Moodyjim
Well-Known Member
So which is really the best system or would you have both given the option?
Iridium v Pactor
- Thread starter Moodyjim
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ccscott49
Well-Known Member
If you already have an SSB, then pactor has to be given serious consideration, on a cost alone basis. Not to mention the more uses for the SSB.
Although I have neither.
It also depends where you are going to cruise.
IMHO, SSB and pactor for crossing the pond and caribe cruising.
Neither for meddy/europe.
Iridium for keeping in touch with family, maybe.
Although I have neither.
It also depends where you are going to cruise.
IMHO, SSB and pactor for crossing the pond and caribe cruising.
Neither for meddy/europe.
Iridium for keeping in touch with family, maybe.
Ariadne
Well-Known Member
If you can afford both then go for it.
We have SSB (but no pactor modem) and use it for weather fax as well as everything else it does. We also have Iridium for e-mail (and weather when needed). On long passages you only really need weather fax/weather, in Europe/Carib/States/etc, you should be able to get wifi for internet and in most other places there are plenty of internet cafes around for staying in touch.
Its really down to choice and what you want to do with it.
We have SSB (but no pactor modem) and use it for weather fax as well as everything else it does. We also have Iridium for e-mail (and weather when needed). On long passages you only really need weather fax/weather, in Europe/Carib/States/etc, you should be able to get wifi for internet and in most other places there are plenty of internet cafes around for staying in touch.
Its really down to choice and what you want to do with it.
BigART
Well-Known Member
For me, I don't think there is a 'best', they are different and have advanyages and disadvantages. Given the option, I would have both for redundancy and being able to take the Iridium into the liferaft, but being resource limited, we have decided on the SSB/Pactor/Sailmail approach and we are very happy with that.
An Iridium phone is light, reasonably cheap (in comparison with SSB/Pactor) and easy to install, uses little power and you can literally 'phone home'. The downside is that it costs plenty to use it.
There are some who consider long range single side band (SSB) radios to be an archaic, expensive anachronism. We are very happy with our Icom 710 SSB with Pactor which gets used on a daily basis. It took a couple of days work to install it all but since then - no problems. Not only can the SSB be used for communication with other boats and shore stations, it can now receive free GRIBs, text forecasts, weatherfaxes, voice forecasts, navtex, SW radio services (such as the BBC) and email. The daily radio nets are the very stuff of the cruiser life, particularly on passage. Mechanical and medical problems can be discussed with several other boats simultaneously, weather forecasts, social chat and recipes can be swapped. Try that with an Iridium telephone at $XX/minute. The only repeating cost is our annual $250 Sailmail fee. But if one to get an Amateur license, the Winlink system is free, but I ran out of time to sit the UK exams.
I think if one had to choose between the systems, the deciding factor would be how and how much you intend to use the systems. We are on a circumnavigation and for us, the SSB approach made sense.
Hope that helps
Angus
An Iridium phone is light, reasonably cheap (in comparison with SSB/Pactor) and easy to install, uses little power and you can literally 'phone home'. The downside is that it costs plenty to use it.
There are some who consider long range single side band (SSB) radios to be an archaic, expensive anachronism. We are very happy with our Icom 710 SSB with Pactor which gets used on a daily basis. It took a couple of days work to install it all but since then - no problems. Not only can the SSB be used for communication with other boats and shore stations, it can now receive free GRIBs, text forecasts, weatherfaxes, voice forecasts, navtex, SW radio services (such as the BBC) and email. The daily radio nets are the very stuff of the cruiser life, particularly on passage. Mechanical and medical problems can be discussed with several other boats simultaneously, weather forecasts, social chat and recipes can be swapped. Try that with an Iridium telephone at $XX/minute. The only repeating cost is our annual $250 Sailmail fee. But if one to get an Amateur license, the Winlink system is free, but I ran out of time to sit the UK exams.
I think if one had to choose between the systems, the deciding factor would be how and how much you intend to use the systems. We are on a circumnavigation and for us, the SSB approach made sense.
Hope that helps
Angus
AndersG
Well-Known Member
Have a look at winmor before spending a lot of money for a pactor modem.
Talbot
Well-Known Member
SSB - great for inter cruising chat and weather fax
Email is really a question of how you value your connectivity. Pactor cheapest to run, but connection is slow and not the most reliable. Iridium is much better connectivity, but at a higher running cost.
Purchase of iridium versus a pactor 3 - difference is lost in the noise!
Email is really a question of how you value your connectivity. Pactor cheapest to run, but connection is slow and not the most reliable. Iridium is much better connectivity, but at a higher running cost.
Purchase of iridium versus a pactor 3 - difference is lost in the noise!
whipper_snapper
Well-Known Member
Have you any experience of using this ? Is it functional yet or still under development ? Various forms of pactor by sound card have been 'almost ready' for years!
KellysEye
Well-Known Member
As others have said the systems are diiferent. SSB is the lifeblood of long distance cruising. But we also have an Iridium phone kept as back up in the grab bag. If you have an EPIRB and can only afford one I'd go SSB.
AndersG
Well-Known Member
No experience of it and it is currently in beta but it is supported by winlink.
I don't know for sure if it will be supported by sailmail but I expect that they will.
http://www.winlink.org/WINMOR
Troutbridge
Well-Known Member
I have SSB but decided to go the Iridium route. If you buy pre-paid minutes then the cost can work out at 79p per minute (buying 500 mins + 1 years line rental). For me, no contest. SSB for nets etc but Iridium for weather and emergencies.
whipper_snapper
Well-Known Member
I half agree! I have SSB but no sat phone. For me SSB is great for chats and also for weather - fax and gribs via pactor. But I agree it is close to useless in an emergency. I accept that out of VHF range (for me, that is almost always) my only means of shouting for help in an emergency is the blunt instrument of the EPIRB.
If I had time, power and functioning kit, I could also send an email to the MRCC at Falmouth! I wonder how often they check their email!
Moodyjim
Well-Known Member
Some very interesting replies thank you folks. I have the SSB and an Iridium but have been pondering the purchase of a Pactor as an alternative. A pal has just finished the ARC for the second time and has just used the Iridium solution plus a Pactor is quite expensive to buy and have installed. I am in the Med for another couple of years so I suppose there's no rush but there is always the insatiable urge to fit absolutely everything that money can be wasted on!!!! 
MailASail
Well-Known Member
Hi, Ed Wildgoose from MailASail Satellite Communications here
Sounds like you have got a lot of GOOD advice here. The summary is as you expect, really the more you pay, then the easier the equipment tends to be to use and also faster, something of a pays your money and takes your choice situation...
We tend to position all the devices on a curve and point out you get more as you go up the curve, but it's the hardware cost which tends to help people choose the appropriate device...
- Pactor SSB (short text emails, limited grib)
- Iridium (larger text emails, some attachments, still limited grib)
- Inmarsat Fleetbroadband FB150 (web browsing, VPN, large gribs for reasonable cost. Data is about 1/6th the price of Iridium)
In your case I would point out that the price of a Pactor will pay for 1-3 *years* worth of call costs on your Iridium, so I guess carefully do your sums to make sure it's actually good value to save some running cost by purchasing a Pactor? It may be beneficial to pay larger running costs, but avoid the fixed purchase price of the other equipment? (Do your sums and figure out for yourself though)
I think in general most users probably only want one or the other - it's a bit of a corner case to benefit from having both (although I concede this is the liveaboard forum and hence full of "corner cases"...)
Good luck
Ed Wildgoose
Sounds like you have got a lot of GOOD advice here. The summary is as you expect, really the more you pay, then the easier the equipment tends to be to use and also faster, something of a pays your money and takes your choice situation...
We tend to position all the devices on a curve and point out you get more as you go up the curve, but it's the hardware cost which tends to help people choose the appropriate device...
- Pactor SSB (short text emails, limited grib)
- Iridium (larger text emails, some attachments, still limited grib)
- Inmarsat Fleetbroadband FB150 (web browsing, VPN, large gribs for reasonable cost. Data is about 1/6th the price of Iridium)
In your case I would point out that the price of a Pactor will pay for 1-3 *years* worth of call costs on your Iridium, so I guess carefully do your sums to make sure it's actually good value to save some running cost by purchasing a Pactor? It may be beneficial to pay larger running costs, but avoid the fixed purchase price of the other equipment? (Do your sums and figure out for yourself though)
I think in general most users probably only want one or the other - it's a bit of a corner case to benefit from having both (although I concede this is the liveaboard forum and hence full of "corner cases"...)
Good luck
Ed Wildgoose
mike_bryon
Well-Known Member
Have you considered getting neither. We use the internet to obtained weather and to keep in touch with friends etc. I also rely on it for work. We access it through cafes, wifi or mobile phones depending on where we are and how long we will be there.
When on passage we have vhf and a world receiver (and epirb for emergencies). We pick up forecasts with the receiver or vhf.
Otherwise we rely solely on the internet and when we stop somewhere for a while a local sim card for a mobile phone. We had an ssb which we hardly used. When we were stuck by lighting it got fried. We meant to get it repaired/replaced but failed to. We always meant to buy a satellite phone but never quite found the money. We have now cruised long enough without either that we have concluded we don’t need them.
When on passage we have vhf and a world receiver (and epirb for emergencies). We pick up forecasts with the receiver or vhf.
Otherwise we rely solely on the internet and when we stop somewhere for a while a local sim card for a mobile phone. We had an ssb which we hardly used. When we were stuck by lighting it got fried. We meant to get it repaired/replaced but failed to. We always meant to buy a satellite phone but never quite found the money. We have now cruised long enough without either that we have concluded we don’t need them.
oldvarnish
Well-Known Member
JayBee
Well-Known Member
We like our Iridium phone and think that it was money well spent. Airtime is expensive, but with reasonable care, the cost benefit equation works for us.
We use the phone for text emails, Ugrib files and the excellent forecasts and synoptic charts available through Mr Wildgoose's company, which are very fast and really easy to download. The ability to make an instant call for any assistance in an emergency has got to be worth something and, as has been pointed out, the phone can be taken into a liferaft, or ashore, as easily as any cellphone.
Next time we are heading for Iridium territory we will install an external antenna, which should improve things even further. It has been a bit of a pain to have someone sitting in the cockpit operating the phone while another person sits at the laptop, down at the chart table, downloading stuff.
We use the phone for text emails, Ugrib files and the excellent forecasts and synoptic charts available through Mr Wildgoose's company, which are very fast and really easy to download. The ability to make an instant call for any assistance in an emergency has got to be worth something and, as has been pointed out, the phone can be taken into a liferaft, or ashore, as easily as any cellphone.
Next time we are heading for Iridium territory we will install an external antenna, which should improve things even further. It has been a bit of a pain to have someone sitting in the cockpit operating the phone while another person sits at the laptop, down at the chart table, downloading stuff.
AndrewB
Well-Known Member
The choice for us has been Iridium + receive only SSB. The combined purchase cost was similar to that of a good full SSB.
On passage, we still have weather info and faxes from the SSB, and can listen in to cruiser nets even if we can't communicate. (If we hear that there is a yacht close enough, we may ask them to relay a VHF message). We report our position etc every other day to a shore base via Iridium. Shore base tells us of any urgent communications from home, to which we can respond. That, plus emergencies, is its main purpose.
No need to get licenced with this combination, though the Iridium line costs £30 per month plus call charges.
On passage, we still have weather info and faxes from the SSB, and can listen in to cruiser nets even if we can't communicate. (If we hear that there is a yacht close enough, we may ask them to relay a VHF message). We report our position etc every other day to a shore base via Iridium. Shore base tells us of any urgent communications from home, to which we can respond. That, plus emergencies, is its main purpose.
No need to get licenced with this combination, though the Iridium line costs £30 per month plus call charges.
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