[Dave_E]

Hi blue water cruiser types,

Just think-ahead planning here. What handheld SAT phone is good/best for offshore? Just want to be able to send positions reports and e-mail.

I don't have a SSB and with SAT COM's here now, do I need one? Do you have both? Why or why not?

Dave

 

[Minnewaska]

Consider a DeLorme InReach, unless you want to make a phone call.

 

[SVAuspicious]

Just think-ahead planning here. What handheld SAT phone is good/best for offshore? Just want to be able to send positions reports and e-mail.

I don't have a SSB and with SAT COM's here now, do I need one? Do you have both? Why or why not?

It's hard to beat the Iridium 9555.

A handheld sat phone comes with risk. You'll find that operation below decks is flaky, and even under a bimini or enclosure can be problematic if you have solar panels. You'll end up in the cockpit with your phone out from under shielding and your laptop perched on your knees. Many cruisers end up doubling their expense by buying an external antenna and a car kit; the unlucky ones replace the first phone and/or their laptop due to water damage.

Sat phones are not part of GMDSS, never having passed the criteria for life-safety equipment. SSB is part of GMDSS.

If you really mean long-distance bluewater cruising you'll miss out on a lot without SSB. Nets, coordination, weather, safety, .... It goes on and on.

The benefits of sat phones, properly installed with an external antenna and car kit are two-fold: if you have business needs or dependents ashore who must have immediate direct-dial all the time (e-mail won't work, and can't wait for the end of a passage) and if you really think long range voice communications (v. EPIRB and VHF) is appropriate in a life raft (which it probably isn't).

Where are you, where do you plan to cruise, and when?

 

[MarkofSeaLife]

You can take a sat phone into a liferaft or when you go ashore touring. You can't with an SSB.

I am not a believer of SSB nets while on passage as I believe they foster a false sense of dread of the ocean. Its much better not to have it and instead enjoy your passage. I am certainly not into their price.

 

[SVAuspicious]

You can take a sat phone into a liferaft or when you go ashore touring. You can't with an SSB.

Both true. If you have an EPIRB and a handheld VHF (both of which you should have ANYWAY in a liferaft, what real utility does a sat phone have? Perhaps there is some morale benefit but how long will the batteries last? The EPIRB is more important to get help to you and a VHF for local coordination with SAR resources.

I am not a believer of SSB nets while on passage as I believe they foster a false sense of dread of the ocean. Its much better not to have it and instead enjoy your passage. I am certainly not into their price.

We all have our own perspective but on this one Mark I think you don't represent the experience of most cruisers. Personally I don't understand how the nets (MMSN, Pacific Seafarers, Cross Atlantic, Waterway, Cruiseheimers, etc) promote dread. Perhaps you are thinking of rally nets? Even there I see less dread and more herd instinct.

 

[Dave_E]

Where are you, where do you plan to cruise, and when?

Cruising around Puget Sound (US and Canadian Waters) now. Would like to go offshore (coastal) to San Fran and San Dego, and the dream is to Hawaii. (Big mention of the word "dream"). I'm 58 and not getting any younger. I have 4-6 years till retirement.

Dave

 

[hellosailor]

Well, Dave, if you get a Fisher-Price satphone, everyone around you will be re-assured and calm down when they see you using it, and there are no pesky subscription airtime fees to worry about. (G)

Other more expensive satphones stand a pretty good chance, assuming you are in their coverage range and following instructions (like, letting it see the sky) the only problem is that even if you call the marvelous guys at the USCG, who know how to patch a phone call anywhere in the world without dropping it, you still have to be within range of some rescue asset. Get 500 miles offshore, and there's a short list of when and how they can reach out to you. (The C130 guys and Rebel Heart really were pushing things to a quiet new limit.)

On the other hand, SSB can contact all the unseen folks who might just be over the horizon, twenty miles away from you. And it contacts anyone who is out there, without going down a calling tree, assuming they have it turned on.

Pretty much like buying a Ford F150 or a Ferrari. One can haul plywood, the other gets free valet parking.

 

[SVAuspicious]

Cruising around Puget Sound (US and Canadian Waters) now. Would like to go offshore (coastal) to San Fran and San Dego, and the dream is to Hawaii. (Big mention of the word "dream"). I'm 58 and not getting any younger. I have 4-6 years till retirement.

My suggestion would be to stick with VHF and cellular in Puget Sound. Get a shortwave receiver and JVCOMM32 for weather fax from Pt Reyes. You can also listen in on SSB nets. That should hold you on your way down the coast. As you get South and accumulate experience with cruising over longer distances you can decide whether Hawai'i is on the horizon (ha!) or not. You'll be smarter, you'll understand the issues better, and can decide whether in fact installing an SSB or getting a sat phone makes more sense for you. I predict the answer will be SSB but regardless, it will be your answer taken based on your needs and your plans from a better position than you're in today.

Get off the dock. Go cruising. Don't get ahead of yourself. You don't need to buy everything now. They have stores in San Diego. *grin*

That gives you plenty of time to continue reading, continue learning, get your ham license (honest, it's good for you), and take my Seven Seas U webinars on SSB and on satellite phones (<-- blatant plug).

 

[vtsailguy]

I have a globalstar 1600, it has held up reasonably well in 6000 tropical miles. In fact, I was considering selling it, $300 or so.

One place is wasn't great coverage was smack in the middle of the Atlantic, 500 miles out....