Emergency communication - do you have a sat phone?

Hi

We do not own or carry a Sat phone, but have a HF Radio and PLB. I have been a member of VKF 737 Network since 1994 and if help is needed, I know that it does not matter where in this great country of ours, someone is out that to hear your call and they help that the operators is nothing but first rate and professional.

Cheers


Stephen

We intend on hiring one if or a mate has one who may be tagging along

Can I ask who was in the vehicle as I know people out on the Oodnadatta at the moment.

I would say a fair few .....

"I don't need a sat phone, it's just more money for something I'm NEVER going to use and besides that someone with one will come by a offer help.... wont they?"

Some people put $10 on their lives and other a hell of a lot more.

We always travel with sat phone, GPS PLB, Spot and HF radio.

People think they aren't going that far and don't need good comms but try walking 5 kilometers with a broken leg.

I'm a big advocate of being self sufficient and prepared for the unknown.

I don't have one & don't intend to get one.
I never even lived in a house that had a telephone until the mid eighties. Never had any communication difficulties either.
We were more isolated 10 miles from home back then than you are on the Oodnadatta Road today. Didn't bother us then & still doesn't.
A few times now I have come across people that have rolled & quite a few more that have had mechanical breakdowns. It has all been dealt with without the need of under 10 year available technology.
Tell you what. You wouldn't want to be one of those galoots that goes into a trance & starts walking around in circles as soon as they put a phone to their ear on that Oodnadatta Road if you have got one. You could get skittled.

We will be carrying a UHF, a Sat phone and our mobiles. Should have all bases covered with those. I hope everyone in the rollover was ok.

Sass.

I travel solo into remote areas a fair bit and wouldn't leave home without my sat phone. Not only is it a great companion...I can chat to my family regularly, but it gives peace of mind and is the difference between proper self sufficiency and relying on others for assistance.
I have used my sat phone twice to summon help for broken down vehicles and believe it is irresponsible to travel into very remote areas without adequate communications. I also have a Spot tracker and other bits and pieces but no HF radio.
Tony (Brisbane)
2005 D4D hilux extra cab

hi to all
interesting thread and glad the people involved in the double roll escapes serous injury concidering they were only small children what a terrifying experience for them perhaps they were all strapped in with a seat belt??
i have never owned or used hf or a sat phone and hva done 1500km's on one trip without either and got through but thats a chance some of us have taken but i'm but i was younger then but have seen hf used on one trip but agree the aerial damage is a big probability in a roll over

but those who have spoken out in favour of a sat phone and feel so secure because they are carrying one
have completely overlooked the fact that a sat phone could also get destroyed or thrown out of the vehicle and/or beyond an injured persons reach in a severe rollover and be rendered useless
but i agree 2 or 3 systems is better safety insurance than none at all and it is strickly a personel choice
not mandatory but ive never taken things totally for granted either as there's risks involved in all travel in isolated areas
my 2 bobs worth
cheers
barry

On a lighter note, I always carry a new pair of new double pluggers in case of an emergency + a carton of cool ale and a backup chook.

Everyone forgets the UHF repeater stations.

Oodnadatta Track is covered by a series of at least 5 UHF Repeater stations. These repaters would put them into contact with the local pastoralists.
Chances are that they people on the scene had the communications but didn't know how to use them. A map of SA repeater locations is here and is one of the important things I carry.

We came across a rolled Landcruiser about 150K east of Birdsville one year. We were the second on the scene - arriving 10 minutes after the accident. The first person on the scene had already made contact with the nearest property using his UHF repeater, and they were on their way to assist. The sat phone in our group was hit and miss - couldn't be relied upon as it kept dropping out, and when calling Birdsville Police we just got an answering machine.

Cant believe some of the absolute garbage expressed about people carrying a satfone. A satfone is another piece of equipment that although not vital, it is a great piece of equipment that has a real likelihood of saving lives in an emergency. I have 2. One is mounted in the car via aerial on bullbar and the other is in a pelican type case in the car. Have used either one numerous times when assistance reqd. It is so much more reliable than any radio system. The people who drive out in remote areas and denounce them as just another nanny state issue or an exaggerated toy are fools! No two ways about it. They give such a great piece of mind to an outback traveller as well...thus making for a much more relaxed journey. Have lived in remote area for 17 years and travelled some VERY remote areas. Go for an IRIDIUM satfone and enjoy your trip. Carry a list of fone numbers you feel will be of help also.
cheers

What was the reason for rolling on the Odnadatta Track?? Michael

Wow it is a hot topic ............... well some know me and i live remote and work remote and travel around a little bit but mostly in very isolated places and yep i own a sat phone, do own an EPIRB but prefer the sat phone, HF was great for its day but dont roll with one, you lose the battery and the anntennea and it dont work ....

BUT i have a question to all of you guys who own sat phones, when did you last make a call with it ???? I always have ours plugged in to the charger and always check to see if it is charging, take it everyware we go ..... the other day i gave it to a staff member to take out bush with them and when i went to explain how to use it i could not for the life of me remember the PIN, i was certain i had it written down but could not find it anyware ...... fat lot of good it would have been if i needed it eh ... i then discovered that our work phone was not able to make calls to sat phones so me leaving our sat phone number for them to call us was also a waste of time ......

So GET OUT THE sat phones and make a test call, teach all that you travel with how to use it as it aint worth squat if you dont know how to use it eh ..
Cheers
Joe

I want to put another perspective on the use of sat phones and HFRadio

Nearly everyone here has only talked about using the sat phone or HF Radio to help someone, what about when a close family member or friend has to make urgent contact with you regarding a incident at home.

You wife, husband, child, grandchild, mum or dad takes seriously ill or an accident and they don't think they will make it till the end of the week or worse still one of them has passed away and your not due home for another 14 weeks.... the funeral is in 8 days..... or they need you for support during tough times .

Now I know most will make regular contact but there are many times you can't for a few days or weeks due to no comms.

How would you feel.... getting home from a fantastic trip, happy and excited to tell the family only to be told about a serious incident that happened while you were away.

Some might say that will never happen but I've heard it across the HF more then a few times for uses of the HF or to look out for a non HF equipped traveller and ask them to call such and such re an issue at home.

All this just goes to show some people can get their head in the sand without even rolling a vehicle

ROFLMAO

What was the question again??

Check out Spero in thread 87500 ( I think that's the thread number).
He has towed a 32 year old Millard to Cape York with a 17 year old Nissan with 425,000 k on the clock without incident.
If he wasted his money on a sat phone instead of applying some sound driving & life practices he would have to double his capitol investment.

Don't have a sat or HF, have uhf as we don't go total off road to remote areas yet. Once the kids are older and the wife and I leave and travel/work then yes its a must I think.

Would hate to be stuck in the middle of no where in trouble at an old age. Not saying its worse than a young age. But for what the wife and I plan in a few years Its better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it.

We bought a sat phone when travelling through Africa solo in a 4wd a few years ago. We thought of it as an extension to our travel insurance, never used it which was the intention from the start but it was a nice feeling to know it was there if we needed it.

I have been reading everyone's comments to your views about owning a sat phone.

Having emergency equipment is definitely a must if you plan to head outback on your own - something we love doing.

There are many different forms of emergency equipment available on the market. The sat phone is one of these. Other forms of emergency equipment are HF radios, epirbs & Spot units. Everyone has there own views on which one is best.

From our experience, having just one form of emergency equipment can be an issue for us if it doesnt work when required in an emergency situation.

A good point raised about HF radios, is that if your emergency is because of rolling your vehicle, then the antenna will most likely be broken. However, there are many other emergency situations where the radio will still work.

With all emergency equipment, we are relying on the unit to be working when it is most needed. For us, when travelling outback on our own, we carry an HF radio & 2 spot units. You might think this is a bit of over kill, but in an emergency situation, we want to make sure we can get out. We also carry a second HF antenna in case our main one gets damaged.

Remember, Sat phones can break down as well. totally relying on one form of communication when travelling on your own is running a high risk, especiially if you like travelling on outback roads whre you dont see another vehicle all day.

Yes, we have had to use our HF for an emergency recovery about 5 years ago. I tired to ring RACV (my recovery insurer) but the RACV operator did not understand what an HF radio telephone call was, so hung up on me twice. Plan B had me calling VKS737 radio network in Adelaide. This was a much better option on that day - they contacted RACV who then contacted the RA in South Australia who then contacted the roadhouse at Nullabor to get a recovery vehicle out to us.

As you experienced with your emergency situation, one call did not solve the problem. Also our SPOT unit was tracking our trip and if the HF contact failed, we would have activated our emergency SPOT.

So in summary, owning a sat phone is good for emergency situations, but it is not the only form of emergency equipment. It is just one - for us we prefer to have more than one form - plus of course our mobile which helps a lot when near a Telstra tower - with our last trip to the Kimberley, we were amazed just how many places we could get out on our mobile with an external vehicle antenna.

Laurie