Atlantic Crossing Communications

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SailingDog

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Hi Folks,
Has anybody done any recent comparisons between Sat Phone and SSB options for Email and weather report downloads for Atlantic crossing ? Interested in pros vs. cons and costs.

Has any-one got any recent equipment (ful working order) they would like to sell.

All input gratefully recieved.

Rgds
 
I've done a couple of Atlantic crossings with Satphone and SSB. I did emails, and very few voices calls with the satphone with no problem, except the price. Internet is out of the question. Data costs about a dollar a minute (same as speech). In five weeks, with an email or two most days, I ran up a bill of about £200.

Satphones cost less than SSBs, and connect more reliably. SSBs, though, are 'free' to use. I've no experience using SSB for data communication.

My choice?

Satphone to keep in touch with land.
SSB to keep in touch with other yachts. There's a lot of useful stuff to be learned from daily 'nets', and when life on an ocean crossing gets boring, as it will at times, there's always the net to look forward to.
 
Hi, ive just set myself up with iridium for data collection to my laptop. I was hopeful that i might download some simple grib files with it by using a site that i found which has several links that you click on to receive a zipped file for your sailing area. The site uses a low bandwidth (whatever that means) so promises to get the info to you quickly (rather than surfing the web for your favorite weather info) Unfortunately even this method is far to slow. (15 mins for a set of simple grib charts) and with the cost of the connection via the phone it becomes to expensive for using regularly. However, the mail a sail system is awesome. The downside is that in addition to the airtime, you need to subscribe to the mailasail system. There is a 6 month minimum subs period but its not overly expensive. To receive grib charts showing wind, sea state etc in your area, you simply send the a short email written in such a way that the computer at the other end recognises your chosen coords. as well as the info you need and for the days you require. The sending takes a couple of seconds and the receiving of the zipped compressed file from them is received instantaneously and downloaded in seconds so you can then open and peruse at leisure. You can also email a different mailasail address with your coordinates and a short update info message and it appears instantly on your blog page with them for others at home to follow. Even showing your position on a chart.
I would recommend testing the package out. They offer a free 1 month trial. it takes about 1 hr max to set your comp up by following their links and instruction from their web page. At this point you will have a blog page and know the adress to update it with your position and you will also know how to have weather info sent to your computer quickly. You can then practice using your internet at home. Adding the sat phone later when /if you buy one will take 20 mins or so of downloading time and your'e all set up.
I wouldnt recommend having both ssb/pactor modem and the iridium. They essentially do the same job. Although i have ssb on board I went for Iridium as opposed to a pactor modem with the ssb because if i need to jump into my liferaft i can take my iridium phone with me. Both have their advantages of course. Incidentaly i bought my as new iridium on ebay for £450 which seems to be the going rate. You do need one with a superior antenna, as well as a data connection lead from the comp to the phone. Again i bought these via ebay for about £200 extra.
Good luck, Andy.
 
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As a licenced "Ham" radio operator I bought a cheap SSB, hoping to pick up a cheap Pactor modem along the way. I haven't yet! Also facing resistance from 1st mate who takes a dim view of yet more "toys and wires".

When I was being paid for the priviledge, "my" last yacht had a good marine SSB and a Pactor 3. It was bloomin' brilliant. The owners' and crew made much use of it for text-based email all through the Pacific and Indian oceans. The grib downloads were fantastic.

Now a Pactor modem costs around £1000. This is heartbreaking since the technology is now quite old, and I'm amazed that someone hasn't copied it to introduce some competition to the market. It's surely not component cost that demands such a high price.

Again, some years ago I used a portable "laptop" style Inmarsat phone each way across the pond and found it extremely reliable, despite the square antenna yawing and pitching with the boat. The owner was then paying the bill, so I didn't feel the pain of the cost of calls.

I've now acquired an elderly portable (mini-m) (eBay, £70) which I will take with me on the next transat. Just for occasional / emergency use. In addition I may yet get the Ham SSB installed, at least to receive forecasts in eather spoken or data formats.

If I'm lucky enough to find a wealthy benefactor ashore, (or someone who works in an office there the boss doesn't mind!) then getting them to fax a synopsis to the sat phone is ideal as it costs nothing to receive.

Money no object - I would DEFINITELY get a Pactor 3.

Oh, BTW a telecoms reseller at London Boat Show told me that it was "not allowed" to use a "Land" Mini-M at sea. Inmarsat might disconnect it. I'd love for more, informed input on this if anyone from Inmarsat is reading....
 
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I have done it with both and in the last few years SSB was being used less with Iridium being the favoured option. If I were re-fitting again I would probably go with an Iridium plus external antenna and an SSB receiver.
 
Guitarrich said:
Now a Pactor modem costs around £1000. This is heartbreaking since the technology is now quite old, and I'm amazed that someone hasn't copied it to introduce some competition to the market. It's surely not component cost that demands such a high price.
Click to expand...

Low volume, I guess - sailing's already a smallish market, but the blue-water cruising subset of it is tiny. It's just not worth anybody's while to re-engineer it for a low-cost version as they won't make the money back from the number of sales.

What would be really interesting would be a "hobbyist" design, probably solder-it-yourself with everything done in firmware that can be to keep component count manageable. But again, nobody's going to get rich off that, so would need an appropriate expert to decide to do it for reasons other than a conventional business.

Although I've never done this kind of sailing (would love to...), I get the impression that these days a satellite device makes more sense for purely practical communication, via email etc. But SSB provides a social connection that's wholly lacking via other means. I listened to a cruising net once that someone ashore was relaying to the Internet - I think if I was cruising longterm I would definitely learn about this stuff (maybe even full-on Ham stuff) and fit the kit.

I also like the "standalone" nature of it - you are there, pumping out the power to anyone that can receive it, rather than relying on any shoreside infrastructure. Just feels more appropriately self-sufficient, somehow, even if it doesn't make much difference in practice.

Pete
 
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We have an Iridium system with a contract from mailasail and I would fully endorse the comments on their service. Worked brilliantly for our year away. I installed an HF receiver (Icom) and used it to download weatherfax on the way to and in the Med. But during the transat only useful for listening to the net which I must be honest, was very dull, mostly discussing what they were having for dinner and fish catch. I do however believe a rally like the ARC encourages a more frivolous use where as SSB still has a very useful function for "lone" yachts to, at a minimum, listen to the various nets to glean weather conditions and safety issues.
 
Pactor, Winlink and HAM

Yes the Pactor 3 modem is about £1000 but a lot of the cost is built into the charge for using the technology. The firm that makes them has a patent so 'build it yourself' would not really get around that - the Pactor 3 bit is in software.

By the way although they cost they work really, really well.

I have used both winlink and sailmail both of which work on the airmail platform (ie software). Winlink is for Hams and so has rules about use. You are not meant to contact anybody who is not a Ham on Winlink. There is no such problem with Sailmail but it costs about £200 for a subscription. Winlink does not have a limit on 'connect time' or 'attachement limit' which you are likely to reach. Sailmail does have strict limits on connect time and how much data you can pull down.

I also carry satellite but it is Sat C. The deep-sea equivalent of Navtex is free but sending messages is very expensive. I carry Sat C because it is meant to be part of GMDSS so if I was in a distress situation then I would be using the right kit. Now it seems nobody seems to bother, the UK Coastguard has not even got receivers any more and relies on Holland to email them if a Sat C message comes in. Of course the UK also has no HF capability any more within the Coastguard either.

So why would I say carry SSB? Well because I can pull down as much weather as I want for free as gribs or text, I can join nets and get voice forecasts and find out where friends old and new are going and to me the radio just seems a perfect fit as a hobby for long-distance sailing. You just have to call with the suffix 'maritime mobile' and the world wants to talk to you.....sad I know but its still great fun!

anybody who wants to know about how to become a HAM may be inteterested in this article I wrote-

http://www.oceancruisingclub.org/content/view/1138/82/
 
We did our Atlantic loop last year with SSB + pactor modem (using sailmail). Very happy with the combination. Used the modem for all our weather downloads and to communicate with friends/family when out of wifi range. Westbound we were in the ARC and enjoyed the nets. Coming back, we had an informal net with a group of boats and spoke to Herb.
Very happy with the set up.
 
mixmaster said:
We did our Atlantic loop last year with SSB + pactor modem (using sailmail). Very happy with the combination. Used the modem for all our weather downloads and to communicate with friends/family when out of wifi range. Westbound we were in the ARC and enjoyed the nets. Coming back, we had an informal net with a group of boats and spoke to Herb.
Very happy with the set up.
Click to expand...

It was you having the chicken curry!!!!!
 
I was very interested in Serini's post with regard to the uselessness of earthing plates. I find all this confusing. I'm istalling a KISS-SSB ground plane instead. Anyone got thoughts on these?
www.kiss-ssb.com
 
oldvarnish I was very interested in Serini's post with regard to the uselessness of earthing plates. I find all this confusing. I'm istalling a KISS-SSB ground plane instead. Anyone got thoughts on these?
www.kiss-ssb.com


I am very interested in the KISS system, but can't find any prices on there site.
Do yo have any price info.
 
I've used sintered earthing plates on 3 boats I've owned and had excellent performance from them. I think it's a bit like anchoring really, a new product, possibly a better product (I really can't say) comes along, and all of a sudden the old product becomes worse than useless (in the case of the earthing plate) or dangerous (in the case of the CQR anchor).

Both have served me well over 50 years of sailing although I'm not saying the newer technology may not be better, or worse, just that the older technology does still work, has been used successfully for a long time and claims that it's suddenly rubbish, don't wash with me!

Cheers, Brian.
 
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