ssb or satelite?

[30boat]

I have a brand new Icom M 710 waiting to be fitted(no time right now) but recently have been wondering about an Iridium satelite pohne.I don't really like chatting on the radio when at sea so it would only be used for essential comunications .I already have the rest of the setup in place ie. backstay aerial, tuner and earth so it wouldn't be difficult to put the whole thing together but now I don't know.Opinions?
Thanks.

 

[iangrant]

SSB is great across the Atlantic, weather forecasts and routing from Southbound II other boats long distance RX and free!

Sat 'phone was very useful for contact home and downloading grib files (at a cost) for weather info. Email etc...

cheers

Ian

 

[snowleopard]

Just ask yourself one simple question - when coastal sailing, which would you rather have - a mobile phone or a VHF?

I suspect the answer would be both. When long-distance cruising the same arguments aply to SSB/Satphone.

 

[michael_w]

Get GRIBs for free via SailMail or WinLink.

 

[Talbot]

these are really used for different things although there is a cross-over.

SSB - primarily inter-cruiser chat and weather faxes.

It can be used for e mail and gribs but cost of the modem is about the same as buying an iridium phone! and service is a lot slower than iridium (but cheaper)

Iridium - safety and voice comms + email and gribs. Richard Woods used his (and was probably the major aid in his rescue) in the recent rescue from his eclipse in very bad weather.