Sailing out beyond sight of land can be a lonely place and in distant times communication with the land whilst at sea was nonexistent. Nowadays with the introduction of VHF and SSB radios, Satellite phones, with the facility to send and receive emails, the world is a smaller place.
The safety aspect of long haul sailing have improved greatly due to the introduction of the new technology, this benefits all.
VHF Radio
A VHF radio set is both a transmitter and receiver and operates on a frequency range from 156 to 176 MHz.
VHF is used for communication purposes with marina's harbours and between other vessels. There are limiting factors for the distance you can communicate using VHF and that is the height of your antenna on you yacht from the sea level and the curvature of the earth, the converging point of the two is on a diminishing scale of your communicate zone. To gain further distance relays can be introduce with other vessels or relay stations if in your vicinity. The VHF's radio signal strength also plays a part in the quality of the radio's communication.
SSB Radio
Marine SSB (single side band) radios operate on MF (medium frequency, medium wave) and HF (high frequency, short wave). The former works as a ground wave which is suitable for ranges of 30 to 300 miles. Beyond that, HF is required as its signal bounces of the Ionosphere and back to the earth's surface, giving a world wide range in theory!
There are limiting factors to achieve a good radio signal where the operator has to tune the radio set to the time of day and conditions of the Ionosphere.
Emails can be sent but kept as small as possible due the slow connection speed as they will be received to base stations around the world.
Satellite Phone
Satellite phone communicate directly with orbital satellites. There are four satellite communication networks in existence
Inmarsat
Iridium
Globalstar
Thuraya
The most common one used by long haul yachtsman is the Iridium this uses a large network of 66 low-orbit satellites about 480 miles above earth to provide a global coverage. Many other networks do not work in the Polar Regions, Asia or Americas.
At 2.4 kbps the Iridium is not the quickest, but it's the only one that delivers reliable global coverage, hence it's popularity.
You can send or receive 10 to 20 emails in a minute and downloading a few days' weather charts takes around 1 to 6 minutes.
The latest Iridium OpenPort being released shortly has an improved 32 to 128 kbps, so look out for that!
EPIRB
An EPIRB (Emergency Positioning Indicating Radio Beacon) is used for communicating a distress signal when your yacht is in danger; it's not used for any other communication purpose as a standalone piece of safety equipment.
It will automatically on entree into the water transmit a distress signal and give your yacht's lat' and long' position to the nearest receiving base.
Safety services will then be alerted and come to your aid.
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©2009 Clive Peterson. All rights reserved.
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