Austral Downs

Thank you Spinifex, and why didnt I think of that ? :)

Peter, another option is to use your UHF when you get close, find the repeater channel & give him a call...
just a suggestion...

Thanks Goughy, I will be doing that as well.

Bruce is away on holiday at the moment, but I will call him back next week. They do like to know as they can advise if there is any area being worked that travellers should be wary of.

Now that's something I should make sure of, that I do have my list of repeaters. I rarely have the UHF on unless it is a trek over dunes.

Our "keep us amused experiment" this trip is to hook up the satphone to an external ant. just to see how it works while on the move. If it works we could then run a webcam for the folks back home to drive along with us. Yes, expensive but you never know unless you try.

Peter,

Don't think Austral has a repeater, they would work on ch.15. Also, they use HF a fair bit, so if you have one, they work on 2020 kHz.

Hooroo...

Web cam on the Sat Phone.... I'd like to see that.

The Sat Phone bill when it arrives.....I'd really love to see that.

The look on your face when you see the bill.....Priceless.

Peter You don't happen to be a beneficiary to Kerry Packers Will by any chance? LOL.

Ah ok thanks Bob Y. We weren't going to take the HF this time (carrying it through customs is a real pain) But will make a note for future reference.

As for the cost of the satphone John :)

Yup, it can be a tad expensive, although the way we have set up our access we get the first 500 minutes at a reduced rate, which is handy to say the least. Paid in advance.

And no, we wont be running it for hours on end. The idea for this trip is to just see if it can be done. Running a webcam while mobile. Many truck drivers do it in Canada but then they have access to "hot spots"

Our main problem with taking the trusty Toshiba is that we rent the vehicle and they don't like the idea of us poking holes to mount it for stability, so I guess it will be a case of lots of velcro.

The whole idea came about as a way of testing comms in remote areas. Our next adventure after the trip back home is across Russia. Some friends of ours did the trip last year on motorbikes which was fun, so they said.

We have a few things left on the list of "to do before we die" . And the Khabarovsk to London trip is one of the biggies.

Thanks for all the thoughts