SHTF and satellite phones

[Dave Markowitz]

Blue Line: It's possible that the ham you were talking to in the States was linked to a repeater with an autopatch, which is an uplink from the repeater into a phone line. Wiht such a setup, it is possible to make telephone calls from a ham radio to a regular phone.

WRT to repeaters, some of them are now linked to the Internet and thereby greatly extend the effective range of a HT. E.g.:

http://www.echolink.org/

http://www.irlp.net/

http://www.eqso.net/

So, ASSuming you were able to hit such a repeater that still had an active Internet connection, yes, you could talk clear around the world to someone using an HT.

 

[Jim March]

My RV is getting a Motosat Datastorm F1 - broadband (well, sorta!) satellite internet with auto-seeking dish. Download is between 256 - 512kbs, uplink is more like 50ish (like a good 56k modem, basically). People are successfully doing VOIP with 'em.

http://motosat.com/

$100/mo flat rate unlimited, up-front costs are painful though...$4k minimum . But it can be turned into a WiFi hotspot for EMail support for a pretty large group. THAT would be useful as hell in NO and if my rig was finished yet I'd consider going in. Preferrably in an RV relief convoy.

 

[Seven High]

Citizens Band Radios

Would CB radios be useful in NO? I remember hearing stories of cb radios reaching fron the usa to italy in years past. The radio was modified to increase power. They were cheap then.

 

[enfield]

HF phone patches are also possible, directly from HF radio to the phone lines, without requiring the use of VHF repeaters.

 

[DeseoUnTaco]

All of this in NO got me thinking. I have guns, ammo, food, water, etc, etc, stocked up for emergencies. But I don't have any other forms of communication, such as if phone lines and cellphones went out. Anybody know much about satellite phones? Which ones are well rated or reliable? Any basics, that sort of thing.

I had one of the old Iridium phones and it was AWESOME. Rarely do I rant and rave about a cool technology. iPods? Whatever. The RAZR phone? Big deal. Windows Vista? I doubt I'll ever use it. But Iridium ruled! Seriously, with that phone, if you could see the sky, you could make a call. It really really worked. I used it to do a medical consultation when I was several days away from the nearest phone. And the coolest thing was that the phone was (reasonably) small. It was about the size of a big old clunky mobile phone. Small enough to easily put in a backpack or small bag. And after I got mine they came out with even smaller versions. A friend of mine saved his life and the lives of the others in his expedition with an Iridium phone.

There were limitations. First, it was fairly expensive, but not so much that it was too expensive to use. Second, it only worked when the antena had a clear view of the sky. It's not like a mobile phone that you can put in your pocket. For vehicle use, you could get a vehicle mounted antena which would be great.

I don't think Iridium is operating anymore, or they are not selling consumer service anymore.

I know that Inmarsat is still out there. It doesn't have the global coverage that Iridium had (can't use it in the extreme polar regions) and the sets are bulkier (briefcase sized) but I think the service is cheaper.

I'll definitely be getting another sat phone at some point.

Btw, these phones have funky legal terms of use. They are illegal to use in much of the world. Also, for example, it's illegal to use one in most Arab countries to make a call to Israel. Not that any of this makes any difference in practice.

 

[444]

Dave, good call. I forgot about the internet/radio thing. I have been on that echolink before.

 

[mec360]

Hams are doing Echolink in coordinating this one; I've heard them on one local repeater in Shreveport doing health & welfare traffic. Stations from all over the US have called in and are rebroadcast on the repeater.

Someone asked about web access via satellite. I've been researching this a lot today; see http://www.globalstarusa.com/en/data/ for one solution.

I found this interesting combo Aviation / Ham radio HT today - the Vertex VXA-700 does 2 meter Ham and transmits on the civilian aviation freqs - a REALLY nice combo when you are trying to get a helicopter's attention. It doesn't transmit on the military air freqs (not that that would be legal anyway...). Does anyone know if the Coast Guard choppers have / use civilian air radios?

http://www.vertexstandard.com/indexVS.cfm?cmd=DisplayProducts&ProdCatID=204&ProdID=18&DivisionID=2

 

[Rockstar]

DataPath furnishes sat com systems to the military. Also offer internet connections and phone links through their systems. They're sending millions of dollars in equipment to the Gulf Coast at this very moment.

 

[artherd]

Anyone HAVE an irridium phone? Did it actually work in the crisis times? How about 9/11?

There's a chance that in a very widespread disaster, irridium would be either:
A) Overloaded or
B) Re-directed for military/gov't use.

However in more isolated circumstances (for instance something minor enough where there's anyone left you actually need to call) it could come in real handy.

 

[tracer]

Depends also on the emergency,I believe.An EMP from a nuke will end broadcasting,even if the individual unit survives.Correct or not?

 

[Blue Line]

Markowitz, no we reached the other ham operator and I told him what number to dial etc etc. He made a collect call to my parents number and they had to accept the call, then he told us to go ahead but say "over" when we wanted to throw the conversation back and forth.

IIRC, it was called "MARS", but I forget what mars stands for???

 

[El Rojo]

Hands down a sat phone would be much better than any type of radio system where you have to depend on someone else hearing you to work. I worked for a boys camp in California's Sierra Nevada mountains for many a summer. Back in 2000 we had a sat phone. It was this huge brief case model that someone donated to us. The antenna was in the case lid and it said not to stick your head within 18" of it while transmitting. However, we lost our radio phone connection and the sat phone worked fine!

The next year someone up graded us and we got a hand held unit just like a large cell phone (more like the size of a cordless phone). You just had to unfold the antenna right there and use it. It worked out rather well in an emergency we had where our radio phone batteries went out and we had to do a lot of communication with the outside world.

Having used a satellite phone in the middle of no where at a time when we really needed it, I would highly recommend seeing if you can find one that charges based on use, not by month. It would indeed be a very handy thing to have to contact the outside world if you needed to. And as with all technology, it is only going to get cheaper.

 

[Desertdog]

Our son called us a few times from Iraq on SAT phone.. It was better than not hearing from him.
That time delay that you get from from the SAT was very annoying, but if nothing else will work, enjoy the talking.

 

[enfield]

MARS = Military Affiliate Radio System.

One thing you can't do with a satellite phone is key the mike and say "Hey, is anyone there. Can anyone hear me?". If the landline and cell phone systems are down due to damage or overload, who are you going to call -- another satellite phone user?

There must be SOME reason the cops and the military still use radios.

 

[444]

"There must be SOME reason the cops and the military still use radios."

I agree that you might be right, but I have no idea why ?
We (the fire department) receive a print out of our dispatches, we have a lap top on the rig that gives us all our information. We have cell phones etc. I have no idea what purpose the radio serves, but we use it on every call: much to my chargrin.

 

[Crosshair]

I'd probably go with a CB radio, a scanner (For tactical info ), and a solar battery charger. (Don't have to worry about power then.) Once you find a good place to set up camp you can listen in to what is hapening elsewhere.

 

[Kestrel]

IGB,

I don't believe that OnStar has a satellite phone service. I thought the phone service through them was an analog, cellular service. I think the communication to the OnStar operators is actually satellite, but am not sure.

 

[El Rojo]

There must be SOME reason the cops and the military still use radios.

It might have something to do with their unlimited resources and ability to keep their radio nets up, running, and secure. We don't have that ability. We are not talking about a national size emergency. If the whole country shuts down, no one is going to give a damn about their relatives on the other side of the nation, they are going to be concerned about survival. In most cases, one part of the country is effected and the relatives in other parts of the country worry until they hear from someone. A sat phone would be just the ticket if you were concerned about such a thing. A radio would not.

 

[Thin Black Line]

I have used satellite phones. They are great when you really need to
connect to someone else. You can reach places that handheld radios
and transceivers can't --as long as the other person has a phone.

The big drawback is you must be outside and have an opening on a
clear sky. Forget about being indoors, on the streets in built up
urban areas or under a lot of trees. They are more finicky than cell
phones on signal strength.

Use it discreetly if you're in a situation where other people might
want to take it from you. Remember, you'll probably be standing
out in the open to use it or on top of a building. Nothing like a news
crew catching you live on a skyscraper with a working phone and
then the gang with the portable TV seeing it and coming up the stairs
to meet you.

Used ones were $400 and up. I imagine that the market has gotten
really tight on these now just like generators and dehy food.

 

[Jay Kominek]

True, you need a license to be legal, but for a disaster or emergency, I'd just use it and deal with any consequences later.

If I recall correctly, you can broadcast whatever you need to, on any frequency without licensing or permission, in a true emergency. Obviously some frequencies are better ideas than others.
That said, the book to study for a basic amateur radio license is like $20, and the test is free/cheap. You don't even need to know morse code to get a license that covers voice communication, anymore. If you can afford the radio, you can afford to learn how to use it properly.