Which HF radio carrier?

Here is my take Norm. Some of this information may be a little old.

VKS737
Very large network. Lots of members, ( 3000?) Can get very busy in winter, great listening. Easy to get weather, local conditions etc. Good Skeds
Quite structured. Not very flexible, expensive, especially for things like phone calls etc

HF Radio Club.
Very clubby, seems to be dominated by a handful of people who know each other very well. It's like sitting next to old friends talking about something you have no interest in at the pub. You can't and don't want to get a word in.
Quite innovative. Less expensive than VKS but fewer base stations. Very helpful. Only 4 base stations.

HF OZ / Radtel
Never heard many users on this. No Skeds.

Reids
Many channels Expensive calls. Mainly for phone calls from what I can figure out. I don't think they have skeds.

HF touring club.
I think this is a spin off of the HF radio club. Inexpensive. Don't know much else.

Austravel Safety network.
Seems innovative, they have a few skeds and 6 base stations. Inexpensive, $80 plus $40 for phone calls GPS logging etc. Phone calls are free once you pay for acccess. Less busy than VKS 737 Supports emergency call buitton on most radios. Like VKS they will tell you conditions like weather etc if you ask.

IMHO the Austravel Safety network offers the best compromise of price, critical mass of users and services.

VKS is the best for lots of base stations and users but it is rigid and it can be hard to get a word into the skeds in winter at times.

It would be interesting to see what others think too. I think all offer things like SMS / messaging and phone interconnects these days. Also some like HF radio club and Austravel offer location tracking. All may do that these days too.





If you want

Hi Tony and interested members . Its called the Australian HF Touring club which i am a member of. It has the use of 19 frequencies and 5 bases to chat from member to member, log your coordinates, send and receive SMS and emails or place phone calls, automated news and weather reports. You can read more here.
https://aussiehf.club/theclub.html andhttps://aussiehf.club/services.html. Having the free phone calls is a big bonus providing your set is capable.

A few days ago the above mentioned Australian HF Touring Club instituted an emergency response protocol that members may use when they are in distress or need urgent assistance and have no access to the established phone systems. Members with gps or selcall capability's can simply send a GPS or selcall to a certain number on any and all of the Clubs 80 channels (83, 82, 81 and 80) untill a revertive is received from any base Aust wide.
Once picked up by a base the AHFTC will be alerted and we will attempt to establish contact with you to determine the nature of assistance required.