rOn Wed, 9 Jun 2010 04:10:50 -0700 (PDT), Auspicious
wrote:

On Jun 8, 2:15 pm, Bob wrote:
Personally, less complicated is better that is unless you are
the second typ of person who supports use of ssb tx


A good friend did a cost analysis on long distance communication for
his new Cat. He calculated that, not including installation, the SSB
was more expensive then the Sat-phone, as well as being more
complicated to install on a new boat. So he installed the Sat-phone.

Interesting. Do you know what he included in running costs? Was it
amortization of the up-front equipment costs over a small number of
years? There is some quite good equipment available that isn't so
dear, but if you just tick the box for an Icom 802 things can get
pricey, especially for the international GMDSS version. The running
costs though are quite minor. Winlink is free assuming a ham license
and the commercial e-mail services are all around 250 USD / year.

Yes, he was referring to initial costs only - assuming that he had
nothing but VHF installed. His estimates were, as I thought I
indicated, for initial cost only.

If you have to talk directly to someone who doesn't have a radio it is
a bit more work. You can still find hams who run phone patches (free).
On the commercial side ShipCom has reduced their rates to 1 USD /
minute for calls to the US. Rates for other countries vary by country.
It's definitely more work than dialing a sat phone but cheaper.

I priced a similar system in Singapore a year or so ago and from
memory you could get on the air for less then US$1,000, closer to
700-800 U.S. dollars.

And then you go back later for a car-kit and an antenna after you
become sufficiently frustrated with poor connections and dropped
calls. If you are really unlucky, you dropped your sat phone over the
side just after your laptop got doused by water since you were in the
cockpit trying to get a connection after giving up below.

No, I'm fairly knowledgeable about radio systems and certainly
knowledgeable enough to know when I don't know something and seek
advise. The cost, if I recollect, was for a remote antenna, the phone
itself and an interface box to allow connection to a computer.

I honestly do not recollect the cost of calls other then that it was
cheaper then Iradium and the area was limited to S.E. Asia due to the
stationary satellite used. The "top-up" cards were $100 each and
limited in life time but I do not remember anything else except that
calls to various countries were made at varying costs.

I might add that the friend works as a off shore drilling
superintendent and mentioned that on the Rigs they don't use SSB phone
patches for phone calls any more. They all use satellite phones. I
believe that is where he got the idea to investigate them for use on
his boat.

Cheers,

Bruce
(bruceinbangkokatgmaildotcom)