carl2591 wrote:
no one, or at least from what i could see, mentioned a satellite phones.
they work most every where, with the exception of in a tunnel, for the most part.
they are a bit pricey but if you absolutely have to make a call this will work.
sorta like a cell phone on steroids with a teenage boys appetite.
just sayin.. now there is some military grade stuff that bounces off sat's for calling but you need a bit more than a ham license for that.. :)
Been there with sat phones and travel with several folks that have them. Depending on carrier, reliability of connection varies. However MOST will not work well in a car w/o an external antenna connection. Iridium uses sat system that will generally give you a good chance of connection at least every 15 minutes or so since the sat are not geosyncronous. Hence if your not in view of a sat you have good chance of being in view of another one as it goes overhead in a different location. (Globalstar) Spot uses LEO geosycronouus sat. you need a clear view of the southern sky and a sat for reliable connnection. Just like sat tv. canyons, buildings, trees etc can end up with no signal.
The people I travel with that have sat phones. In our experience we have the most reliable connection with Iridium. Globalstar(spot) is the least reliable. Inmarsat is in the middle. However, we have been in enough situations where NONE of them will get a connection reliably that we rely on them for communication.
