6 month trip - HF radio or Sat phone ???

[Hof]

Hi all,

Basically at the start of next year me and the misses are taking off around beautiful OZ for about 6 months.. Would you think an HF radio or a Satellite phone would be best for:

Safety as the primary concern
Keeping in touch with family, emergency circumstances I guess

Any pro's/con's anyone can add for me,

Leaning toward a sat phone as it seems cheaper and I can call whenever I want + 000 calls etc

Thanks,

Paul

[zagan]

Sat seems to be the only thing that will work in the middle of nowhere.

[Jaffa]

Sat seems to be the only thing that will work in the middle of nowhere.

.........except for HF

Id go for a Sat Phone if it is for emergency use, they are easy to use and reasonably cheap to run these days. Sat phones also make it much easier for friends or family to contact you.

The bonus with a HF is you can talk to other people that may be "near" you, can get weather reports and other general information, HF radios are more expensive to buy, but they hold their value very well. A lot of people don't realise you can make a phone call through a HF radio.

Brendan

[-Scott-]

My brother uses sat phones for work, and they are NOT reliable. It can take him hours to place a call, and have it drop out almost immediately.

A properly installed and set up HF radio should give you a better chance of reaching somebody when it's needed - if you know how to use it.

With a satphone you can ONLY place telephone calls. HF radio can allow telephone calls, plus more.

[Jaffa]

My brother uses sat phones for work, and they are NOT reliable. It can take him hours to place a call, and have it drop out almost immediately.

That depends on the satellite phone system your using, Iridium is the best hands down they have something like 64 satellites around the globe, others like inmarsat (sp) only have 3 spaced evenly around the globe along the equator, the further towards the poles you are the less chance of getting a decent signal.

I believe the only area (apart from maybe price) that Inmarsat is better than Iridium in is for data communications ie, internet.

HF radios can at times work very badly or even not at all, they are affected by a huge amount of things that are completely out of your control, the time of day has an effect on your range and therefor which frequency to use, sun spots can severly screw up HF radio coms, lightning and other radio interference can make the "right" frequency unusable.

Id sugest speaking to an expert about your exact needs and go from there

Brendan

(I hope that all make sense.... and is right, Ive been drinking )

[Deleted User]

I have done a fair bit of homework on this subject of late.
I have spoken to people who own communications shops, State Emergency Service Communication people, Ham Radio people, HF owners and Sat Phone owners.

And its 99.9% for the HF set up !
I was told not to get a Sat Phone "yet" because they are too unreliable.

The HF set up has so many uses - Royal Flying Doctor, other 4wders, wheather, etc, etc.

[davec]

i was doing outback tours a couple of years back with a mob in wa and nt,we used globalstar and it was good everywhere we went,not perfect all the time,bit fiddly like a gps if your under cover etc,but as far as not receiving calls thats not right,just like a normal phone,we'd leave it on the camp table at night in the open,calls received no probs,we'd send texts most of the time because your paying around $2 a minute,im back over their next year and i'll have a sat phone throuigh globalstar for sure,its good,they switch too gsm or cdma if its still around when your in range.

cheers dave

[GQ Toy]

As a SES corodinator in our area we use both. and HF appears to be more reliable ATM. Last call out we had three sat phones out with the land/air crew - and the HF, we got through - scratchy- on HF, nothing on sat phone. Historically in the same area sat phones have been poor though for some reason. Im am going travelling for two years in about 4 weeks and will be going the HF option.

[Goatse.AJ]

Get yourself a Ham license...plenty of time to get a Novice license between now and then. Frequency agility = reliability for emergencies.

You can modify the rig for VKS 737, RFDS, etc and place phone calls through it.

[Hof]

There is def no concensus on this topic, plenty of for's and againsts..

Im leaning toward the sat phone.. Cheaper, can make calls easily, send text messages to family + depending on company coverage should be Aus wide (some disagreement here)

Thanks,

Paul

[longlux]

We use sat phones on the locomotives they are very unreliable even when stationary.

[Jaffa]

We use sat phones on the locomotives they are very unreliable even when stationary.

What system are you using longlux?

[longlux]

I think it is Globalstar I will have a look tonight

[j-top paj]

get a HF radio with a 2kw linear
i wouldnt bother with a sat phone... too expensive and too unreliable

[turps]

When I get around to it. Or a sat phone comes out Sat / Next G.
I will get a sat phone for my long trips. After seeing the pain in the arse family have had with there HF's and there still not sorted. Wheres I hired a sat phone a couple of years ago. and it worked well. Transmission quality wasn't the greatest. But no worse than HF radio.
Also when I get mine I plan on just getting a cheap plan. And rent it out to Club members to use to help cover costs. As a Sat phone is easily moved around as they come in a nice little bag. About the size of a toiletry bag, with all the chrargers in it.
Another thing with sat phones. The cost to call them is a std mobile phone rate. So when we where away I would just prank call who I wanted to talk to and got them to phone me back.

[Doggy]

As a SES corodinator in our area we use both. and HF appears to be more reliable ATM. Last call out we had three sat phones out with the land/air crew - and the HF, we got through - scratchy- on HF, nothing on sat phone. Historically in the same area sat phones have been poor though for some reason. Im am going travelling for two years in about 4 weeks and will be going the HF option.

Ditto on using both with SES. One callout we had, our mobile phones had reception in the middle of extremely thick rainforest and the sat phone had diddly squat. The majority of them are just too unreliable IMO

[longlux]

We use sat phones on the locomotives they are very unreliable even when stationary.

What system are you using longlux?

Yep Globalstar Telit phones