How to use Backcountry Signal

Start here

Four things, once, before you lose signal.

1. Save the number as a contact. You cannot look it up once you are off-grid, and an unknown number is easy to miss in a notification.
2. Send a test text. Text TEST and you should get a reply straight back. It is free and it proves the whole path works.
3. Learn how your phone sends a text without service. On a recent iPhone that is satellite messaging; it needs a clear view of the sky.
4. Ask a real question before you go. The first one is the one that teaches you what the answers look like.

What to ask

Plain words. No special format, no keywords to memorise.

It is built for weather, wildfire, avalanche, water, navigation and backcountry first aid — but it will answer an ordinary question too.

• What's the weather at Maroon Bells this weekend?
• Any wildfires near the Lost Coast Trail right now?
• What's the avalanche danger in Rocky Mountain National Park?
• Is there water on this trail?
• Can I have a campfire here?
• My friend is shivering and confused — what do I do?

Commands

All free. None of them use one of your requests.

Case does not matter, and a command only counts when it is the whole message — "is the bridge broken" is a question, not a command. Anything that is not on this list is treated as a question.

Forgot the list while you are out there? Text COMMANDS.

What to expect

Short, direct, and built to be read once by someone who is cold.

A weather answer always opens with the exact place and the elevation it forecast for — a summit and the town below it are different weather, and the number is only true if you know which one you got.

Longer answers arrive as separate texts, each labelled (1/2). Over satellite they can arrive out of order — the labels are how you put them back together.

• Usually under a minute, sometimes a few minutes over satellite.
• Most answers are one text. Short is the goal, not a limitation — characters cost you airtime and battery.
• No links, ever. A link is useless with no data, so answers are written to stand on their own.
• It will say when it is unsure, and give you the safest practical advice anyway rather than refusing.
• Split a question across two texts and it still counts as one. If you send a follow-up a few seconds later, it gets folded into the same question.

Tips for texting over satellite

Satellite messaging is slower and stranger than normal texting. These are the habits that make it work.

• Face the open sky. Follow your phone's on-screen pointer and stay still while it sends. Trees, canyon walls and a pack over your shoulder all block it.
• Ask one question per text. Two unrelated questions in one message get one answer, split across the middle of both.
• Keep it short. Your question has to go up too, and a long one takes longer to send.
• Wait before resending. A minute of silence usually means the answer is still in transit, not that it failed. Asking again costs another request and another satellite pass.
• Expect out-of-order arrival. Read the (1/2) labels, not the order the bubbles appear in.
• Ask before you are in trouble. Check the forecast from camp, not from the ridge in the wind.

How it works, briefly

Enough to know what you are reading and where it came from.

Your text arrives, the service works out what you are asking and where, and it looks up real data before answering — official US government forecasts for weather, official avalanche centre forecasts for avalanche danger, and a live web look-up for things like wildfires, road and trail closures and permit rules. That is the difference between an answer and a guess: the numbers in your reply were fetched a few seconds ago, not remembered from training data.

The answer is then written for the channel you are on — short, plain keyboard characters, no links, no formatting, sized to fit in as few texts as possible. That last part matters more than it sounds: one unusual character can halve how much of an answer fits into a single message.

It remembers the last little while, so "how about tomorrow" knows what you were asking about. It uses that only to work out what a new message refers to — it should not bring up your earlier trip unprompted. Text RESET to clear it, and it clears itself after a few hours of quiet.

If you correct it, it listens. Tell it something was a test, or is fine now, or that you would rather it stopped mentioning something, and it drops it — except for a real hazard you have not resolved, which it will keep raising on purpose.

Requests, and what uses one

One request = one question you send. The answer is included, however many texts it takes.

• Uses a request: a real question.
• Free: every command in the table above, plus verification codes and any notice we send you.
• Not charged: an answer that never reached you. If your carrier destroys it, the request goes back automatically.

Text STATUS any time to hear how many you have left and when your pass ends. Passes are one-time — nothing subscribes and nothing renews. See pricing for what each one includes.

If something looks wrong

Text DIAG (or ERRORS). It is free, and it tells you what has actually been happening on your line in the last day.

It can tell you that answers were sent but your carrier refused to deliver them, that you are out of requests, that your pass ended, or that something on our side is down — which is the difference between "rephrase and try again" and "wait, it is not you".

Still stuck? Email support@backcountrysignal.com when you are back in range.

Safety