After an Atlantic circuit with sat phone I went the ham route. One big problem with sat is the sim cards, there's no way to deactivate and activate again so you end up paying line rental for months on end while chilling out in some beautiful coast before another ocean crossing, and overnight delivery of a new sim can means weeks on end visiting every office on the island where a package might be delivered.
With winlink you don't need a pactor, though the likes of a signalink helps lots.
Ive got a Delorme Communicator. It is basically a simple satphone that connects by bluetooth to an Ipad or Android, you type emails on the pad and then press send, the Communicator then sends it to a sat and then it goes down to the net. £100 off Ebay, brand new. Cost me $39 to activate it, and $39 a month with the option to suspend by month if not needed. I get 40 by 160 character emails a month, with unlimited auto emails plus a tracker that drops a trackpoint every hour on a Delorme website for all to see. Go to share.delorme.com/Sacha plus a password is needed. PM if you want to look. My mate weather routed me across Biscay and I did the same for him. They are brilliant. If you go over your limit on emails they cost 50 cents each extra.
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