ssb and Sat phone

I decided to go with an SSB and a Sat phone.

The SSB is installed and tested. I have communicated with others as far away as California, and had a nice long conversation with a friend in Maine from my harbor in South Dartmouth.

The Sat phone is a Globalstar Qualcomm 1600; I have an unlimited use plan, but in fact the use is limited by the availability of the satelite constellation. I would guess that the Satellites are available about 20% of the time.

With the sat phone, we should be able to reach our loved ones ashore via voice and email.

GSC 100 Magellan

I made an offer today on a Magellan gsc100. It is old technology, but it is essentially a satellite blackberry the size of a brick and with transmission delays measured in 10 of minutes to hours. It also has VERY limited use covered in the service agreement, like 2000 characters/month.

But it will give us a way to send and receive emergency emails. it also serves as a backup for getting text weather products from NOAA.

reminder to self: activate by contacting Mark Paepcke [mpaepcke@tcdecisions.com]

Starting Point for Offshore Comms

Communications: Does anyone have a satphone?
I bought a new iCom M700 single side band capable of ship to shore
communications from thousands of miles out, useful for calling the Coast
Guard if we should need help, or to update them if we think we are at
risk. It will also receive weather forecasts while at sea. It will not
support email, and there are not marine operators to connect us with
telephones ashore. I may buy the equivalent of a satellite blackberry
with limited bandwidth and delays measuring in tens of minutes.

Offshore Comms

I plan on having only the barest communications with our land-bound friends while at sea.

Essentially, I am looking for ways to ask for assistance ore rescue, ways to tell them that we are OK and where we are, and ways for them to reach us in an emergency and for us to reply.