Satphone experiences...

artguys wrote:
Thanks folks...2 old guys in their 70s, that would be me and a friend who owns a 36' Cape Dory will be doing a Gulf of Mexico crossing in a couple of months. My friend is old school. Doesn't use any of the modern navigation methods...just charts and sextant or communication aids other than a VHF radio. I'm good with it as we've done it a few times. This time I told him that having some form of satphone might be a good idea, to which he agreed.

Since that's what you're doing, I would worry more about a good HF High Seas radio and an EPiRB. It's a voluntary "requirement" (whatever that means) for any mariner with a radio to listen to VHF Ch.16, and 2182 KHz in blue water. If you get in trouble it's a heck of a lot faster to grab the mic with an SOS and pop the EPIRB than it is to boot and get service from a sat phone. Also, take your friend to the boat shop and buy a GPS for him. It really doesn't matter how he likes to navigate, but the CG could really use those numbers while the EPIRB is getting organized and you're bailing the bilge. I don't know if she's still there, but the high seas marine phone operator did a fine job last time I listened.

I had an Iridium sat phone at the office for many years and finally killed the service because the users couldn't deal with the loop-around latency. Hopefully the newer generations can do a better job of nulling that out, but that wouldn't be my 1st choice for your trip IMO.