Satellite phones

[Sandman]

Anyone have one or looked into them? I've starting searching and was going to get views from people who have them.

[tnguy]

Handy if you want to talk to the guy running your offshore accounts in the Caymans, possibly. Ham radio would probably be more useful for most of us.

[Sandman]

Ha! The reason would be mainly when I go on trips with no cell service or in an emergency.

[2.ooohhh]

Have one, (Iridium) useful if your calling somewhere that the other party has a reliable phone line but you do not. (ie- you are out in the ocean calling someone on land or in parts of south america) I bought mine for a month long unguided trip into BWCA. Not really useful in the US post many types disaster situations due to the regular phone infrastructure likely being down or overloaded. 

 

As TNguy said a HAM radio would be FAR more useful to most people in most situations.

[tnguy]

The monthly fees are actually a lot more reasonable than I thought. I was expecting 100 and up, not 50ish.

 

Hmm. That's with 15 activation also. Hmm. No, I think I'm misunderstanding. The one I'm staring at is 50 for sim & activation and 34.50/monthP

 

Probably still not so big for emergencies only but if you know you're going to be somewhere without service and you absolutely want to be reachable, not too bad...

Edited January 15, 2014 by tnguy

[2.ooohhh]

Ha! The reason would be mainly when I go on trips with no cell service or in an emergency.

Depends on where the trips are to and for how long. I've carried the phone in remote areas of Bolivia, Argentina, Brazil, Canada, and at sea in the Atlantic. Travelling almost anywhere inside the US I typically just carry a HAM radio or/and my cell phone.

[Jonnin]

I would have it only if no other tech fits the bill for the job you need done.   Price & quality of the connections make them a last resort tool for when you really need to talk all over the planet on a regular basis, IE travel the world for your job, etc.   If this is for survival, I would say do not go there.   It sounds like a maybe for your situation, you could always do it for one contract's time worth to see if you like it.

Edited January 15, 2014 by Jonnin

[TMF]

Ha! The reason would be mainly when I go on trips with no cell service or in an emergency.

You talking out of the country or just up in the mountains?

[Sandman]

Mountains. Been doing a lot of back country fishing and camping. My wife is pregnant and doesn't want me out of reach.

[tnguy]

I'm guessing you need to make sure you have a clear view of the satellite. That can be less than optimal in mountains and forests.

[TMF]

Mountains. Been doing a lot of back country fishing and camping. My wife is pregnant and doesn't want me out of reach.

Gotcha. That's a real tough one, since my experience with Iridium in the states has been spotty. Up in the mountains, especially in those cuts where the streams are, you have steep terrain on both sides, so you're limited by the percentage of the sky you can see. Where we went fishing that one time I'd estimate you only had 20% of the sky. If your iridium can't see the satellite it can't communicate. I'd research reviews for people in that part of the country and their experience in terrain. I don't think a sat phone is going to be very reliable for the type of areas you're talking about unless you are at a higher elevation, but even then if you're on one side of a mountain and the satellite is on the other, you ain't gonna be able to talk. They work great in the desert though.

I remember there being a website where you can see the current location of iridium satellites and their coverage area, and from what I recall there was usually only one over the eastern US at any given time. Maybe they have more now, I dunno. I do know its way more reliable on the other side of the planet.

Congrats on the baby, by the way. I miss our kids being babies. Good times.

[TMF]

I'm guessing you need to make sure you have a clear view of the satellite. That can be less than optimal in mountains and forests.

Signal should be fine through vegetation. We're not talking a triple canopy jungle. It's the rocks that are the problem.

[tnguy]

Signal should be fine through vegetation. We're not talking a triple canopy jungle. It's the rocks that are the problem.

 

Possibly. Slightly different tech but I had satellite internet once upon a time and that absolutely had to have a clear view of the sky. I read stories of people having trees grow up and cause problems or having to cut trees down before they could get it.

 

Then again, that was a geostationary sat and iridium isn't so it's a little easier to get a clear line of site to it. A lot of the issue is you're putting out a tiny amount of power that has to be detected by a tiny slice of the sky.

[TMF]

Possibly. Slightly different tech but I had satellite internet once upon a time and that absolutely had to have a clear view of the sky. I read stories of people having trees grow up and cause problems or having to cut trees down before they could get it.
 
Then again, that was a geostationary sat and iridium isn't so it's a little easier to get a clear line of site to it. A lot of the issue is you're putting out a tiny amount of power that has to be detected by a tiny slice of the sky.

And you must consider the amount of data being transmitted. I don't doubt that vegetation has some effect on signal, but I've had no issues communicating through veg. Just terrain, buildings, vehicles.... things made of rock, metal and cement. I always find it funny when I'm watching some sooper spy movie and dude is on a windowless cargo aircraft talking on a sat phone. Not happening.

[tnguy]

And you must consider the amount of data being transmitted. I don't doubt that vegetation has some effect on signal, but I've had no issues communicating through veg. Just terrain, buildings, vehicles.... things made of rock, metal and cement. I always find it funny when I'm watching some sooper spy movie and dude is on a windowless cargo aircraft talking on a sat phone. Not happening.

 

Good point.

[2.ooohhh]

Also you have to take into account battery life, if you leave a sat phone on waiting for an incoming call it will use a good portion of the battery daily just staying connected to the satellites. Mine lasts around a day and a half in standby at most without recharging. So you'll want to consider the additional weight of a larger solar charger should you want to keep it on in the back country for any amount of time. I keep mine turned off unless I need to call out which makes the battery last essentially as long as I need but from the outside I'm really no more reachable than I would be without the phone.

[173rdABN]

I had an iridium in Afghanistan my first deployment. Was flawless and I loved it. Just hated how expensive minutes were.

Also to add, battery life was 3-4 days sitting around without me using it. Edited January 15, 2014 by 173rdABN

[TMF]

Also you have to take into account battery life, if you leave a sat phone on waiting for an incoming call it will use a good portion of the battery daily just staying connected to the satellites. Mine lasts around a day and a half in standby at most without recharging. So you'll want to consider the additional weight of a larger solar charger should you want to keep it on in the back country for any amount of time. I keep mine turned off unless I need to call out which makes the battery last essentially as long as I need but from the outside I'm really no more reachable than I would be without the phone.

Yeah, that's another good point. You'd need to use commo windows or the damn thing will just die.

[TMF]

I had an iridium in Afghanistan my first deployment. Was flawless and I loved it. Just hated how expensive minutes were.
Also to add, battery life was 3-4 days sitting around without me using it.

Works a hell of a lot better over there than here. Better coverage.

[tnguy]

Yeah, that's another good point. You'd need to use commo windows or the damn thing will just die.

 

If he's in a river, he could set up a small paddle-powered generator.

[2.ooohhh]

I had an iridium in Afghanistan my first deployment. Was flawless and I loved it. Just hated how expensive minutes were.

Also to add, battery life was 3-4 days sitting around without me using it.

What was overhead/sky view? Mine lasted around 2 days+ out on the open ocean, but not so much in my wooded back yard testing in the valley I live in.(more realistic to TN backwoods)

[Sandman]

I have one of the fire USB burners. You burn small twigs and it powers a USB device.

[2.ooohhh]

I have one of the fire USB burners. You burn small twigs and it powers a USB device.

Is it the biolite? Neat concept but was quite large/heavy when I demoed one. Could possibly work well in your application though if your not weight sensitive. 

[Dane]

[quote name="Sandman" post="1095703" timestamp="1389821312"]Mountains. Been doing a lot of back country fishing and camping. My wife is pregnant and doesn't want me out of reach.[/quote] Would it be out of line to suggest you stay within cell service for the next nine months? Really only one of the most important events in your life. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

[Sandman]

Yes the biolite. As far as staying close. I'm always close. I wouldn't be unreachable. This while thing stemmed from when I was out fishing one day and my little one broker her arm. I was in service and came right away . Ever since then my wife has been very paranoid about me being unreachable.