sat phone

Hi, Mixo and others

I've used the Iridium phones extensively in central Australia and the Kimberlys. An excellent bit of kit.

The Motorola 9500 (first ceneration slightly larger than the second generation 9505) weights 700grams with a spare battery. This is really only important if you're carrying it on your back.

I picked one up for $850 and I'm on a Telstra Casual User Plan. It costs me $28 a month to stay connected and $1.98 per minute to use.If you pay $49.50 per month (Active Plan) the cost of a call drops by half)

A "new" 9500 from Telstra will cost you $995, a 9505 costs $1995

The phone works all the time, every time even in light to medium forest canopy. Wet, thick rain forest tend to stop them (and most GPS's as well.) until you find a small break in the canopy, then they work fine. The phones beat the fertilizer out of a HF set for reliability. OK, you don't have the so called "social aspects" of listening in or communicating on a HF radio network, however I have the sat phone as a safety item along with my EPIRB and use it as such. It's not really a "chat machine", unless you're well heeled!

If needed, I can turn it on and make a 000/ emergency call (I have a laminated card with all the relevant numbers I may need in a particular area). Additionally I use it like a radio as I have a scheduled time that it will be turned on say 7-8am and 7-8 pm daily so family. work etc can reach me. I only use this setup if I'm walking in places like the SW of Tassie, carrying the unit in my backpack and have no place to charge the 2 batteries. The 2 batteries I carry give me enough stand-by time for at least 2 weeks's contact.

The units come with 12V and 240V chargers/power supply and a magnetic roof top aerial(same as a GPS aerial) so you can set one up in a vehicle and leave it permanently switched on.

Cost wise, it takes a lot of $28 monthly fees to bring the cost of a sat phone up the cost of a new HF set AND you can carry it away from a vehicle. Get one, it's worth the money and the peace of mind. ET can phone home from anywhere, any time.

Cheers

Mario,

Where did you get the phone from?

Stuart

Mario,

Thanks for the info on SAt Phones, I live in the USA and the prices here are $1250.00 US for the 9500 and cheapest plan is about $35.00 per months so the Aussie prices are far less than over here.

you'll need to redo the web site without the nomenclature