Monday, Jul 29, 2002 at 00:00
Steve, you are making a lot of assumptions here. Firstly a question was asked and I gave my first hand response. Secondly, I have travelled over 30,000k's on holidays over the past 2 years (and I am about to go again in a few days) through QLD, NT and
South Australia, and survived with "only" a UHF set and a couple of mobile phones (GSM & CDMA) and never had need for anything else. Thirdly, I have brokendown out there but was smart enough to carry enough spares to fix things with the help of a passing truckie. The point is, take what you are comfortable with. Without being anti social, not everyone wants to broadcast their whereabouts or what they are doing, I go into the outback to get lost, not be contactable, and the last thing I want to do is turn on an
HF Radio, Mobile Phones or anything else where I can be found. I am very happy to stop to help or assist anyone in trouble that I happen to wander across, but I'm not wandering around out there looking to be a mobile mechanic or workshop supply! I'm sorry if this doesn't meet your code of the outback, but my sole reason for succumbing to buying a sat-phone is purely a recently diagnosed medical one. PS, 3 days walk out of
Tasmania's South West is just as isolated as anywhere in the outback (HF definately isn't practicle to carry in a backpack down there!):-)
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