Iridiaum sat phones
Submitted: Monday, Aug 23, 2004 at 13:51
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Leroy
Hi again,
Was on call this past w'end and had all my calls diverted to the sat phone. It's a Motorola 9500. I had to be contacted urgently on Sat night and nobody could get through even though they did try to dial directly. I checked the phone at various times of the day and 'Iridium' was on the display and a couple of bars of signal. It was p***ing down rain when they tried to call. Does really bad weather usually pose a prob? Also when I got back to my vehicle the next day I plugged it into the external antenna and 3 messages came up, numbers left by the people that called. It's like it has signal but 'nobody is home!' Is this normal behavior?
Leroy
Reply By: Bob Y. - Qld - Monday, Aug 23, 2004 at 14:09
Monday, Aug 23, 2004 at 14:09
Leroy,
Heavy rain can upset
satellite TV broadcasts, so can't see why it wouldn't affect Sat. phones too. Doesn't have to be where you are either, it can be at the uplink site as
well.
Have done checks using BOM satellite map to work out why the crickets off, when we don't even have a cloud in sight.
Hooroo...
AnswerID:
73680
Follow Up By: Member - Bob - Monday, Aug 23, 2004 at 19:57
Monday, Aug 23, 2004 at 19:57
Apart from administrative problems when I came to transferring the account I had no problems with Globalstar's performance. Have you owned a Globalstar satphone? If so and have had problems it would be helpful if you could elaborate. If not, then best not to contribute to the background noise by repeating meaningless guff.
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Follow Up By: Member - Bob - Monday, Aug 23, 2004 at 19:59
Monday, Aug 23, 2004 at 19:59
Sorry, this message was meant for Dave who posted below.
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333803
Follow Up By: Dave from Fraser Coast 4WD Club - Monday, Aug 23, 2004 at 21:47
Monday, Aug 23, 2004 at 21:47
Sorry Bob Y, but to answer Bob.
No I haven't owned one but have hired them, as with just about every other satelite system, (Westinghouse, Nec S1 and S2, Inmarsat, Globalstar and Iridium)
How many different forms of satelite communications have you used Bob??
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333815
Follow Up By: Member - Bob - Tuesday, Aug 24, 2004 at 07:48
Tuesday, Aug 24, 2004 at 07:48
Dave,
in satphones : original telstra system in 1996 (was it Inmarsat?), Globalstar, Iridium.
otherwise: Epirb (not actually used), GPS, one way internet satellite (how I am logged on now), and Foxtel :-)
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Follow Up By: Dave from Fraser Coast 4WD Club - Tuesday, Aug 24, 2004 at 07:52
Tuesday, Aug 24, 2004 at 07:52
so can we agree to disagree then??
I say Iridium is better, you say Globalstar!!
cheers
FollowupID:
333839
Reply By: Dave from Fraser Coast 4WD Club - Monday, Aug 23, 2004 at 14:19
Monday, Aug 23, 2004 at 14:19
did you have the external aerial connected or were you expecting it to work from inside the vehicle (I am making an assumption that you did not leave it out in the rain)!
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Follow Up By: Leroy - Monday, Aug 23, 2004 at 14:59
Monday, Aug 23, 2004 at 14:59
I had the phone on the dash of the boat with it's antenna extended and pointing up. I only use the external antenna in the car.
Leroy
PS It may be a work phone but I decided not to let it get wet!
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333779
Follow Up By: Dave from Fraser Coast 4WD Club - Monday, Aug 23, 2004 at 15:13
Monday, Aug 23, 2004 at 15:13
It is strange behaviour. Ours will usually recieve messages without trouble but sometimes struggles a little with recieving calls (in a rainforest!!)
----- just be glad that you don't have Globalstar ----
(ducks for cover, again!)
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333784
Reply By: Nudenut - Monday, Aug 23, 2004 at 14:26
Monday, Aug 23, 2004 at 14:26
at the time i didnt know but I found out later that i had sent code to globalstar which diverted all my calls to Voice mail...you havnt done the same thing eh?
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Follow Up By: Leroy - Monday, Aug 23, 2004 at 15:01
Monday, Aug 23, 2004 at 15:01
I tested it and it answered before I left. I might just test it again as maybe something happened in the mean time.
Leroy
FollowupID:
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Follow Up By: Nudenut - Monday, Aug 23, 2004 at 15:46
Monday, Aug 23, 2004 at 15:46
yep
mine did the same ...thursday it worked fine before i was about to leave ....friday it went thru to voice mail........only cos i was playing with (and not really knowing what i was doing i sent message code which diverted it)
learnt a lesson dont play with things you dont know any thning about.
but its a bit odd that the manual doesnt tell you anything about how to set divert to aussie standard.....globalstar had to email them to me to i could reverse it
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Follow Up By: Leroy - Monday, Aug 23, 2004 at 16:18
Monday, Aug 23, 2004 at 16:18
Stop playin with it or it will drop off!
tested it before and it was fine but I did notice the signal dropped out for no reason momentarily and then was fine. Clouds maybe?
I think they are good for outgoing calls but I don't think I will be able to trust it for incomming.
Leroy
FollowupID:
333786
Reply By: Cobra - Monday, Aug 23, 2004 at 21:43
Monday, Aug 23, 2004 at 21:43
Not sure why but this has happened a few times (even in fine weather) over the last few years with our work phone. But calling worked fine. Guess it may have been a temporary glitch in the system
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Reply By: Stewy - Tuesday, Aug 24, 2004 at 10:14
Tuesday, Aug 24, 2004 at 10:14
Heavy rain effects sat phone reception, had similar issues while my son was in timor
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