VHF radio or satphone?

very few travellers have VHF do you mean HF or UHF and where do you want it to work?

Gday,
If you only want it for emergencies, I would get a sat phone....You can call someone for help direct if you need something and you dont need arials and things.
The main advantage of Hf is you can get weather reports, news and have a general chat with other travellers. If your not into chating on radios the sat phone would probably be better for you.

Cheers

Thanks pepper2 - should have been HF of course!

Just to add to the info - need it to work anywhere and anytime we're out on our own and without mobile phone reception. Could be Yengo NP but also Simpson Desert.

In my opinion both is the best way but if I had to choose one it would be HF. The only advantage of a sat phone is you can quickly remove it from your car, e.g. If your car caught on fire in a remote area, but HF is far cheaper in the long run.
cheers Rob

i have hf but sat fone is simpler,if you go hf remember other members of your party must be trained to use the radio,if you were the only one trained and also incapacitated untrained others may not be able to call for help....they cannot pick up the mike and yell HELP
do a check on globalstar before you decide

I got a Globalstar sat phone for my last trip and it was an abslolute heap of rubbish, would not work in cold conditions, they gave me all sort of excuses and it took more than 3/4 of the trip before they got it back to me in Alice, by then the need for one was over, it has since kept switching off and when i tried to get it fixed up under warranty they wanted to charge me $55 for it, told them to stick it and since they will not have CDMA coverage after next Jan. I consider the contract null and void. I don't know about the other brands but I would never have another sat. phone and will go with other options. (smoke signals would be better than a Globalstar)
Feel better now that I have got that off my chest.

Get a HF unit and then hire the Sat phone for the peroids that you need it. That way you have the best of both worlds :)

Cheers Kev

With a sat phone, you will never know if there is someone only 5 liometres away who could help. Paps

We travel in groups - theres always a couple of sat phones and a couple of HF radios.

The HF radio people usually tune into the odd sked session each day to make sure theres no messages for them, and to find out whats happening around them - travellers, weather etc VKS log their location and expected destination the next day. So theres a current database of who's around you, and perhaps they could be selcalled in an emergency to help. If theres an emergency of any sort, the VKS operator generally has a few good clues about how to get help to you - they may phone around to get parts for you, or to find out the best way out of your predicament. So you have an experienced "mate" doing the running around. They will also connect you with RFDS.

You can also make telephone calls out through your HF radio by subscribing to a radio telephone network like BushPhone or Radtel. I use these, and find it very good. I usually call my wife or kids every day of two, so they have track of where we are and hows it going. But I've also used it to phone a friend, or parts dealer, or vehicle service dept to get some info.

But theres a big learning curve for knowing how to get the best out of your HF - everything from picking the right aerial, frequencies, time of day, distances etc etc etc It takes a lot of practice. And if you roll, drown or burn your vehicle, your HF will probably go with it, so an EPIRB is pretty handy for such occasions.

If you have a sat phone, you have to make the calls, unless you belong to something like RAA Assist, where your motoring organisation or insurance company is willing to do some running around on your behalf. Otherwise you'll be phoning to arrange your own recovery - you just need to have access to a list of important phone numbers - ideally every station in the area, as well as police, ambulance etc

Sat phones are great for calling friends, family or your business, and a sat phone allows them to easily call you. The fact that Globalstar are providing a substandard service at present is a nuisance but will hopefully improve. And most people can easily learn to use a satphone. And if you roll, drown or burn your vehicle, theres a fair chance you can hang onto the satphone.

Cheers
phil

This question frequently comes up and as you can see there can be a variance in opinion.

The reason for this is that neither will outperform the other in certain circumstances. What you need to decide is what is the real motivation for having one. Do you want to maintain regular contact with someone (VKS737) when travelling in remote areas, or do you want it for emergency contact only.

We choose to have both, although being connected through Globalstar we share the frustration of many on this forum with the current quality of service.

The new generation HF radios are simple to use if you are willing to spend a small amount of time to learn how to use them. Joining services such as VKS737 will give you access to pertinent travel/weather information, and commercial operators like Radtel enable telephone calls through the network along with emergency support and assist services.

For my money, the HF is well suited for outback travel; whilst the issue of it becoming inoperable in the event of the vehicle being destroyed is a consideration, it assumes a presence of mind that you will take the satphone in the event of an accident. That may or may not occur. An EPIRB carried in your pocket might be more useful than either the HF/Satphone in such an instance in any case.

Work out what you need it for, that will enable you to choose the alternative more readily……..

Oddly enough, your original question on VHF Radio could be appropriate in an emergency. All transport aircraft operating in Australia monitor frequency 121.50, the same frequency that the old generation EPIRBS transmit on. In an emergency you all almost certain to be able to contact someone…although for the cost of a VHF radio you might just as well by a Satphone.

Cheers

Yep - seems you are posing the old "long distance comms" question .....Satphone of HF (not VHF). We have a balanced article at at VKS737 on that topic - vks737.on.net (Satphone tab, far right of main site view). Re the comment above that "VKS737 is duty bound to help out anyone on channel in an emergency" is indeed true - but a broken down vehicle full of tucker, tents, water and healthy people is not an emergency ! ...... try the Police.......this is the view that they would take. That said, VKS737 volunteer operators do of course often help out people who are "severely compromised in the bush" (no emergency) but to stay on-side with the ACMA regulations, it is best if a paid up member is somewhere in the loop (ideally, the person that the base station is talking too).

Johan

Have a look at the Codan NGT HF www.telstrat.com.au Not cheap, but they provide instruction classes which helps in understanding how a HF operates.

The others have covered it pretty well, but if you decide on a Satellite phone, look at the Motorola 9505. I've used it many times and would recommend it to anyone.

The other obvious consideration is an EPIRB.

The other thing that never seems to be discussed on this site is a survival kit.

These gadgets are all good and well, until things go pear shaped. I've been bushed a few times and don't go anywhere without a survival kit.

Regards

Kim

Kim

"In case of need only" is definitely best served by a sat phone. When you need it you can call precisely the service you need. An HF (I assume you mean HF) radio is good for a chat, free to use but you might not get the service/person you want. It is also a costly permanent fitting in your car as opposed to a sat phone which is similar to an ordinary mobile.

If you want to buy new then an Icom IC-F7000 and a multi tap whip is probably the best value for money.The Icom has a built-in pre-amp,so it works well with the whip.The Codans use on a preamp in the auto tune antenna and don't work as well with a tapped whip.

ERR, had a few beers :)), from my brief flying days VHF i usually used in planes. Go HF.
How much you spend will reflect on how easy it is to use, ie a cheap one will do the job in an emergency(you just may have to climb a tree to mount the aerial)
Cheers Lyndon