Satellite communications

There's a few videos on the subject (I'm not impressed the way some are presented

I'm enjoying this one because it give the evolution of navigational aids and that is exactly what I need at this stage.
But then I want to concentrate on specific modern day aids.

MARINE ELECTRONICS: Communications at Sea, Navigation, and Sailing Apps


Communications & Internet While Cruising -

How do we communicate at sea
 
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If the British Government's rescue of OneWeb can survive legal challenge, it could be a game changer for web access and communications in remote locations, including mid-ocean. Why bother with Iridium phones if you can Skype from a browser on your tablet/laptop.
 
If all you want is limited communications along the lines of emails or text messaging, then I’d consider a Garmin InReach or a Spot. Both enable you to send and receive messages (albeit limited in size) and to send position information to enable people to track your trip. Reasonably cheap to buy and there are a series of subscription options to suit.
The other alternative is the Iridium Go, which sets up a wifi data connection via the Iridium network. Slow data speed but fine for small emails.
I used an InReach and a Iridium Go on a transat. We found we made far more use of the InReach as we could share messages with friends and family quickly and easily (a message would arrive and immediately be transferred by Bluetooth to the addressee‘s iPad or phone), we could get localised weather forecasts and the positioning information was appreciated by those ashore. The Iridium Go was used daily for emails but frankly we could have quite cheerfully done without it: it was expensive, had to be in the open to receive a reliable signal and the link to the PC or tablet was always a bit flakey.
 
I'd get a YB3 tracker (formerly Yellowbrick): YB Tracking | Truly global satellite tracking beacons for yacht racing, adventures, treks, expeditions and challenges | Products - YB3

Repaired one for another cruiser this winter and liked what I saw inside. They're well designed and built and the company tech support was commendable, going the extra mile to help me fix up his very early model and upgrade the firmware to fix a battery management bug. Most other companies would likely just tell you to bin it and buy the latest model.
 
Yngmar said:
I'd get a YB3 tracker (formerly Yellowbrick): YB Tracking | Truly global satellite tracking beacons for yacht racing, adventures, treks, expeditions and challenges | Products - YB3

Repaired one for another cruiser this winter and liked what I saw inside. They're well designed and built and the company tech support was commendable, going the extra mile to help me fix up his very early model and upgrade the firmware to fix a battery management bug. Most other companies would likely just tell you to bin it and buy the latest model.
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I had a Garmin inreach issue. We finally managed to fix the problem with advise from Garmin. They offered me a new unit in the event that we couldn't fix ours. They would charge us $150 US. Pretty reasonable for what was a four year old unit at the time. They were very helpful as has all my experience with Garmin over the years. The Inreach has been brilliant over the last few years for long distance sailing
 
The OP expressedly wants to exchange emails: none of the Spot, YB, InReach etc devices are suitable, they can do SMS if one wants but not emails with data attachments and the like.
Purely for general internet data (email, gribs and the like), possibly the best IridiumGo, though not so good for voice communication. Unlimited tariff plans particularly interesting.
Check today SSB email capabilities though, you may be surprised :)
 
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Roberto said:
The OP expressedly wants to exchange emails: none of the Spot, YB, InReach etc devices are suitable, they can do SMS if one wants but not emails with data attachments and the like.
Purely for general internet data (email, gribs and the like), possibly the best IridiumGo, though not so good for voice communication. Unlimited tariff plans particularly interesting.
Check today SSB email capabilities though, you may be surprised :)
[/QUOTE

For the difference in cost, in my opinion the iridium Go is not worth the money. The Garmin Inreach is half the money. On the unlimited tariff, £65/month, you have as much Messaging to mobile phones or email addresses as you want. You only have 160 characters but you can send as many messages as you want. Once you get to 160 characters you just send then carry on with your email on the next message. You do all this through an ipad or other tablet. You get free local weather info and can pay a $ for a detail marine forecast.

We have three friends with Iridium Gos who have had reliability problems. They got them fixed eventually but there does seem to be a reliability issue. The Salty Dog rally three years ago suggested that anybody using an Iridium Go should have a Inreach as back up because of the Gos unreliability.
I think the Go is better in theory than in practise. No internet and adding attachments to email is not great
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coopec said:
There's a few videos on the subject (I'm not impressed the way some are presented

I'm enjoying this one because it give the evolution of navigational aids and that is exactly what I need at this stage.
But then I want to concentrate on specific modern day aids.

MARINE ELECTRONICS: Communications at Sea, Navigation, and Sailing Apps


Communications & Internet While Cruising -

How do we communicate at sea
Click to expand...
Thank you - they were interesting
 
Roberto said:
The OP expressedly wants to exchange emails: none of the Spot, YB, InReach etc devices are suitable, they can do SMS if one wants but not emails with data attachments and the like.
Click to expand...

The YB3 can do email if paired with a phone (similar to the Iridium Go). Its advantage is that it's still useful as standalone device though, which the Iridium Go is not. The Iridium Go's advantage is that it can you get real IP traffic, although hyper-expensive and too slow to be of much use for anything. You do not want to receive attachments by satellite connection anyways, nor poll your regular email address, as that will quickly ruin you.
 
Yngmar said:
The YB3 can do email if paired with a phone (similar to the Iridium Go). Its advantage is that it's still useful as standalone device though, which the Iridium Go is not. The Iridium Go's advantage is that it can you get real IP traffic, although hyper-expensive and too slow to be of much use for anything. You do not want to receive attachments by satellite connection anyways, nor poll your regular email address, as that will quickly ruin you.
Click to expand...
?
Gribs, charts (and sometimes text bulletins too) by email always come as attachments. Sure it's important to check the size beforehand as these offshore email systems cannot handle big files, but say a few tens kb can usually be handled easily.
The advantage of IridiumGo is they offer unlimited traffic tariff plans which are not overly expensive (and can be interrupted whenever one wants). The transfer speed remains low, but should one wish one can leave it there until the download is complete, I think it has a system to transfer files by chunks so it does not have to begin all over again.
I do not particularly like the IridiumGo for other aspects, but for email with data attachments (grib charts etc) it is one of the best choices (after ham ssb, which is even better :° ).

If one does not want gribs or any other data files attachment then there are all the other systems, InReach etc etc. which are a lot better.
 
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