Satellite Phones in GA

[low_flying_172]

Hey everyone, just wondering if any of you have any knowledge or opinions on sat phones in GA, whether or not they are worthwhile, and if known, any decent sat phones to have installed in a light aircraft and costs involved.

[maxspeed]

Have Motorola sat phone patched though my helmet via a Flight Cell, find it very usefull when ferrrying up to PNG when the HF is playing up (which is all the time).
Cost think you can get a sat phone for under a grand, www.flightcell.com will cost around $700 from memory, great device able to cope with sat phone, cell phone and mp3 tunes all at once:ok:

[185skywagon]

I have an Iridium(motorola) which I plan to set-up with the Flightcell and an external patch antenna. I have seen this setup on a few aircraft before. All report no problems.

[Mainframe]

Low Flying 172

Depends on where you're flying, but you may not need an "installed" Sat phone anyway.

If your needs require it, however, Optus and some major Avionics shops can do the job.

If you are flying around most of Australia, you may find that Telstra's CDMA network (to be phased out for 3G by 2009)
will give you quite surprising coverage in the air, particularly above 5,000.

CDMA cells exist in almost any indigenous community of more than 500 residents, and in most of regional towns throughout Australia.

In Qld, inflight coverage exists from Townsville to Mt Isa except for a few small dropout areas,
from Cairns to the Torres Straits and even into the South Western coastal regions of PNG (Daru - Morehead).

Have used it when HF propogation difficulties exist for SAR etc.

The CDMA technology does not generate the energy burst interference of GSM phones and using a suitable adaptor,
you can interface through your headset for absolutely crystal clear talking, both at your end and at the called party end.

The Flight Cell adaptor is very good, but there are some less expensive ones available from Pilot shops,
the "Safety Cell" models at $199 and $299 are very good from personal experience.

have a look here:

vs6015.server-store.com/store/products/item788.inetstore

You can use this adaptor with a handheld Sat Phone, a GSM phone and a CDMA phone,
just need to ensure you have a 2.5mm handsfree earpiece adaptor on the phone of your choice.
For Nokia etc you can instead buy a "Pop Port" adaptor for about $50, but usually not needed.

Using the device, it is possible to use it as a poor man's CVR if you are inclined that way.

[low_flying_172]

Thankyou all for your input.

At the moment I do have a CDMA phone and I do find it great while I am in the air, so much so I can not understand why people would buy a GSM phone when it comes to coverage.

The reason I was interested in a sat phone was more to do with coverage while I was at lower altitudes and on the ground in remote areas around QLD.

Seeing that there are no complaints about sat phone use in aircraft it will really just come down to cost now.

Tanks again for all your help.

[185skywagon]

You can apply for a subsidy for Sat phones from the federal government. You have to prove that you do a fair bit of work in remote areas, to qualify.
" Networking the Nation" are the people to contact. You'll have to pay $400 for your phone if they accept your submission.
That's how I got mine.
185.