(This is an update of an original post about Pocket Tracker, a tracking solution that uses GPS technology to find missing people in rural areas. Thanks to Pocket Tracker co-founder Tony Barrett for taking the time to get back to us with some necessary clarifications, as well as some interesting additional information).

There we were this weekend, pitching an RV in the rugged Wallowa Mountains of eastern Oregon.

These are mountains where outlaws used to flee, and never got found. Sometimes, that still happens. Except, in my part of the world, those outlaws are more likely to be meth dealers rather than cattle rustlers.

Other times, the good people get lost. And that's where Pocket Tracker comes in.

Union County - a mountains-and-sagebrush expanse of some 2,039 square miles - has a search and rescue group that looks for about 50 missing persons a year. It's now testing the Pocket Tracker, a carry-along unit that consists of a GPS and radio transmitter, connected to a HAM radio frequency.

Search teams use the device to map and coordinate their locations, marking areas already searched and which ought to be combed next. Pocket Tracker is set to work on either 144.390 MHz or 144.340 MHz.

Pocket Tracker was co-invented by retired HP engineer Jim Hall, as well as Tony Barrett, a former HP engineer who owns the HiValue Radio company in Boise, Idaho (about 150 miles as the vulture flies from Union County).

Pocket Tracker also contains additional equipment besides the GPS and the radio- a TinyTrak3 GPS encoder. The tracking system used by Union County SAR also works with two county-owned digi-peaters that were donated by an area resident. Union County got a $4,528 grant last year for 10 complete PocketTracker setups.

Now, they are being tested. This is no lab test - unless your "lab" is wide open spaces, don't fence me in, Marlboro Country.

Literally. Barrett told me that unless a horse turns a certain way, a signal can even work from within a saddlebag. "A PocketTracker was tested on a horse during an endurance ride last summer. It was mounted directly behind the rider near the horse's spine and worked well," Barrett says.

Barrett adds that when he skis with the Pocket Tracker and its antenna completely inside his coat pocket it works just fine. He notes that his own favorable experiences are corroborated by numerous positive feedback on the Web.

The next series of tests will take place next month, in the desolate Starkey region of Union County. In addition to assessing device functionality, the role of that test, as well as others, will in part be to specify the best locations for signal repeaters.