On Tue, 25 Sep 2007 20:57:43 -0400, HK wrote:

I looked into that. The phone itself was about a grand. At the moment,
my cell provides the coverage I want while out on the Bay. Works good in
Virginia Beach to a decent distance offshore and it worked offshore in
Hawaii, too.

We are usually OK with cell phones out to about 10 miles or so, after
that nada. There are some massive dead zones however, particularly in
the coastal Carolinas. We found a big one today in the middle of
Delaware Bay about 1/3 of the way north from Cape May, NJ.

VHF to USCG or SeaTow seems to be OK 30 or 40 miles out in most
places, sometimes a great deal more. Their antennas are well sited on
high towers or buildings.