Thread: Sat phone vs mountain radio

Heading to fiordland next week. Like the idea of the sat phone vs the mountain radio due to size and usability.

What would people recommend. Will be used for weather updates etc

Satphone can be used anywhere almost to call anyone with a phone number, you could even surf the forum all be it at 2.4k ( i am assuming iridium) but can be expensive especially land line to sat phone (not so bad the other way)
Isatpro units you need to point the antenna toward the single Pacific satellite so you need a clear view of the sky to the NW, Iridium is not directional like this as their system has a lot of Low Earth Orbit satellites instead

Iridium system is best for the likes of us

maybe consider both, one for weather reports etc and the other for general chit chat with home

Not to bothered on chit chats to be honest. Just from experience the mountain radios are huge and we are planning on not having a base camp meaning setting radio antenna up heaps...

Sat phone might work best for ya then.

As an aside my employer used to rent an Iridium Handset complete with 2 batteries, chargers etc etc ( we had it on a plan for possible cheapest calls) we no longer do it because basically the thing get wrecked by the hire'ers and it became way too much of a hassle sorting who owed how much for what (call costs) and who lost what and broke what.
All got way too hard

Pity really cause we were only charging about 20 bucks a day + calls as pretty much cost so was quite cheap

Originally Posted by mikee

Sat phone might work best for ya then.

As an aside my employer used to rent an Iridium Handset complete with 2 batteries, chargers etc etc ( we had it on a plan for possible cheapest calls) we no longer do it because basically the thing get wrecked by the hire'ers and it became way too much of a hassle sorting who owed how much for what (call costs) and who lost what and broke what.
All got way too hard

Pity really cause we were only charging about 20 bucks a day + calls as pretty much cost so was quite cheap

So the iridium feature is the key part then, is this any good? Isat Satelite phone Pro - #A2620677-1 | Trade Me

Sounds like the sat phone will be the way to go if you have no base camp. Ive used iridium phones a lot in the past and as such would certainly not rely on them for emergency comms but for weather should be good, somebody could sent you texts with updates. Obviously check out battery life and make sure you don't leave it on

Have a great time and I look forward to reading the report.

Originally Posted by PerazziSC3

So the iridium feature is the key part then, is this any good? Isat Satelite phone Pro - #A2620677-1 | Trade Me

That works on the Inmarsat System so you would need to point the antenna towards the Satellite (To the North West). So wont work so well in gullies and anywhere else you dont have a clear view of the sky in that direction. Plan costs can be expensive. I would suggest if you are buying a phone (iridium or otherwise) put it on prepay and buy the minimum credit (it usually only valid for 1, 3 or 6 or 12 months depending on how much you buy)

Inmarsat Coverage only 4 satellites

vs Iridium (lots of sats)

What about an inreach? Can send and recieve texts and also has a Plb function.

DeLorme inReach - Two-way satellite text messaging, tracking and SOS anywhere in the world

Originally Posted by stug

What about an inreach? Can send and recieve texts and also has a Plb function.

DeLorme inReach - Two-way satellite text messaging, tracking and SOS anywhere in the world

They really work quite well for text,

Have used both ( not in nz - so maybe no help in this...) iridium was much better.
Faster to 'connect', good call qual, smaller phone. Had a dual sim phone hand set, one for sat and one for gsm/3g, was real good.

Cant remember on battery comparision life though.

I've changed to Inreach, can txt to any number of phones or computers, can receive replies, type in your text, put it out by the tent, pick it up 10 minutes later and your text is usually gone through. If things are good ie satellites, then its instant. And it has a PLB feature, very handy. A lot of the helicopter Co's are now using them as they are so reliable. And they are way smaller than a sat phone.

just went through the same debate Perazzi for an upcoming Fiordland trip and have opted to go for the Sat Phone only option for the first time in place of the old mountain radio. Have hired an Iridium phone from IT Rentals in Auckland which was the cheapest I could find.

what we have done to cover the weather reports is we have nominated a hunting mate who can't join us this year to be loosely on hand in the evenings for us to call in. i also spoke to the mountain radio service who update their weather forecast on their website EXACTLY as it is read on the mountain radio. the morning forecast is uploaded to the website after the radio forecaster has reported it / the afternoon forecast is uploaded sometime in the afternoon, well before the radio forecaster give the evening report at 7.30pm. here is the forecast page -http://www.mountainradio.co.nz/weather.html

if we can't get through to our mate for whatever reason then they can go onto the iridium website to send us a free text and just copy and paste the key parts of the forecast in the text https://messaging.iridium.com

not sure how well it will work when we are out on the trip, but this is the plan for now...

Originally Posted by LOC

just went through the same debate Perazzi for an upcoming Fiordland trip and have opted to go for the Sat Phone only option for the first time in place of the old mountain radio. Have hired an Iridium phone from IT Rentals in Auckland which was the cheapest I could find.

what we have done to cover the weather reports is we have nominated a hunting mate who can't join us this year to be loosely on hand in the evenings for us to call in. i also spoke to the mountain radio service who update their weather forecast on their website EXACTLY as it is read on the mountain radio. the morning forecast is uploaded to the website after the radio forecaster has reported it / the afternoon forecast is uploaded sometime in the afternoon, well before the radio forecaster give the evening report at 7.30pm. here is the forecast page -http://www.mountainradio.co.nz/weather.html

if we can't get through to our mate for whatever reason then they can go onto the iridium website to send us a free text and just copy and paste the key parts of the forecast in the text https://messaging.iridium.com

not sure how well it will work when we are out on the trip, but this is the plan for now...

What was the cost?

Inreach and a Plb.

Originally Posted by PerazziSC3

What was the cost?

10 days for $225 including gst

sat phone weighs about 375g and doesn't have a gps or emergency function
(old yellow mountain radio is about 670g + aerial so guessing 1kg?)

this company's calling rates were lower than others that quoted too.

- Calls from sat phone to NZ phone $2.50/min with no charge to receiver
- Text from sat phone to NZ phone approx $1.00 each
- Free texts to sat phone from Iridium website
- Call from NZ phone to sat phone charged to account of caller (i checked and think Vodafone charges about $12.50/min)