Satellite phone q's Do u have one for 911 emergencies?

[newkidontheblock]

Ok, so I'm back to amuse you all with rather noobish like questions. Got myself a decent sized boat for the area I am cruising in (Coast of maine) which has THOUSANDS (literally, it does) of islands that can and WILL obstruct a VHF transmission. While this makes it great for cruising in a nice smaller vessel (I use the ciera 2355 I posted about last year, upgraded the v6 to a brand new v8 this past winter, itching to try it out lol), its not so great for VHF reception/transmissions. No matter how many boats are out there, theres probably going to be something in the way because of all the obstructions in the area. We dont have the most light houses in the nation for nothing Anyway, I do have a VHF radio, it does work, and I've used it once to make a test call. But I dont trust it without a backup plan B because I'm not cruising in open waters with little to no obstructions or in a place where relaying is a viable option (its not really that reliable in this area from what I have been told by other sailboat guys). The CG does have strategically placed towers or whatever it is they use, but thats just a bandaid to cover a gaping wound.

So that brings me to my next question, what am I going to use for a backup emergency com system for my VHF? I've heard of HF Radio and Satellite phones. I'm more inclined to use a satphone because I know they work pretty much anywhere here in the coast of maine since we are further north and the satellites fly right over the top of this state on their way over the northern orbit paths. I havent seen any real reason to use an HF radio over a Satphone. If there are any pro's/con's of using HF over Sat, I'd like to hear that first.

Secondly, if I go with satphone (which I expect to be the case if I dont see any other reasonable options), does anyone know if I can simply buy an inactive phone on like craigslist or ebay and then use it to call 911? Obviously if I had a phone I would actually dial 911 and see what happens. But I'd rather have a good idea of what would happen BEFORE I dropped the money for the phone itself first. Has anyone done this themselves? Did it work as expected?

My backup plan to the VHF is currently to buy an inactive Sat phone and use it for 911 emergencies in case the VHF doesnt work. Who knows, if the service plans arent that expensive I may even activate one, but I've read about outrageous per minute charges on sat phones, so that probably wont ever happen any time soon.

 

[halfmoa]

Re: Satellite phone q's Do u have one for 911 emergencies?

Feb 2005 was the deadline in the United States for satellite phone providers to provide 911 services. If you're far enough out from shore to be in international waters IDK if it'd work or not...but I'm sure a provider could answer that question. Inactive sat phones are exempt from FCC regs to provide 911 service in the way a cell phone does.

Can't help you with the other questions.

 

[newkidontheblock]

Re: Satellite phone q's Do u have one for 911 emergencies?

To be in international waters here in maine, you literally have to be out over 150-200 miles because the boundaries encompass all of the islands in the gulf of maine, not just the mainland. If I'm out past that boundary, I'll have more issues than a non-working com system That would be a very long tow back to dry land too lol. So I dont have any plans to be in international water.

 

[tx1961whaler]

Re: Satellite phone q's Do u have one for 911 emergencies?

Why not get a Spot messenger?
http://www.findmespot.com/en/

 

[halfmoa]

Re: Satellite phone q's Do u have one for 911 emergencies?

To be in international waters here in maine, you literally have to be out over 150-200 miles because the boundaries encompass all of the islands in the gulf of maine, not just the mainland. If I'm out past that boundary, I'll have more issues than a non-working com system That would be a very long tow back to dry land too lol. So I dont have any plans to be in international water.

LOL very well.

 

[Woodnaut]

Re: Satellite phone q's Do u have one for 911 emergencies?

Have you considered a PLB or EPIRB? You can't "make a call" on them, but in event you find yourself in a catastrophic situation, it's really good to have one on hand. I have a fixed VHF (linked to the GPS), a cell phone and two PLBs on board.

 

[newkidontheblock]

Re: Satellite phone q's Do u have one for 911 emergencies?

Have you considered a PLB or EPIRB? You can't "make a call" on them, but in event you find yourself in a catastrophic situation, it's really good to have one on hand. I have a fixed VHF (linked to the GPS), a cell phone and two PLBs on board.

Have not considered either of these, I dont even know what they are or how to use whatever it is. My guess is that its probably like a SPOT thing or homing device? I've looked at spot and it seemed to be to limiting to me to be useful. I like the idea of being able to speak to something and get a reply rather than push a button and have no idea if the broadcast worked or not. I want confirmation that whatever I send out was received. In otherwords, 2 way communication, not 1 way. I would not trust my life to pushing a button on a beacon for example. I would however trust my life with something I can get a reply back from a real person. I guess I'm just not a fan of push button emergency solutions. I would get one for the homing features, but certaintly wouldnt rely on it for communications. I dont consider a beacon as a "com" device. I would consider it as something that is used AFTER the com is established. Like, calling the CG, they may ask if I have a beacon that I can turn on, in which, I could do if I had one. I havent yet looked into beacons, but once I get coms situated, that is going to be my next step, find some sort of homing beacon that can be used in conjunction with the coms system.

I do have a question though. Why is a cell phone in your marine coms tool set? What role/purpose does it play since its probably not going to work while on the water where there are no cell towers. Does it have some sort of GPS feature that you are able to utilize without having a data connection? I have an Android DroidX but the GPS has always been useless unless I have cell reception. I havent really seen any apps that utilize the GPS portion of the phone that also doesnt require a cell signal.

 

[JoLin]

Re: Satellite phone q's Do u have one for 911 emergencies?

I do have a question though. Why is a cell phone in your marine coms tool set? What role/purpose does it play since its probably not going to work while on the water where there are no cell towers.

Any and all coimmunications capability depends on where you boat. I wouldn't be without both a fixed and hand-held VHF, but I always have cell phone reception, too.

The questions you're asking are usually posed by owners of much larger boats who do long-distance, open water cruising. Your situation is one I haven't run across before- you run a (comparatively) small boat, but you have limited comm capability in your boating area. VHF is 'iffy', and no cell phone reception, right? That means you need to take it up a notch or two, and it all depends on how much you can afford to spend. I assume you already have auto-inflate PFD's and a ditch bag.

First step is to maximize whatever comm capability you already have. Get the tallest VHF antenna you can fit, and make sure your GPS is wired to a VHF equipped with DSC function. When activated, the DSC will automatically send a VHF distress signal along with your precise location. Next, I'd invest in an EPIRB, for the simple reason that a small boat will swamp much faster than a big one, and you might not have time to make a call before you lose your electrics. Sat phone would be next/last on my list.

My .02

 

[H20Rat]

Re: Satellite phone q's Do u have one for 911 emergencies?

I do have a question though. Why is a cell phone in your marine coms tool set? What role/purpose does it play since its probably not going to work while on the water where there are no cell towers. Does it have some sort of GPS feature that you are able to utilize without having a data connection? I have an Android DroidX but the GPS has always been useless unless I have cell reception. I havent really seen any apps that utilize the GPS portion of the phone that also doesnt require a cell signal.

Slightly off topic, but yes, for any droid phone with a gps, the gps will function perfectly fine with zero data coverage. You can even turn the data radio off and still have GPS. It is a true GPS chip, not cell assisted gps. The trick is to find an app that can do something without data, hopefully more than just give you raw gps coordinates. (although that would be helpful by itself)

 

[newkidontheblock]

Re: Satellite phone q's Do u have one for 911 emergencies?

Slightly off topic, but yes, for any droid phone with a gps, the gps will function perfectly fine with zero data coverage. You can even turn the data radio off and still have GPS. It is a true GPS chip, not cell assisted gps. The trick is to find an app that can do something without data, hopefully more than just give you raw gps coordinates. (although that would be helpful by itself)

Well I have been out several times now and the VHF does work, but I've noticed that in the areas in which I run (boothbay harbor area), the islands and obstructions do tend to interfere. I'd be listening to a convo by some people and then silence for about 5 mins, then all of a sudden it comes back very clear but the people are continuing to talk like there was no silence to begin with. I noticed this twice, both times an island was between me and open water. I assume these people were likely further out than I was and the island cut the signal. So I've since picked up an old sat phone that works on a windup mechanism. The battery inside is charged by winding it up heh (not even sure it has a battery). I've already tested it on the water and it actually functioned well. The 911 op took the test call as expected and was even able to tell me my location somehow (it wasnt exact but pretty damn close). The same guy also had a PLB device that he gave me for free but I have no clue if it works. I'm not about to turn it on to find out either and then get fined by the CG for false alarm. Is there any way to test such devices? Or do u just turn it on and pray to god it works?

Oh ya, and after someone here mentioned that the phone I have has a real GPS unit in it, I've since found Navionics which works ok, but it crashes a lot. I'd like to hear about other apps people use also. The navionics works WAY better on my Android table (asus transformer prime). I've used it to navigate to/from monhegan island, as well as Platts Ridge (an underwater fishing ridge) successfully, both are about 50 miles out to sea. But its best use is navigating my normal running grounds around the islands as it REALLY helps avoid the rocky/shallow areas. Like, A LOT. It's already saved me from going through a shallow area several times that "looked" like it would be ok to go through if you just used the naked eye. I've shown it to a couple people already and each one of them tells me its better than their Garmin's. One guy showed me is 740, and I'd have to admit, the navionics was indeed easier to use and seemed to be more up to date and very much more detailed because of the "Community Layer". I dont think the Garmins have such an animal. The cool thing is that it works on my phones and on the tablet, so I essentially have 5 GPS units because each person in my family has a droidx Plus the tablet lol. The only feature I really liked on the garmin was the actual plotting feature. It could auto-plot a course based on a "safefty depth". Where as with navionics I have to chart the course by manually setting each waypoint, but it only takes a few minutes to do that anyway. Its quite simple, but an auto-plot feature would be kinda cool. What Android GPS apps do you people use if any?