Is this a useful Gadget? Sends text messages up to 6 miles without mobile network

tudorsailor

tudorsailor

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Just been reading about gotenna. Pairs to you phone with bluetooth, and the allows text messaging to another gotenna user by long wave radio signal.

http://www.gotenna.com/pages/how-it-works

No financial interest. Curious to know if others think this is a silly idea or not. I would imagine hoisting one up the mast would give coverage of at least 12 miles. Shame not 20 miles as it would then be useful for the ARC

Tudorsailor
 
tudorsailor said:
Just been reading about gotenna. Pairs to you phone with bluetooth, and the allows text messaging to another gotenna user by long wave radio signal.

http://www.gotenna.com/pages/how-it-works

No financial interest. Curious to know if others think this is a silly idea or not. I would imagine hoisting one up the mast would give coverage of at least 12 miles. Shame not 20 miles as it would then be useful for the ARC

Tudorsailor
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A quick correction, not long wave, its actually just below the VHF frequency we use. Channel 16 is 156.800 mhz
What is the point? VHF with a good antenna is good for 20 miles, plus if you used one of those over here, whos frequecy would you be stepping on?
S
 
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tudorsailor said:
I was simply quoting the website....

Of course if you could link it to the boats VHF, the range would be much bigger. Would it then be useful for the ARC?

Tudorsailor
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On the face of it a good idea, but, why not just use the VHF? All you are doing is using the phone as a mike in essence.
although if you were to use the gizmo away from land it would avoid using dedicated marine bandwidth.
S
 
Why would anybody want one of these if they have got a VHF radio?

It's one more bit of kit that solves a problem nobody has.
 
Just like any other text message it would be private but also encrypted, so would avoid broadcasting chit chat on the VHF

Might it not be a good way to send a weather forecast?

TS
 
tudorsailor said:
Just like any other text message it would be private but also encrypted, so would avoid broadcasting chit chat on the VHF

Might it not be a good way to send a weather forecast?

TS
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Just found it in the Sunday Times review, £100, confirmed it does encryption so worth looking at
S
 
tudorsailor said:
allows text messaging to another gotenna user by long wave radio signal.
Click to expand...

skipper_stu said:
not long wave, its actually just below the VHF frequency we use.
Click to expand...

tudorsailor said:
I was simply quoting the website....
Click to expand...

Misquoting :)

It doesn't say long-wave, it says "long-range radio waves", ie long range in comparison to Bluetooth.

My guess is that it uses the American "MURS" band: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multi-Use_Radio_Service

No such allocation in the UK, according to Ofcom's list you'd be stomping on some radio astronomy stuff, and/or general licensed "land mobile".

Can't see any real use for it on a boat. Can barely see a use anywhere :). I guess it fills the same niche as PMR446 walkie-talkies but for people with an ingrained habit of texting rather than talking...

Pete
 
tudorsailor said:
I was simply quoting the website....

Of course if you could link it to the boats VHF, the range would be much bigger. Would it then be useful for the ARC?

Tudorsailor
Click to expand...
Offshore you're out of VHF range of other similar speed yachts within a few days, in my experience.
 
prv said:
Misquoting :)

It doesn't say long-wave, it says "long-range radio waves", ie long range in comparison to Bluetooth.

My guess is that it uses the American "MURS" band: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multi-Use_Radio_Service

No such allocation in the UK, according to Ofcom's list you'd be stomping on some radio astronomy stuff, and/or general licensed "land mobile".

Can't see any real use for it on a boat. Can barely see a use anywhere :). I guess it fills the same niche as PMR446 walkie-talkies but for people with an ingrained habit of texting rather than talking...

Pete
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Yes, I couldn't see much need for it either.

The web-site does say that :goTenna will even work if your smartphone is in “Airplane Mode”! That's an interesting claim from a device using Bluetooth to a phone and also transmits in VHF region. Perhaps it goes into PCM (Psychic Comms. Mode) when inside an aeroplane.

Perhaps that's the selling point. :D
 
You can turn Bluetooth on after you put your phone in Airplane mode..... clearly that defeats the whole point, but I guess you could argue different levels of airplane mode. Even so, the goTenna will still be transmitting!!! So another fail there!!!!

Other than texting someone who is known to be close by with a bit of encryption...... what do you gain?? It looks like a product desperately looking for an application.
 
It is practically a text version of a low power (2 watts) walkie talkie. It uses VHF frequencies 151 to 154 MHz assigned to Multi Use Radio Service in the US, but NOT the UK and Europe, thus it cannot be used legally in our areas (reference: http://www.ofcom.org.uk/static/spectrum/fat.html).

Beside the fact that it is not legal to use, I do not see the point of it when we are licensed to Marine VHF that can rely upon more transmit power.
 
savageseadog said:
Could possibly be used as a way of remotely monitoring yacht instrumentation?
Click to expand...

Provided you can reverse-engineer the connection between their proprietary app and their proprietary hardware, that is, and figure out how to talk to the thing from your own code.

Almost certainly easier to use an off-the-shelf module of some kind which is designed for third-party use and comes with documentation.

Pete
 
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