Communications & inmarsat C

[emandvee44]

Anyone have one of these? It is a Thrane & Thrane control head for the Inm. C and I have posted about this subject before. When I switch the unit on all I get is 'self test' indicated and it bleeps, continuously. It was suggested that there is an internal battery that might require changing. I have not looked at that yet.

In preparation for our liveaboard adventure this year (Mediterranean) communications has of course been one of our major considerations as we need to be in touch with the world more or less continuously. I am wondering if Inmarsat is not the way to go, bearing in mind how technology has moved on and pay as you go dongles are easily available (we have Portuguese & Spanish already).
Inmarsat is a very slow system and quite cumbersome/complicated to use.

We will be going to the Algarve initially, then Southern Spain to over winter, then next year to Balearics, Sardinia, (probably avoid mafia country), then Greece.

Any advice welcome (and I appreciate that the comms. question comes up quite frequently)

Cheers,

Michael.

And for VicS - the photo was uploaded from photobucket - very easy!

 

[KellysEye]

We have a SatC terminal as in the picture. As I recommended before replace the battery which is proprietary. It would be worth calling Inmarsat to find out who sells them in your area. The sellers are usually based near commercial ports.