SatCom Experiences

[Mad Garden Gnome]

Stories of your experiences using satcom for emergencies or unplanned forays. Satcom or satphone stories involving Overlanding, Expeditions, or Off Roading (on no! that term!) .

Include your equipment description and performance of the equipment.

No either or comparison debates.

No "I carry this" without a real deal use story.

 

[SCPO16]

I use a Garmin In-Reach as part of my communications PACE plan. Primary is cell phone, alternate is Ham and GRMS, Contingency is the Garmin, and emergency is mirror, signal panels, and whistle.

I used the Garmin the most when I was traveling around the world for my civil service job. I got caught up the the terrorist bombings in Brussels some years ago (I was in the airport when the first bomb went off). It did not take long for the cell system to be shut down after the bombs in the subway went off. After that event I carry the Garmin whenever I travel for emergency comms.

 

[Ubiety]

Thankfully have never had an emergency but have sent a lot of kissy faced texts to my wife which have embedded location data. I use a homebrew setup that relies on a Beam Iridium modem. Writeup here; it has evolved since the writeup.

• Have used my setup many times to coordinate with late comers (TX lat/lon, etc.) via SMS while they are still on the road and in cell range. Also to communicate with folks stuck in the city. The Beam modem with matching antenna works great with a "good enough" view of the sky; usually locks within a minute or two and transmits/receives well after that. It struggles, as any device would, in a canyon, thick tree cover or other blockage. This setup is perma-mounted in my truck.
• Used a friend's Iridium based phone quite a bit in the glory days to coordinate with folks back in the city; IMO it was ok but phone conversations are not a great match for LEO satellites; short burst data (quick text data) is a better match IMO. We used this a lot in SE Oregon to communicate with late arrivers and family back home. We used to stay in/around a line cabin in SE OR that was in a canyon so talk times were short and acquisition times long as much of the sky was blocked by canyon walls.
• Have also used a beam forming satellite antenna a whole bunch that was mounted to the roof of different vehicles for internet access; suffers from the same blockage issues but was a cool technology. We used this to get (slow) mobile internet service on the road. Not recommended as the price will make you wince and the equipment is bulky. I could tell you about the times that we mounted the antenna to commercial (test) aircraft and a Peruvian bus and collected telemetry which we turned into awesome Google Earth maps with all kinds of neato embedded information.
• Not SatCom but a runner up - I always run APRS and leave a link to my callsign on aprs.fi with friends/family.

Sorry if I broke the rules and did not provide a good story - thankfully I don't have one. My setup is unique enough that I thought posting might spur some on to try something different.

 

[kharrel]

I second the Garmin In-Reach. I have the mini and have the unlimited texting. Works great to talk to family when on a guys trip. They can track our progress also :)

Kelly

 

[TheBison]

When I was a wildland firefighter I used an Iridium sat phone a lot. Same as the comment above - call quality is not the greatest but it is better than nothing. Antenna's view of the sky is a big deal and if it works it works well, but if not there's nothing there. I had a car kit with a hands-free adapter and an external antenna mounted on the roof for the phone and that helped a lot.