How much do they cost, like $600? Was thinking it would be useful for hiking in areas without cell coverage..

At $3 a minute... no thanks.

9jVjX Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> How much do they cost, like $600? Was thinking it
> would be useful for hiking in areas without cell
> coverage..


Great idea. Think of how different the world might have been if the Donner party had satellite phones?

Man up, grow a pair and take on the wild wilderness of Burke Lake Park without ties to the grid.

Overkill. Most of those areas are covered by VHF or UHF repeaters with someone listening but you need at least a Technician Amateur license to use them. Ranges go a lot further than cell phones. A $30 dual-band transceiver will get to them if you know how to program it. If you use it in an emergency w/o a license, I'm sure you won't be prosecuted.

But I travel to parts of the World you haven't or will never know about. You really don't need one in the Continental USA. Get a PLBs if worried or paranoid.

You're in the right area pricewise. I'd look into an Isatphone pro - good handset, good company (Inmarsat). If you're just getting it for emergencies, buy a prepaid card with as few minutes as possible and keep an eye on when the minutes expire. Sat phones are expensive but if you're going places where there's no coverage and you end up absolutely needing a phone, they're worth it.

Out of curiosity, Yes I own one, where do you go that you need one? I do too and I'm always curious about who's using what handsets where.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/18/2015 08:30PM by abelard.

I hiked Boundary Peak last year with my dad. He didn't make it the whole way and is going to try again. He's in his 70's and has a heart condition, so it was a little worrying not having any communications. I actually have a ham license but a sat phone would be faster/ easier if something bad happened.

We also did Wheeler Mountain which didn't have cell coverage near the top either. I don't think a sat phone has even crossed his mind but it would be a lot of peace of mind, maybe we can buy one for his trip and sell it later.

Thanks I'll look into the Isatphone.

abelard Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> You're in the right area pricewise. I'd look into
> an Isatphone pro - good handset, good company
> (Inmarsat). If you're just getting it for
> emergencies, buy a prepaid card with as few
> minutes as possible and keep an eye on when the
> minutes expire. Sat phones are expensive but if
> you're going places where there's no coverage and
> you end up absolutely needing a phone, they're
> worth it.
>
> Out of curiosity, Yes I own one, where do you go
> that you need one? I do too and I'm always
> curious about who's using what handsets where.

Northwest Territories, Alaska, Greenland, Sweden....you get the ideal.
Rather head to South of the border cause I'm tired of getting cold.
I trust Iridium. None have ever failed yet.

The kid should just get a PLB.

Couple pics I took at the summit of Boundary Peak last September. No cell coverage here and it's a long way back.
Attachments:

I invented the satellite phone when with DARPA. I own the patent.
Fuck libs!

>I invented the satellite phone when with DARPA

You didn't build that.

OP.. Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Couple pics I took at the summit of Boundary Peak
> last September. No cell coverage here and it's a
> long way back.

Good pics. But what you will pay for a phone you can buy 3 PLBs and they will get you rescued fairly quickly. You only use it as a last resort. I miss the good ole days when we were out in the bush without any electronics. Set a time and date for extraction and if you weren't there then they might come looking for you.

>Northwest Territories, Alaska, Greenland, Sweden....you get the ideal.
>Rather head to South of the border cause I'm tired of getting cold.

Hmmm - you in the rock trade by chance? The only people I know currently working Greenland are looking for things exposed as by receding ice. Am I close?

I went the other direction - southern africa is plenty warm. Many a day I'd have done for a cool breeze, even put up with the legendary northern mosquitos.

>I trust Iridium. None have ever failed yet.

I like them too although their handsets and interface don't exactly light my fire. The Inmarsats are comparatively slick, and get pretty reliable coverage in my stomping grounds. I finally made the switch a couple years ago and might have switched earlier except that Iridium kept offering great deals on airtime, mostly because they were hurting for business.

Nice pictures. I've been in that area - ever get over to the hot springs at Lee Vining?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/18/2015 10:09PM by abelard.

OP.. Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Couple pics I took at the summit of Boundary Peak
> last September. No cell coverage here and it's a
> long way back.

You either stole those pictures from summit post.org or have outed yourself. I wonder though, why would a guy from Nevada post on here.

Why do people post lies and create fake lives on here?

abelard Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> >Northwest Territories, Alaska, Greenland,
> Sweden....you get the ideal.
> >Rather head to South of the border cause I'm
> tired of getting cold.
>
> Hmmm - you in the rock trade by chance? The only
> people I know currently working Greenland are
> looking for things exposed as by receding ice. Am
> I close?
>
> I went the other direction - southern africa is
> plenty warm. Many a day I'd have done for a cool
> breeze, even put up with the legendary northern
> mosquitos.
>
> >I trust Iridium. None have ever failed yet.
>
> I like them too although their handsets and
> interface don't exactly light my fire. The
> Inmarsats are comparatively slick, and get pretty
> reliable coverage in my stomping grounds. I
> finally made the switch a couple years ago and
> might have switched earlier except that Iridium
> kept offering great deals on airtime, mostly
> because they were hurting for business.
>
> Nice pictures. I've been in that area - ever get
> over to the hot springs at Lee Vining?


I wish I had become a Geologist. I go fishing.....and research the climate for changes over the last few decades. Now I drink heavily and laugh at human stupidity. Enjoy what you have.

Likes travel to exotic shitty places, drinks too much, hates humans - if you'd only had an exaggerated appetite for menial tasks, you'd have made a good anthropologist. Well we all take our joys where we find them.

>Why do people post lies and create fake lives on here?

Eesh, if you'd spend less time 'making the beast with one back' you might go some places too.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/19/2015 12:13PM by abelard.

My agency rented several satphones during the Y2K cutover and service was sometimes spotty. We also had problems with wrong numbers when calling overseas.