Sat phones...again !

Because I've mentioned them in this forum before.

LOL :-)

Footloose
whereabouts on the Madigan are they, what is the problem?
I've just come home from a trip across the Madigan line, happy to help if possible.
Peter

Peter, vary much appreciated, however the problem they had has been fixed. It was more a problem with bookings at Batton Hill and arriving early.
They have had a dream run through, and are several days ahead, obviously they didnt want to tread on people's toes as there has been some tradgedy in the family of the guys who run the place.
Many thanks for the offer.
Got any pix on the web of your trip ?

No I haven't sorted them out yet.
Your friends probably had a good run as we had blazed the trail, no tracks for a lot of it due to fresh growth so we lost the track quite a bit. After our four vehicles it would have been pretty well defined.

Peter, apparently there have been/will be a few mobs out there. I guess it was probably your tracks they were following, as you apparently left a few sticky uppy bits for the tyres :))
They tell me a few decent dunes, nothing too challenging they said (in public, anyway). They are well prepared and experienced, so I don't anticipate any real hassles...hope thats not the Judas kiss LOL

Yes there were plenty of stakes although we only suffered 4 stakes between the four vehicles, all plugged on the spot and kept going. I'm still driving on mine and will probably continue to do so as they show no signs of casing damage or leaks after the trip home.
There were plenty of big dunes, lots with live tops and no tracks over them. We averaged about 40 - 50 k a day overall, took 11 days from Mt Dare to Birdsville, some days the speedo never got into double digits (less than 10kph!!) and the others it was usually around 14 -15 kph over most of it the latter when there were even faint tracks to follow.
Apparently there had only been Ian from Mt Dare and another group of two vehicles across before us from what we can work out from visitors books and tire tracks enroute. There had been a fair bit of rain and more growth since then so the tracks had disappeared in lots of places. Was a great trip though.

I forgot to add our Iridium satphone worked perfectly the whole trip, always had signal but there is something inherently wrong about being in such a remote location and being able to make phone calls ;-)))

Yes I wondered why they were moving fast enough to have a rest day at 6 , and still be two days ahead. Obviously all the hard work was done by yourselves.
Good job they had a radio, I wish they'd consulted me about sat phones before they went.
Never mind, another great trip that I havent done yet.

It's too convenient to whip up a huge bill, chatting to the wife and kids.
But if you need point to point in an emergency, nothing beats a functioning sat phone on a decent network. On the other hand, if you want weather and track conditions, and a bit of news, a radio is the way to go.
I try and carry both :))

Yes we keep in contact with VKS every day when away in remote areas, much better for info, amazing what you learn just listening to the skeds.

Sounds like very useful Mike - may I just clarify:

If I send an SMS message from GSM, CDMA, Sat phone etc to the telephone number 106 it will go to the 000 emergency service and, hopefully, they will act upon it?

Mike Harding

Mike H - yes, if you have no-one else that you can be sure will be able to respond to an emergency SMS (friend, relative) then SMSing to 106 will ensure that your msg gets to a responsible person.

I assume it will only work on Satphones with Australian numbers.

i.e. a Telstra SIM card in an Iridium phone.

If you have an Irdium SIM card with an International Phone Number assigned to it, I'm not sure if it will work.

If you are not certain that it will work from your Satphone, thend send a test call before you go remote. The 000 Operators don't mind getting test calls - they're far preferable to some of the crap they have to put up with.

According to this site National Relay Service this service is NOT available for use by SMS

"This service cannot be accessed by text message (SMS) on a mobile phone"

I'm glad someone did actually check BEFORE going bush.

Maybe the "106 Text Emergency Call" logo is what started this urban myth !

So I wonder if the "SMS to a standard phone" that Telstra prvides is then the only option if you can't get through on voice ? This service converts SMS text to speech that is read out on a home phone.

Although I do agree that an SMS message will often get through when a voice call won't. Just need to work out who to call....