Antennas.

[Mr. Sandman]

Thanks for the feedback ( pun intended) guys...I am going to replace the antenna and wiring with fresh gear and was thinking getting a backup as well. My radios works OK now but I do not get 20 miles...probably about 1/2 that.

Yea, a sat phone is on my list. I've used them offshore on other peoples boats and they are wonderful. They are well worth the $ esp in an emergency.


I just wondered about these cell phone antennas and how they worked. I have no plans to get one unless they really did wonders.

[piemma]

Check this out. Google Sat phone store


Globalstar GSP1600 Satellite Phone
$399.00
SKU:
GSP-1600
Brand:
Globalstar

[MakoMike]

Originally Posted by piemma

Check this out. Google Sat phone store


Globalstar GSP1600 Satellite Phone
$399.00
SKU:
GSP-1600
Brand:
Globalstar

Globalstar has had huge problems with the reliability of their service. Most guys wouldn't touch them and use irridium instead.

[fish4striper]

I've heard guys that tried the cell phone antennas say they sucked and were a waste of money.

I have a new SH Quest radio and 8 ft Shakespeare galaxy antenna on my small cc and get great range. This galaxys outperformed digital antennas in a powerboat test. Also used a gold solderless connector by Shakespeare recommended by Dale on another board. He stated just changing this connector made a marginal performance to very good performance.

Off of block island I hear guys in the canyons sometimes, granted I can't transmit that far. Sounds like you just need new equipment and good connections. They have a fairly cheap device to check your equipment.

Panbo: The Marine Electronics Weblog: Shakespeare's ART-3, check your transmitting power!



For disaster time, losing electrical power, I have a floatable handheld with gps to call for help.

[Mr. Sandman]

I have been looking at these (sat phones) for a couple years now....
Globalstar has been struggling with putting up new satellites for years...Most people I know who bought them gave up, threw them in the trash and went to iridium. If they ever get it fixed, they will have to give the phones away to re-attract the customer who is fed-up with them.

However, there is a newer alternative to consider...inmarsat . They use a different technology and from what I hear it sounds like it actually performs better than iridium in many cases. iridium works well but does drop calls from time to time.(but I like the design of irridum better) They use a lot of satellites, like 60, in a low orbit. inmarsat uses 3 sat's up very high that orbit around the equator. So this phone will not work very well if you are at the poles but in the lower lat's it works well as the sat's appear stationary because they are up so high (like 22000 mi.) They have very few dropped calls.

I will be getting either the inmarsat or the iridium this spring. I have not decided. I really only want it for the boat and so the plan is to get a charging cradle for it and get a plan that allows me to use it seasonally if I can. I think I will only use it a couple hundred minutes/year. The one nice thing about the inmarsat is that it has amazing battery life. I think they both do texting and can receive email/web stuff if you hook a computer to it but I only want to use it to make a few calls/texts when I am out of cell phone range or in an emergency.

I have used globalstar and the new iridium offshore. The iridium is way better but I would like to see an inmarsat before I buy anything. Inmarsat has very attractive pricing.

[piemma]

Actually I had an iridium phone when I was doing some classified work with the Service but we were using military sats for the comm and that's a whole different story. The iridium phones are the balls but they are expensive.

[riff_raff]

Originally Posted by Mr. Sandman

Thanks for the feedback ( pun intended) guys...I am going to replace the antenna and wiring with fresh gear and was thinking getting a backup as well. My radios works OK now but I do not get 20 miles...probably about 1/2 that.

Yea, a sat phone is on my list. I've used them offshore on other peoples boats and they are wonderful. They are well worth the $ esp in an emergency.


I just wondered about these cell phone antennas and how they worked. I have no plans to get one unless they really did wonders.

Yep agree, Sat Phone will work and is the most practical for occasional or emergency use.

Two radio's is the way to go. Had to put out a mayday a couple years ago with a boat filled to the gunnels with water from a rouge wave, picked up radio #1 and it was shot due to getting blasted with water, radio #2 worked and I got in contact with the coast guard.

Also VHF radios are the most likely electronic item to fail on a boat, between antenna's and radios they aren't all that reliable so having a backup is good, with two you can tell when one of them isn't up to snuff.

Jon

[Mr. Sandman]

Originally Posted by riff_raff

Had to put out a mayday a couple years ago with a boat filled to the gunnels with water from a rouge wave, picked up radio #1 and it was shot due to getting blasted with water, radio #2 worked and I got in contact with the coast guard.

Jon

Yikes! That sounds like a nightmare...not that you want to re-live it but I (and others I would guess) would like to hear the details on this. where,when what kind of boat did she sink etc
Feel free to go off topic....