Thread: Sat phone vs mountain radio

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?

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)