Iriduim

[ayms]

I’m looking to get an Iridium phone to send and receive email as well as the added assurance of (hopefully) being able to contact anyone in the world directly in an emergency situation.

I would like to know from anyone that already has one installed is whether I should be thinking about getting one of the additional antenna’s or whether siting it at the chart table ( which is just inside the companionway ) will be ok ?

Also whether I need to additionally think about some compression software like Zap ?

Using their “data kit” I understand you can connect to the internet albeit at 2.4 kbs either via their direct connection or a form of dialup. Is there anyone with experience of this ?

I’m hoping to purchase from the US which means I will have to get it as a non-activated sim which I hear costs more, are their any other pit falls ?

Basically any information would be great.

Thanks.


<hr width=100% size=1>Doing the Arc ? Me to on www.makathea.co.uk

 

[danera]

The better the view of the horizon, the less likely your connection will be dropped, so I would definitely recommend the external antenna. Also make sure it is mounted at least 1m from other aerials, particularly inmarsat-c & other transmitters. Bear in mind that as you approach the equator the distance between satellites increase, so what works well in the UK doesn't always in Ecuador!

Compression email also helps to reduce the connection time - I've only experienced uuplus , which works pretty well. They have iridium dial-ins which cost less per minute. There's nothing more infuriating than having it drop the line halfway through a transfer & see another $4 wasted! It really depends how much email traffic you expect to have, whether to pay for these services. Don't even think about internet access, it's not just the slow speed but also the lag in getting data to and from servers. The iridium data kit is one of the most painful pieces of software I ever dealt with! Trying to hook it up to a laptop without a serial port also causes problems...

We've also had to have our unit repaired a couple of times, so think about yourr warranty if purchasing from US - I would recommend www.rme.com (Roy Morley) as a UK supplier.

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[ayms]

I was planning on using a USB to serial converter. Are you saying this is not possible ?


<hr width=100% size=1>Doing the Arc ? Me to on www.makathea.co.uk

 

[broadcaster]

Hi,

What are the satellite phones that Vodafone sell with a standard SIM card. They work on GSM when in range and satellite when out of GSM range.

They seem quite cheap and you can get them on E-Bay, you then just buy a SIM with subscription from Vodafone.

Andy

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[Jeannius]

Aymsley...

I used an Iridium phone and data kit during ARC2002. Bought it at auction on ebay from Germany. If you are buying one second hand insist on having the serial number before parting with cash... Lot's get stolen and then blocked by Iridium. If you have the serial number Iridium will tell you if it has been reported stolen or not.
Didn't use an external antenna but usually got a very good signal at the chart table in my cat. You'll have to try it and see what it is like in your own particular boat.

I used a serial port.... haven't yet tried a usb/serial converter (but I do have one and will try it next week and let you know the result).

The Iridium sats are not geostationary so it doesn't matter where you are in relation to the equator. There is some free software that you can download that will give you the positions of all Iridium satellites at any moment. Again, I'll find that for you next week. Sorry can't do it now, everything is on my office laptop.

Trying to browse the Internet was expensive and useless. Email (through MailASail) was brilliant. I was able to ftp weather fax images from NOAA very well. Again, I can provide you with scripts.


Wish I was doing the ARC again!! Let me know if I can help anymore.


Mike

<hr width=100% size=1>Mike

<A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.sailbvi.net>www.sailbvi.net</A>

 

[jambaman]

we used Iriduim throughout the red sea and med (not that it was really required for the latter). The threads above are quite correct, forget internet use. We used outlook express and configured it to not except any message over 50Kb and no attachments. This worked well but unfortunately, spam still held it up every now and again. due to the Red Sea being so damned unpredictable weather wise, (or predictable, depending on which way you look at it!!) we stopped using Weatheronline services, but they did send daily updates which came through OK and would consider them again. Though the external antenna costs a fair bit, i would recommend using it, though i would not purchase the coax cable as it cost a bomb and it was nothing that anyone of us could do ourselves. We also used the Iriduim for text messages which was useful and cheaper.
The connection to the PC was indeed 9 pin, and we found that we had to disconnect within the Port menus on the PC any other device that were setup to use com port 1 (like our Palms), once that was figured out, all went OK.

The reason we opted for Iridum over the likes of Thuraya was their coverage. Having used the Thuraya for work on a couple of occasions, they are good where they work, but where there is no sat coverage or the sim card is not recognised, they are useless.


good luck

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[jambaman]

we used Iriduim throughout the red sea and med (not that it was really required for the latter). The threads above are quite correct, forget internet use. We used outlook express and configured it to not except any message over 50Kb and no attachments. This worked well but unfortunately, spam still held it up every now and again. due to the Red Sea being so damned unpredictable weather wise, (or predictable, depending on which way you look at it!!) we stopped using Weatheronline services, but they did send daily updates which came through OK and would consider them again. Though the external antenna costs a fair bit, i would recommend using it, though i would not purchase the coax cable as it cost a bomb and it was nothing that anyone of us could do ourselves. We also used the Iriduim for text messages which was useful and cheaper.
The connection to the PC was indeed 9 pin, and we found that we had to disconnect within the Port menus on the PC any other device that were setup to use com port 1 (like our Palms), once that was figured out, all went OK.

The reason we opted for Iridum over the likes of Thuraya was their coverage. Having used the Thuraya for work on a couple of occasions, they are good where they work, but where there is no sat coverage or the sim card is not recognised, they are useless.

hope this helps.
good luck

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