Cheaper satcoms

[zoidberg]

'New mobile phone puck to enable satcoms' according to this article.

I can see quite an uptake for this... and also for the new rugged smartphone into which the technology can be integrated.

Best of all, it appears to be British!

 

[jamie N]

Just saw this article in The Grauniad, which might be of interest to many here.
Edit: Pretty much a copy of this thread. Ooops

 

[westernman]

'New mobile phone puck to enable satcoms' according to this article.

I can see quite an uptake for this... and also for the new rugged smartphone into which the technology can be integrated.

Best of all, it appears to be British!

The technology was designed by a Taiwanese company (Mediatek) and fabricated in Taiwan (TSMC).
May be the plastic casing and the label was designed in the UK (even though that was probably made in China)?

 

[Graham376]

Looks interesting thanks, effectively a PLB function plus texting. Wonder what the ongoing cost will be after first year.

 

[Kelpie]

Would be interesting to see how it compares to an inReach. Similar functionality. The inReach costs €65/month for unlimited texts and tracking.
I think the inReach will get better coverage since the Iridium constellation provides better high latitude cover than GEO sats. But for most people that won't matter.

Of course in practice everybody is using Starlink these days. It's also around £65/month but you get actual broadband internet for that. Only problems appear to be power consumption and blackspots where it's not been licensed for certain countries. And of course you're pretty much at the mercy of Mr Musk.

 

[Trident]

Interesting ; should add that most new iPhones and I think latest Android phones will have this option with the latest software updates without the need for external devices. Many of the US cellphone providers have already packaged it in and the UK should follow suit

 

[Moderator]

Just saw this article in The Grauniad, which might be of interest to many here.
Edit: Pretty much a copy of this thread. Ooops

Threads merged.

 

[northwind]

Would be interesting to see how it compares to an inReach. Similar functionality. The inReach costs €65/month for unlimited texts and tracking.
I think the inReach will get better coverage since the Iridium constellation provides better high latitude cover than GEO sats. But for most people that won't matter.

Of course in practice everybody is using Starlink these days. It's also around £65/month but you get actual broadband internet for that. Only problems appear to be power consumption and blackspots where it's not been licensed for certain countries. And of course you're pretty much at the mercy of Mr Musk.

Starlink is £95 per month for portability in one country. They are offering a global option, but that's more like 200usd. There is uproar in the US this week as they are increasing the cost in high demand areas, and banning new users from portability in these areas too.

 

[Sandy]

30 texts a month they say, 4800 characters just about enough to give a daily lat/long and 'wish you were here'.

Unless you devise a wee code then very limited, a 46 character example.

50.122N130.2322W1380306004ABCFSENDMOREBEERXXx

That translates to:

50.122N 130.2322W: position
138: daily run
03: wind
060: wind direction
04: sea state
AB: I'm ok the usual aches and pains
CF: I caught a fish today
SENDMOREBEER: message in plain text.
XXx: end of message

 

[Buck Turgidson]

30 texts a month they say, 4800 characters just about enough to give a daily lat/long and 'wish you were here'.

Unless you devise a wee code then very limited, a 46 character example.

50.122N130.2322W1380306004ABCFSENDMOREBEERXXx

That translates to:

50.122N 130.2322W: position
138: daily run
03: wind
060: wind direction
04: sea state
AB: I'm ok the usual aches and pains
CF: I caught a fish today
SENDMOREBEER: message in plain text.
XXx: end of message

CF could be shortened to a simple Y/N, and 3 kisses is probably overkill.
just bought you 3 more letters for your plain text and you can have 2 more if you drop a decimal place in your LL ;-)

 

[srm]

30 texts a month they say, 4800 characters just about enough to give a daily lat/long and 'wish you were here'.

Unless you devise a wee code then very limited, a 46 character example.

50.122N130.2322W1380306004ABCFSENDMOREBEERXXx

That translates to:

50.122N 130.2322W: position
138: daily run
03: wind
060: wind direction
04: sea state
AB: I'm ok the usual aches and pains
CF: I caught a fish today
SENDMOREBEER: message in plain text.
XXx: end of message

Reminds me of the pre-GMDSS radio exam for MF/HF operators. We had to be able to send a radio telegram with correct headers and word count.

 

[Sandy]

CF could be shortened to a simple Y/N, and 3 kisses is probably overkill.
just bought you 3 more letters for your plain text and you can have 2 more if you drop a decimal place in your LL ;-)

The CF is one of several hundred two character codes from AA to ZZ. The XXx is a unique identifier. Perhaps a less precise lat and long would be in order.

 

[Kelpie]

Starlink is £95 per month for portability in one country. They are offering a global option, but that's more like 200usd. There is uproar in the US this week as they are increasing the cost in high demand areas, and banning new users from portability in these areas too.

It all depends on where you buy. Our friends just bought Starlink in Martinique for €400 for the equipment and €65/month ongoing.

But it's all subject to change.

 

[KompetentKrew]

If you want to minimise the number of characters you send then you might as well send it in Maidenhead Locator format - I believe this was a display option in some older Garmin handhelds.

But I reckon the costs for this kind of comms is going to drop a lot soon.

 

[srm]

But I reckon the costs for this kind of comms is going to drop a lot soon.

Looks like a bit more competition is on the way:
"Amazon has received the go-ahead to construct a constellation of 3,236 satellites after gaining approval for an updated orbital debris mitigation plan. "
Amazon gets a green light to launch 3,000-satellite Kuiper constellation

 

[henry236]

reminds me of the MF/HF operators' pre-GMDSS radio exam. The ability to transmit radio telegrams with accurate headers and word counts was required.

 

[Kelpie]

Amazon's Kuiper has been in the works for a very long time. I'm not holding my breath.
The first real competitor is going to be OneWeb, who have already launched most of their satellites. They had a slight hiccup a year ago and have a batch of satellites stuck in a warehouse in Kazakhstan but they're trying to get them back and launched.
China is also investigating a LEO internet constellation although they haven't released any details yet.

 

[davethedog]

It all depends on where you buy. Our friends just bought Starlink in Martinique for €400 for the equipment and €65/month ongoing.

But it's all subject to change.

Did they buy and order it in Martinique...as we are near there and may be looking at getting Starlink!

 

[northwind]

It all depends on where you buy. Our friends just bought Starlink in Martinique for €400 for the equipment and €65/month ongoing.

But it's all subject to change.

True, but you are stuck when it comes to portability outside of Martinique..

 

[Kelpie]

True, but you are stuck when it comes to portability outside of Martinique..

Well... they're not in Martinique any more and it's still working