Iridium shoyte ...

[ParaHandy]

skipping over the last 3 days of frigging about with this stuff, herewith some wisdom ...

Outlook is very unwilling to work with data compression software. very hit and, mostly, miss when it sends emails

Outlook Express 6 works with no problem

Iridium offer their own data compression software (Iridium Direct Internet) which routes data through a different port on their server and, supposedly, allows data transfer rates up to 9kb/sec as do some weather grib suppliers. So, using both must be like getting blood out of a stone or fooks it up completely. Of course one's free and the other costs so no doubt which will be used ...

all the above quite important. a typical days weather might add up to 60kbytes or 600k bits which at a hopefully compressed 6kb/s will take approx 2 mins or uncompressed 6 mins to upload email and down load data. The maximum time any one satellite is "visible" is around 6 mins and if you're downloading data whilst being handed over from one sat to the next, the data can get corrupted .. so i'm told ...

To receive emails from home and avoid d/l the usual gazillion viagra, botox & extension emails, and much worse, you must create a unique (virgin & unsullied by exposure to usual spam) email address. The much worse will occur if your server saves emails - they will all be vomitted back up when the new account opens and at $1.50/min will be very expensive .. oh and don't forget to disable the primary account because it'll be opened willy-nilly otherwise ...

bearing in mind the foregoing, it would seem wise to have a unique email address to receive weather stuff on .. i managed to get one which i thought quite yoho until this morning when a frigging viagra email came zipping through ... tossers

the Iridium data connection is a feeble thing which'll break with no trouble at all. great care must be taken.

mustn't forget to switch off ALL the automatic updates ...

Oh and the german sim card on sale at ebay in germany was a fraud

if anybody knows this lot to be tosh, pls be kind and considerate in yer aggro as this shoyte gets right on yer tits but, nevertheless, welcome any thorts ...

 

[No1_Moose]

can't you just use a long bit of string with a plastic cup at each end?

 

[ParaHandy]

ah, i'm glad you mention that as i also wondered whether a couple of pigeons might do and we'd be able to eat them as well (after they'd done the biz, of course)

 

[No1_Moose]

Are you not aware of the risks posed by bird flu carrying pigeons?

 

[Jeannius]

I suggest you try this... Calypso Just one of the many excellent programs unable to beat off microsoft.

I have been using it for several years with the earlier Iridium Apollo software and just last week used it with the new Iridium Direct Internet.

One of the many good things about Calypso is the ability to specify the maximum size of email to be downloaded. Set it to around 1k and you'll just get athe first 10 lines of any email allowing you to just download the ones you really want.

 

[ParaHandy]

thank you. i got a copy and will keep just in case.

"unable to beat off microsoft"

When i told them what i had done, i was asked if i was using version xx which i was. So, they obviously knew it was unstable and if so, says I, would it not have been a good idea to include a small paragraph warning people of this in their otherwise useful 190 page manual?

seems once you stray off the MS path, you're on your own ...

 

[ParaHandy]

should i be doing a risk assessment on flying fish .. hmmm ...

 

[No1_Moose]

Yep, you'll have to take loads and loads of extra diesel to allow you to mobo the whole way across using the handheld autopilot thingy while lounging around on the saloon sofa. Being on deck with all those flying fish trying to kill you is simply not an acceptable risk.
You'll need to inform "The Cat Master" of these new regulations so he can make any necessary adjustments to the vessel. I'm sure he'll be quite happy with the legislated diesel burning though.

 

[Guest]

Post deleted by danfoley

 

[tcm]

Yep, after the first few attempts and much poncing about by para..... ljs and i found all the emails in the junk mail

 

[webcraft]

Re: Iridium shoyte ... 60K weather files????

All you need is a daily GRIB download from Globalmarinenet.net

A 5-day forecast a three hour intervals and a 600 nm radius from your position should come to a princely 4k or slightly less.

This is what the professionals use for weather and the deep joy is it gives you wind speed and direction as calculatd by a supercomputer with the latest model inside - much better than listening to all that carp when everyone stands around spilling coffeee on the laptop and getting arsey over the interpretation of the synoptic chart you have just paid Iridium a fortune to download (which has all the area to the East of your position missing anyway because the connection dropped after 40k)

Hope this helps . . .

<span style="color:red"> W </span>

 

[ParaHandy]

Re: Iridium shoyte ... 60K weather files????

Ta .. this uses same model as I'm using although I get isobars which i think is better. file size is therefore the same (excluding isobars). the 60kb is an area 1800x1200 so is 6x greater.

 

[ParaHandy]

Yes .. but ...
1) the Iridium grey plastic serial connector was designed by a five year old. Don't apply any pressure to it other than ensuring it is square on
2) when receiving, check the connection status which shows any errors between the pc and the iridium phone. There should never be any errors. If there are, discard the USB-serial connector for another and keep doing so until you get one that works without fault. Ditto transmitting but rarely get errors however bad the usb-serial adapter.
3) remove all virus software. Norton & McCaffe work by slurping in the complete email, then they say to Outlook that the message is sent, then they scan it in the background. In the meantime Outlook hangs up the phone and then Norton/McCaffee goes "erk, no internet" and chucks away your emails. When testing this problem, send your test emails to folk who aren't village idiots.
4) I know NOD32 works extremely well but there may be other anti-virus s/w. I did chat to Brendan abt this s/w and he reckons its the best but it does cost approx £20/yr although that's still cheaper than my annual subscription to Norton etc ..
5) Do not use Outlook 2002 or 2003. Iridium's modem driver makes them unstable. Outlook Express 6 is stable and works. I'm sure that there are lots of other email progs which will work quite happily but tread carefully ...
6) Disable all automatic updates from Windows and anybody else eg skype.
7) Try and avoid using Iridium for data unless you have maximum 5 bar reception. At 4 bar, speed drops 50%, at 3 bar it drops a thumping 90%. For consistency, an external antenna may well be the answer as well as recovering its cost quite quickly
8) Avoid using Iridium's Direct Internet package. It takes approx 20 secs to log on to their server. You're much better signing on to another provider who runs their own compression software. It'll be faster.
9) When all seems ok, just open the satellite conection, open the status window and watch how many bytes are being transmitted. It will rise quite quickly to 4000 to 6000 bytes and should then either stop dead or rise very, very slowly. If it carries on increasing rapidly, run spybot or any other s/w to get rid of what's using your internet access. If you can't stop it, you dare not use that pc/laptop for Iridium.

apart from all of that, its quite easy. Somebody who knows about these things said to me that i was the one who had the misfortune to have all the planets lined up. Most manage without any trouble .... apparently .... although i find that very difficult to believe. I approached this as if it was just another internet connection and that was oh so naieve ...

 

[webcraft]

Re: Iridium shoyte ... 60K weather files????

WTF do you need that big an area for? I know TCM's new (c)raft is fast, but I would have thought looking at weather coming your way from 600 miles away would be enough.

You can also cut down the frequency to 6 hours or 12 hours which will cut the file size.

Iridium Direct Internet works well for us. Connection time is more than compensated for by th teimproved apparent data rate.

Re. the 'puck' external aerial - it works OK if it has a clar view of the sky, but the lead is far too short (designed to go on a vehicle roof) and with the phone in the companionway will barely clear the sprayhood even on our puny craft.

- Nick

 

[ParaHandy]

Re: Iridium shoyte ... 60K weather files????

Ok, don't get arsey .....

 

[ParaHandy]

Re: Iridium shoyte ... 60K weather files????

Nick
Do you use a ground plane, eg biscuit tin lid, with the magnetic puck?

 

[webcraft]

Re: Arsey, moi?

Ground plane?

Wot, one of these?

Prob. a good idea, but I don't think it has got the range. OTOH, a biscuit tin lid isn't very seaworthy.

(Seriously though, Not tried the biscuit tin lid thingy but have not needed to - so far so good with reception and nearly always get 5 bars at sea)

- Nick

 

[ParaHandy]

Re: Arsey, moi?

i'm wondering if the slightly corrugated lid of a fray bentos pie tin might improve reception?

 

[webcraft]

Re: Arsey, moi?

Dunno, but I have seen quite a few people using metal kitchen sieves successfully as WiFI signal amplifiers.

- N