Do I need Should I have???

G* told me that they would be reselling the Iridium service soon...

and that you would be able to trade in your handset.

I have yet to see what they are offering, but you might want to look into that.

I'm surprised the G* works for you at all enough to be useful, but of course believe you if it does.

But to answer your questions I would want to know more - like:

Do your vehicles usually travel together?

How many days have you travelled and not seen other vehicles or how many places do you go to that others don't within 24 hours?

Cheers
Andrew.

The two tilt trays have sat phones and the F250 and trailer has one and then there is a spare one in an orange carry case for when we use other four wheel drives to go and extricate people in obtuse places...All vehicles have UHF as well.
So I would have to say yes a second one would not go astray, The topography and distances we operate in make them an essential work tool..

Steve a bit of a loaded question me thinks. :-)

Most of you're clients would not know what is needed or indeed what you may actually have in place, thats why they hired you in the first place as they believe you will have what is needed for the area they are visiting and the conditions likely to be found.

You are asking a question of the converted and the answer will be different based on the collective knowledge of the forum as opposed to the knowledge of you're clients.

For what its worth in my view toss the Global$hit and you only need the one sat phone being the Iridium as at least you know it will work when you want it.

Steve,

I am not sure if you already have them but have you thought about HF radios for each vehicle.

Expensive but it just might be worth it in the long run.

Wayne

Steve,

I agree with John. Most of your clients will have very little experience, and be looking to you as a god on the tours.

You are responsible (too some degree) for their safety (be it directly or indirectly) and if anything happens you will feel responsible whatever the outcome.

Go with your gut - if you believe that 2 is needed then get it - better to be over prepared and not need it.

Personally I believe that 1x UHF, 1x Next G & 1x Sat Phone is enough - but them that is what I deem Ok for where I travel with my friends. It can be easy to loose all communication equipment in a river crossing gone wrong. Its all about risk assessment, even more so when you are a Tour Operator.

"3G phone that work for 95% of the tour, each car has a 5 watt uhf radio able to contact each other 100% of the time".
I think you have enough communication to cover most situations by the sound of it.
Cheers Craig...........

Just to add Jim Jim and twin falls both have ECD in the gorge and on the escarpment.

I make a point and tell my guides to point out the coms we have to the passengers in case we ourselves become the victim EG : Andrew from Vivid last year.

I have been on this forum for 12 months and 1 day so I have a good idea how you think, this is why I asked your opinion.

In all honesty Globalstar has been annoying but has not failed me, hence keeping the phone.

I haven't seen a subsidy for a HF that compares to a Sat phone one, if there is one please let me know.

Thanks so far.

Cheers Steve.

Steve, you know what I'm going to say :)
A HF radio might be a handful if the emergency is the guide; not too many tourists could press the right buttons I'd suspect. Since your operations are fairly well constrained in terms of geography, Hf might be overkill.
I'd definately toss the Global $%^&. They're not going anywhere but downhill in a hurry.
Irridium would be my weapon of choice in handheld units. Even I don't have any problem using them, and I am useless with 3G next G oh Gee type stuff. So even a touro could quickly yell for help, and the oncosts of training your people to use them are almost nil.

Steve, if this is for work (money making) all you need to do is comply with worksafe or your conscience (not sure if thats the right word I had to use a paper dictionary),

The law states in WA the you must were practicable

Cheers

Richard

Hi Steve,
Based in Jabiru and travelling to and from Jim Jim and Twin Falls between there and Cooinda, you have more than enough comms. Your OH is spot on, save your money.
I would feel perfectly safe travelling on one of your tours.
Dennis

some cheap HF sets on Ebay I see, LOL

Yeh, get another sat phone. And an HF.

But I'm a fan of gadgets. It's just not possible to have too many.

Seriously though, I've no idea what your clientele's knowledge of satphone & hf is, so I won't try and second guess them.

However, in your business I don't think you can afford NOT to be able to contact emergency services if (when?) a client has a mishap. Like it or not (waiver or not!), people pass the mantle of responsibility to you when you lead a tour.

If I break my leg, I want to know that everything that can be done, is being done. Much of that would come down to how you handle a catastrophe. Frankly, if you are in control and have several plans and procedures for what to do when there's an accident, that would placate me.

If I get bitten by a taipan though, I want to be bloody sure I'm going to get in touch with anti-venom pretty damn smartly. To me, part of that would be to ensure he/she/it who is keeper of said anti-venom is aware that I need it, and is ready to greet me.

This might all sound like overkill. However, those of us who travel under our own steam do so at our own risk. We wear the responsibility for mitigating accidents when walkabout, but your business can't afford to have negative publicity (I don't buy that 'no such thing as bad publicity' bit).

Obviously you're not waiting for some catastrophe to occur before you think about it, and if murphy's on your shoulder you could wear the cost of a dozen sat phones without incident occurring. But, the day you leave them all at home . . . . . .

There's no easy answer, I don't think.

If I was on tour with you, I'd be quite happy with the knowledge you've got a sat phone. If I have an accident and the phone doesn't work, well . . . . . provided I live through it without losing too many bodily organs or functions, then I'd be right!

Cheers,
John

Steve,
Think of an action ........ie emergency
Then think of a reaction .......response

Can you handle with current communications?


Regards

Mark

I used to have the globalstar system and now have the other telstra system and wondered why I ever bothered with the gobalstar.

If you have two systems you will only end up using the one and getting rid of the other.

All the best
Eric

cape york connections

Hi
Just a thought...............
If things became REALLY desperate and it was the driver etc that was 'immobilised' what about an EPIRB? I realise that this is quite obviously a last ditch effort but I have known of lives to have been saved when the vehicle has been washed off the road, drowned the phone and HF and to boot, busted the HF antenna.

Seems like a cheap investment at about $500 for the newfangled ones with the GPS locator thingy.

What do you guys think?

Craig Mc Donald
Quebec 1770