satalite phones

the vicar · Member

satalite phones

Mike Harding · Guru

Sorry, I know little of sat phones but I wanted to suggest you may care to take a look at HF radio instead? Both have their positives and negatives.

blaze · Guru

PLB would be my first buy, then HF radio and then sat Phone. in that order and as mike said each has there positives. If going remote I think all three are must haves.
cheers
blaze

Ger08 · Senior Member

Im intrigued by the suggestions of HF radios - can some outline benefits and costs of a HF radio?

yobarr · Guru

the vicar wrote:
could anybody recommend a good satalite phone to buy.thanks in advance

Inmarsat.Cheers

Knight · Senior Member

Ger08 wrote:
Im intrigued by the suggestions of HF radios - can some outline benefits and costs of a HF radio?

To start with a live operator who can assist you by finding you what you need, with satellite phone you need to know who to call in an emergency situation.

Peter_n_Margaret · Guru

We have had a Globalstar sat phone for many years, but the satelite coverage is now quite poor so it is not to be recommended these days.
What to buy depends on the use you want to put it to.
For emergency use only, buy a PLB first followed by a sat phone, in my view.
We had one for emergency use (simply dial 000 - a free call) but also for keeping in touch with the family. They could ring us free of charge and we could just chat. Incoming calls were free and it was a standard mobile phone number. Can't do that with an HF.
An HF also requires significantly more skill to operate and in the event of an accident the first thing to get broken will be the antennae and then it is useless. Ancient technology. Good for enthusiasts.
Cheers,
Peter

-- Edited by Peter_n_Margaret on Tuesday 13th of August 2019 09:02:55 AM

Ge · Senior Member

Knight wrote:
Ger08 wrote:
Im intrigued by the suggestions of HF radios - can some outline benefits and costs of a HF radio?
To start with a live operator who can assist you by finding you what you need, with satellite phone you need to know who to call in an emergency situation.

With a sat phone would you not just call 000 like a normal ph. Myself i would get a PLB once of cost no dialing just hit the button and help is on the way.

A sat phone if you need to talk to family or friends in a milder non life emergency, HF costly set up old tech.

Sorry if i have repeated the opinion of the post above we both posted at the same time only Pete beat me to the enter button.

-- Edited by Ge on Tuesday 13th of August 2019 09:12:34 AM

PeterInSa · Guru

We have the Inmarasat ( Isatphone) Sat Phone, no problems in making/ receiving calls, but to me the rates are higher than other Sat phones. I would seriously look at the Thuraya Sat Phone and suggest you talk to the people on the site below who can also give good advice. ( We did not buy our phone from them.

.....www.satphonesales.com.au/

Peter

HandyWalter · Senior Member

With the new HF radios you can call people like a mobile phone. I dont have one of those but I do have a HF radio and a Pivotel Thuraya Sat phone. The Sat phone covers all the world except for Americas and the cost of incoming calls is like someone calling a AUS mobile, even if you are in Japan or Italy!. I use it when we are overseas rather than taking sim cards etc. The HF radio is great in AUS outback. If you call them each day at the scheduled times they can monitor your progress and if something happens often someone else is close by. If not they know who to call to get you help. A sat phone is good if you want to call family an friends, but as I said with selcall (I think thats how you spell it) the new HF units accept mobile calls, so a sat phone if in Aus is not needed. Also in regards to PLB's they have a use by date. HF radio and sat phones have registration fees. I have traveled remotely for over 40 years and my preference is HF, then Sat phone, UHF, then NOTHING. If I had one of the newer HF units, I would then question if I needed my sat phone at all.

gerlin · Member

Hi we use a sat sleeve with Optus
Never had a problem and dirt cheap.
Biggest bonus with sat phone is in the event of your own vehicle accede this you can grab and get to a safe place cant do that with installed HF if vehicle upside down.

Just my opinion also like the emergency button on the sat sleeve I

Might just depend on what you need

Regards Gerry

Peter_n_Margaret · Guru

gerlin wrote:
Biggest bonus with sat phone is in the event of your own vehicle accident this you can grab and get to a safe place cant do that with installed HF if vehicle upside down.

Yep. That is an important difference. The sat phone (and the PLB) is portable, the HF is certainly not.

In a single vehicle accident it is more than likely that the HF will be broken and unusable.

Cheers,

Peter

BAZZA44 · Senior Member

We have had an Inmarsat for a number of years now and when we bought it the fee for 6 months was $120.

In June this year it cost $160 for 3 months. It is expensive, but it is only an emergency phone for us and we have never had to use it thank goodness. It is just there in case, gives piece of mind.

You can get 1 month, 3 months, 6 months and 12 months blocks, so we only pay when going away. Depends what you want one for. As been mentioned a sat sleeve may be the way to go these days.

Barry

PeterInSa · Guru

We have a Mobile Phone Aerial on top of the TV Aerial in the Caravan with a smart phone/Blue Tick with an external aerial connection socket. This set up gives very good coverage for phone and data when in the bush. Our Landcruiser has a ditto 1m Mobile phone aerial on the roof.

Last Trip we took the Inmarsat Phone but did not purchase time since all Sat Providers I understand must allow Access to 000. Am not sure if this happens year after year or only up to say 2 years after your last time purchase. The reason for this change is that in the last 2 previous years we purchased time but did not use any of it, just used our Telstra connection..

Peter

Dougwe · Chief one feather

What flavour Smartphone with a aerial socket do you have Peter ?

Dhutime · Senior Member

We have a Globestar 1600 . The charging cradle and aerial are wired into our caravan enabling us to communicate hands free anywhere inside the caravan.All incoming calls are charged to the callers at their normal mobile rates and all outgoing calls around $1.00 per minute.
We have had this sat phone for several years however only just last week had it connected for our trip into the desert next week.
For us its for outgoing calls Emergency only and the ability for our kids to contact us when out of Telstra mobile range .

-- Edited by Dhutime on Tuesday 13th of August 2019 09:22:00 PM

Ge · Senior Member

Hi Handywaiter

"With the new HF radios you can call people like a mobile phone."

Do you still need a ham license with those or join one of the broader ham radio clubs like the VKS or something.
Sorry if i seem confused about HF/Ham radio it's because i am.
Regards Ge

-- Edited by Ge on Tuesday 13th of August 2019 08:37:42 PM

HandyWalter · Senior Member

Ge wrote:
Hi Handywaiter
"With the new HF radios you can call people like a mobile phone."

Do you still need a ham license with those or join one of the broader ham radio clubs like the VKS or something.
Sorry if i seem confused about HF/Ham radio it's because i am.
Regards Ge
You need to join VKS. It is a HF license, Think its about $150 per year. I am based in Melbourne and on some occasions I have picked up people on the Nullabor Plain. AFAIK there are few restrictions on which channels you use. VKS tend to use a small number of them with their scheduled times, (AM and PM) each day. Some people here are all about worste case senarios. Ie damage car then no HF etc. Its like people taking a truck load of spares incase their car breaks down in the middle of nowhere. We can sometimes overthink, over pack, overweigh ourselves and our vehicles with all the things to take "just in case". In any case if you own a Toyota you need not take a thing. Arn't they unbreakable?

-- Edited by Ge on Tuesday 13th of August 2019 08:37:42 PM

PeterInSa · Guru

Doug, I have a Telstra/ZTE T81 Smartphone, had to get it from the UK, new but to me the design is not as good as my 5 year old Samsung.

Friend this year purchased a Telstra/ZTE T82
....www.ztemobiles.com.au/T82.htm

My strategy is to use the T81 around the city/country towns etc with an Aldi Sim Card ( works on a cut down Telstra network, eg 5 bars at Nullabor Station but cannot make a call) for $15 a month no limit on calls or SMS's with Rollover 3Gb of data a month. Use the rollover data on the Smartphone as a hotspot for my Tablet and SWMBO's Fruit Machine when camping/touring.

If No Aldi signal in the bush use my low cost/tek Telstra T100 phone connected to either aerial on a 6 months Telstra prepaid or a Telstra Modem on 6 month prepaid.

Peter

Dhutime · Senior Member

I wonder what the Vicor is thinking.

Ger08 · Senior Member

PeterInSa wrote:
We have a Mobile Phone Aerial on top of the TV Aerial in the Caravan with a smart phone/Blue Tick with an external aerial connection socket. This set up gives very good coverage for phone and data when in the bush. Our Landcruiser has a ditto 1m Mobile phone aerial on the roof.

Last Trip we took the Inmarsat Phone but did not purchase time since all Sat Providers I understand must allow Access to 000. Am not sure if this happens year after year or only up to say 2 years after your last time purchase. The reason for this change is that in the last 2 previous years we purchased time but did not use any of it, just used our Telstra connection..

Peter

Im currently looking mobile antennas and would appreciate any feedback you can provide. Ive heard that they are great and then someone else has told me that they are useless.

Mike Harding · Guru

Ger08: here is a piece I wrote regarding comms a couple of years ago:

https://thegreynomads.activeboard.com/t63372293/communications-and-where-the-hell-are-we/

Oka374 · Veteran Member

Having had a HF of various types for over 40 years and a sat phone for the last 10 I've just recently had the Iridium satphone disconnected due to Telstra's increasing the monthly fee by 25%.
In my experience the few times we've had to use either of them in recent years the HF has saved the day as trying to speak to someone in a call centre doesn't work on a satphone especially during inclement weather with poor signal and after several frustrating hours with calls back and forth not getting anywhere being able to call up VKS on the HF, relay the problem to the operator and then let them chase it all up, get a call back after an hour or so to say it is all sorted and the tilt tray is on its way is gold!
As others have said a satphone is fine if you have the required phone numbers for assistance or better still a person at home to sort the problem out like VKS does for the HF but ringing around to find someone who can help with vehicle problems gets very expensive very quickly.
Emergency life saving assistance is a different scenario and a satphone call to 000 will get assistance quickly as does the same call on the HF.
In the event of a broken antenna on a vehicle after an accident the radio will work fine with a length of wire over a tree or even chairs and sticks if necessary.

Dougwe · Chief one feather

PeterInSa wrote:
Doug, I have a Telstra/ZTE T81 Smartphone, had to get it from the UK, new but to me the design is not as good as my 5 year old Samsung.

Friend this year purchased a Telstra/ZTE T82
....www.ztemobiles.com.au/T82.htm

My strategy is to use the T81 around the city/country towns etc with an Aldi Sim Card ( works on a cut down Telstra network, eg 5 bars at Nullabor Station but cannot make a call) for $15 a month no limit on calls or SMS's with Rollover 3Gb of data a month. Use the rollover data on the Smartphone as a hotspot for my Tablet and SWMBO's Fruit Machine when camping/touring.

If No Aldi signal in the bush use my low cost/tek Telstra T100 phone connected to either aerial on a 6 months Telstra prepaid or a Telstra Modem on 6 month prepaid.

Peter

Thanks for the prompt reply Peter. I might look into the T81 maybe and see if my Telstra sim will work in it. Being a Telstra phone I see no reason why not. Time will tell. A quick chat with Telstra will tell the story. I have found out that that work place in Office might have them.

Thanks again.

Keep Safe on the roads andout there.

Ger08 · Senior Member

This topic has prompted me to to have a look at HF and I see a few problems with HF. These range from complexity, (licence, using the unit, join a club), installation, etc. Overall HF looks to me to be a communications solution from several decades ago, probably great if your an enthusiast but not really practical now.

Knight · Senior Member

Without pushing or promoting HF Radio communications for remote and not so remote areas, police vehicles and many others are equipped with HF Radio, even Broken Hill Police for example. The Army uses them but also have Satellite Phone.

www.hfradio.com.au/catalogue/Barrett%20_%204050D%20HF%20Radio%20Outback_Traveler_Pack_Brochure.pdf

Ge · Senior Member

After reading all the above posts it seems fair to to be safe so to speak you should have all three. To quote Handywaiter "it's like people taking a truck load of spares in case their car breaks down in the middle of nowhere. We can sometimes overthink, over pack, overweigh ourselves and our vehicles with all the things to take "just in case". In any case if you own a Toyota you need not take a thing. Arn't they unbreakable?"

I don't intend to break down in the middle of nowhere, only on the edge of it, that's the stricked instructions givern to me.
The only other problem is my Navara is busy rescuing a Toyota (joke). smile

Regards Ge.

-- Edited by Ge on Wednesday 14th of August 2019 09:46:06 AM

PeterInSa · Guru

Ger08 Re Mobil Antennas

Would definitely recommend them, its the difference between having communication or none. However height is a significant part of the comms link when remote bush ie on top of the Winegard TV aerial on the Caravan or above the roof of the Cruiser.

Our Antennas are similar to the item below, come in 2 types, 1 You can screw off the aerial from the spring base, in case it breaks due to hitting a tree branch and 2 complete unit. break it and you replace, along with the cabling in the vehicle.

.....electricbug.com.au/product/cdq7195-4g-lte-cellular-mobile-antenna/

Peter

Knight · Senior Member

Windscreen (glass mounted) antennas for mobile network work very well, for example ...

electricbug.com.au/product/x-glass-cellular-multiband-824-960mhz-1710-2170mhz/

Also available for UHF radio.

-- Edited by Knight on Wednesday 14th of August 2019 04:23:56 PM

HandyWalter · Senior Member

If you are remote (and I mean remote) you wll NOT get any mobile signal or coverage, be it Telstra, Optus Alidi or whatever. Thats why I use my HF radio. It cost nothing to talk to others on the same channel, and as I said you can log your trip with the Sched Operator morning and night. You would be surprised how many people have a HF radio and use them in teh remote outback.