has anyone used satcom,,,i want to receive weather mid ocean etc,,i have ssb

[Artic Warrior]

Hi all.

We will be going high latitudes north and south, after coming out the med, so im trying to find out what is available these days for receiving weather, I have an old icom 700 unit, so would need to update it as its too old now, so may buy a 700 pro or newer,
sat phone is costly, but may happen anyway, ive never used a sitcom c etc, what else is available on the market,,,,

Cheers folk for your input
colin

 

[Koeketiene]

Depends how far north you're going.
From personal experience: once above 70N satcom coverage can be 'patchy'. (Iridium)

 

[Artic Warrior]

Well we would like to be up to around 75 north depending on how brave we get,

 

[Bilgediver]

Hi all.

We will be going high latitudes north and south, after coming out the med, so im trying to find out what is available these days for receiving weather, I have an old icom 700 unit, so would need to update it as its too old now, so may buy a 700 pro or newer,
sat phone is costly, but may happen anyway, ive never used a sitcom c etc, what else is available on the market,,,,

Cheers folk for your input
colin

Iridium claim to have the foot print..

http://www.globalcomsatphone.com/support7.html


You can use both SSB and Iridium to access Sailmail and get weather reports.

http://www.sailmail.com/

 

[jdc]

Well we would like to be up to around 75 north depending on how brave we get,

Iridium works even at the poles; the satellites are in Low Earth Orbit and go over the poles unlike INMARSAT which are geostationary and thus both much further away and necessarily over the equator. I have found that Iridium worked well at 80N.

 

[KellysEye]

>I had thought about buying a flat maybe in Chichester so I can see the kids regularly

We had an Icom 700 and it's a good bit of kit, I'd keep it. Weather forecasts and faxes are available on SSB so no need for a satphone, we only carried on in the grab bag and had no contract because the emergency number is free. We also had Inmarsat C where you get daily forecasts (UTC) for sea areas around the world with different satellites but it doesn't work at high latitudes. You need a Long Range Certificate for the SSB and it includes an optional satellite module.

 

[blenkinsop]

I would highly recommend adding a Pactor modem to your SSB and registering with Sailmail.
Sailmail gives you emails at sea, GRIBs, weather forecasts all over the world and the ability to download weatherfaxes, all for an annula subscription which was $240 a couple of years ago.
Given a good set up you can receive from shore stations at considerable distance, although whether it would be enough for the high latitudes you suggest, I do not know.

 

[PhilipH]

>I had thought about buying a flat maybe in Chichester so I can see the kids regularly

We had an Icom 700 and it's a good bit of kit, I'd keep it. Weather forecasts and faxes are available on SSB so no need for a satphone, we only carried on in the grab bag and had no contract because the emergency number is free. We also had Inmarsat C where you get daily forecasts (UTC) for sea areas around the world with different satellites but it doesn't work at high latitudes. You need a Long Range Certificate for the SSB and it includes an optional satellite module.

Don't agree - get a satphone as well if you can afford it. We have an ICOM 801E and we developed a problem with the tuner so could hear voice but only broken transmission and no sailmail. Satphone setup is onsatmail and this works a treat for sending and receiving, inc GRIBS. Having a back-up on long ocean passages = piece of mind = happy SWMBO

 

[franksingleton]

Suggest you speak to Ed Wildgoose at MAILASail. He is always happy to advise on the options. He would rather not sell you kit than sell you something that does not meet your needs. Quote me.

 

[Yangosat]

Hi Colin,
As others have advised, Iridium is about the only satcom you can reliably depend on in those areas for voice and data.
Please feel free to PM for as impartial advice as I can offer,
Cheers
Yangosat

 

[Artic Warrior]

My icom 700 is needs to be a 700 pro or 710 at least apparently to be able to down load weather info,
so I will update it to one of those,I here the 700 pro is more easily to program unlike the others have pre sets,,,ps im new to this !!!

Like philipH said, ive also been advised to buy an iridium as well as using HF,
I will need to arrange for a HF operators licence down In Southampton.

Does any one know of any sites that I can follow regarding people embarking on high latitude voyages, any forums etc

Thank everyone so far,