more with the quick start guides and manuals for SPOT and SPOT Tools.

Important Notice

Liability Disclaimer

SPOT firmware and SPOT Tools are provided as-is, without any guarantee that they will be error-free, uninterrupted, or suitable for every use case, device revision, operating system, or field condition.

By using this software, you accept responsibility for testing and verifying your receiver, programming data, and operating setup before relying on it in the field. We are not responsible for data loss, missed detections, incorrect programming, unexpected device behavior, or any direct or indirect damage resulting from the use of SPOT firmware or SPOT Tools.

Firmware installation, updates, and device programming always involve some level of risk. We are not responsible if a receiver becomes unusable, unstable, or inoperable during or after flashing, updating, configuration changes, or other use of the software or related tools.