Staying Online-Offshore help

codmander · #1 (**permalink**) 11-22-2007

ok you have your basic
1.chartplotter/gps
2.depth/fish finder water temp.
3. radar
4. auto pilot
5.ship to shore
that I'm familar with in boats but since I'm givin up the center consloe fishing boat for the 35 ft sail I.m gonna want to have the internet and stay connected with family and friends along with sailnet.....

Can you advise me on what you guys/gals have on board and how it works??
how far offshore you stay connected and in what type of weather?
how your laptop held up if at all?

sailboy21 · #2 (**permalink**) 11-22-2007

How much money do you have? How much electrical power available?
If you answered LOTS and LOTS then you can have broadband speed almost anywhere in the world. If you answered LESS THAN MY CAT and AS MUCH AS BAGDAD ON A BOMBING NIGHT then you might be happy with a second hand Toughbook and a Sat phone or SSB/Ham for email.
Anything electronic you bring that isn't marinized should be considered disposable. Freak waves,leaking ports, or forgetting to take off salty foul weather gear will destroy a laptop fast.

paulk · #3 (**permalink**) 11-22-2007

for staying connected all the time. I thought part of the idea of sailing was to get away from all the connections, however. If I need a generator to keep my internet running... something's out of whack.

Sailormann · #4 (**permalink**) 11-22-2007

My personal observation...

"It doesn't matter what is happening ashore right now because I am on a sailboat and there is now way on God's Green Earth that I could get there fast enough to influence the outcome."

sailingdog · #5 (**permalink**) 11-23-2007

Codmander-

It really depends on where you're going to be sailing. If you're cruising the United States...get an Air Card or a cellular phone with BlueTooth and a Bluetooth dongle for your laptop. Pay a flat fee...get internet access throughout most of the USA. Speed will vary a bit depending on what carrier and where you're located.

If you're in the Caribbean... use Wifi and get a decent Wifi setup on your boat with a 200 mW PCMCIA card with an external amplified gain antenna.

If you're going to be elsewhere... use an Iridium satellite phone...and pay the per-megabyte data rates...

wind_magic · #6 (**permalink**) 11-23-2007

It is probably time to re-read the famous Internet protocol specification "RFC 1149" with the title, "Standard for the transmission of IP datagrams on avian carriers." I will quote some of the more important parts of this technology straight from the spec.

Quote:

Avian carriers can provide high delay, low throughput, and low altitude service. The connection topology is limited to a single point-to-point path for each carrier, used with standard carriers, but many carriers can be used without significant interference with each other, outside of early spring. This is because of the 3D ether space available to the carriers, in contrast to the 1D ether used by IEEE802.3. The carriers have an intrinsic collision avoidance system, which increases availability. Unlike some network technologies, such as packet radio, communication is not limited to line-of-sight distance. Connection oriented service is available in some cities, usually based upon a central hub topology.

Transmission by avian carriers didn't take off quite as well as, say, ethernet, but it is still an interesting idea. I do not know what companies on the Nasdaq are investing heavily in avian carrier technology, but it might be worth checking into. It's really ideal for sailboats - robust, long distance communications, cheaper than satellite communications, and if you find you are really hungry at sea makes a nice snack.

tdw · #7 (**permalink**) 11-23-2007

Quote:

Originally Posted by wind_magic

It is probably time to re-read the famous Internet protocol specification "RFC 1149" with the title, "Standard for the transmission of IP datagrams on avian carriers." I will quote some of the more important parts of this technology straight from the spec.

Transmission by avian carriers didn't take off quite as well as, say, ethernet, but it is still an interesting idea. I do not know what companies on the Nasdaq are investing heavily in avian carrier technology, but it might be worth checking into. It's really ideal for sailboats - robust, long distance communications, cheaper than satellite communications, and if you find you are really hungry at sea makes a nice snack.

Brilliant concept. Why on earth has no one thought of it before ?

Envionmental questions do arise however. Questions of fallout and waste, fuel storage ?

Nonetheless....coo coo to yoo.

SimonV · #8 (**permalink**) 11-23-2007

I can see the benifit of this system but, would it be a case of only outgoing data. I can not see how I would recieve, given my changing position.
Could sea gulls interfer with any reception?

sailingdog · #9 (**permalink**) 11-23-2007

The problem with using the Avian carrier specification is that all traffic is essentially treated as UDP rather than having any connection based TCP type traffic. This leads to a need for excessive packet re-transmission, and increased associated higher costs due to having to maintain a larger stock of avian packet carriers. On a small sailboat, this is clearly not an ideal solution.

codmander · #10 (**permalink**) 11-23-2007

I like the sound of the blue tooth cell phone bit since theres things like iphone from apple no need to be connected 24 7 but an email sent n recieved now and again can destrain a flat calm surely..