Monday, Jun 13, 2016 at 08:25
Hi Malcom
Is that a silly question or what or are you ignorant about the dangers of remote travel?
In the event of a serious event that could involve injury, you may not be in a fit mind or others travelling with you may not know how to use the sat phone.
First of all you have to turn in your sat phone, Aquire a signal then know what procedure is required to send a text message, and who to send the message to.
The GPS data is not sent automaticly, and if the data is sent via a text message, does the person at the other end know where you are or who to contact to get help? What happens if the message that you send as a text message is not answered for many hours after because the person at the other end has a flat battery, or their phone is turned off, or they simply do not here the message come in?
With a PLB or EPIRB, it ia a very simple matter of releasing the antenna, and everthing else happens automaticly. The signal transmitted from your emergency
beacon is picked up by dedicated satellites and the information is immediately picked up in
Canberra. Because every
beacon has its own unique code, they know who you are, and the names and phone numbers of 3 people that you nominated when you register the unit.
The response team will know where you are and to get things moving straight away. From the question that you have just asked, you do not take seriously the lives of you travelling companions seriously, or you are a fool to think that because you have a sat phone, you are safe and help with be automaticly sent.
How many times have I said here on
forum posts, with the cheap costs of buying a PLB or ELPIRB, they should be compulsory to every vehicle that heads into remote areas.
Stephen
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