Everything I am about to write refers to an expensive load of electronic junk which you probably don't want to know anything about and, just like your First Aid kit, it will remain exactly that until the day it saves your life. On that basis it is worth making a little time and effort to research what is best for you.
Let's start this discussion about radio communications with a brief overview of map coordinate systems.
Many people in the Australian bush have died or suffered considerable hardship because they didn't know where they were. You may remember the sad case of the 15 year old boy who died near Sydney in 2009 when emergency service telephone operators refused to believe he was lost in the bush because he couldn't tell them where he was although he was only about 15km from civilisation. It is no good having a sophisticated communications system if you cannot provide your location for a rescue party.
Where am I? By international convention the surface of the planet is divided into an imaginary x and y grid called latitude and longitude (lat and long). For many years, hundreds, a latitude and longitude coordinate has been quoted as degrees, minutes and seconds but with the advent of GPS systems the use of decimal degrees has become more common and has the advantage that it is simpler to quote and understand especially over a poor radio connection. If you can provide a lat and long coordinate to emergency services they will know *exactly* where you are.
To summarise: I *strongly* recommend you use latitude and longitude in decimal degrees for your location reference.
A decimal degrees reference looks like this: -37.8159, 144.9569 The minus sign indicates it's a southern hemisphere reference. Four decimal places provides 11m of accuracy and is more than sufficient.
Just occasionally governments do really good things and this is one of them:
The "Map Reading Guide" by Geoscience Australia is an outstanding source of information for people seeking to learn the basics of mapping. It is a free download or only a few dollars for the printed version which is well worth buying. Read and learn.
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Communications: Do you need them? In Australia, yes, you do. A better question is what type of comms do you need?
If you never venture more than 1km or 2km from the bitumen and generally stay in caravan parks then a mobile phone and, ideally, a UHF CB radio will be adequate for 98% of your journeys.
If you go into more remote areas then good comms is a very sensible precaution and this is where things start to become involved. The following are the main options for land travellers in Australia:
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HF radio Advantages: Will work under dense tree cover and in any weather Has a world wide range Does not depend upon a satellite system Does not have a significant on-going cost All basic use is free Can be heard by people who may be nearby More sophisticated sets can send SMS and e-mail Can chat with other bush travellers
Disadvantages: Requires an elaborate antenna system Requires basic technical knowledge Expensive to buy May be affected by atmospheric conditions Should be installed by a professional
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Satellite telephone Advantages: Allows direct communications to anyone on the telephone system Easy to use, no technical knowledge required Can be used for SMS and e-mail (check with provider)
Disadvantages: Expensive to buy and use May not work under tree cover or with poor satellite geometry Will be cut off if you don't pay the bill
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Mobile phone Advantages: Everyone has one, if not they are cheap to buy Allows direct communications to anyone on the telephone system Easy to use, no technical knowledge required Can be used for SMS and e-mail Relatively cheap to operate
Disadvantages: Very short range in the bush - maybe 50km at best Only one viable service provider for bush use (Telstra)
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UHF CB radio Advantages: Widely used by bush travellers - almost all trucks have one Relatively cheap to buy Easy to use, no technical knowledge required
Disadvantages: Very short range in the bush - 1km to 150km conditions dependent Should probably be installed by a professional
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HF (27MHz) CB radio
No longer a useful system for most bush travellers
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EPIRB or PLB Advantages: Sends an immediate "Life at risk" message to search and rescue Sends a GPS acquired location to search and rescue Fully self contained and robust No ongoing costs
Disadvantages: May *ONLY* be used if there is a discernible threat to life Expensive-ish
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Spot Messenger Advantages: Sends an immediate "Life at risk" message to search and rescue Sends a GPS acquired location to search and rescue May be used to send three levels of message - OK, Help, Emergency Can send e-mail and/or SMS to predetermined recipients Fully self contained and robust Relatively cheap to buy
Disadvantages: Ongoing costs are now significant Messages are predetermined and limited
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Amateur Radio Advantages: Access to a huge area of radio spectrum Virtually guaranteed of voice contact 24 hours E-mail and SMS are possible Will work under dense tree cover and in any weather Has a world wide range Does not depend upon a satellite system Does not have a significant on-going cost All basic use is free Can be heard by people who may be nearby Can chat with other bush travellers and friends
Disadvantages: A technical examination required for use Requires an elaborate antenna system Requires basic technical knowledge Expensive to buy May be affected by atmospheric conditions
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Carrier Pigeon Advantages: They make a nice "coo"ing sound A good companion when alone in the bush Very low on-going costs Can be useful if the food runs out....
Disadvantages: Will only deliver one message to one location Slow Prone to hanging around statues No use at all in the mating season
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I'll extend the above comments as time permits and I'm sure others will have contributions too.
However: ------- Keep in mind that communications is not a get out of jail free card for stupidity and also that simply because you press the button on an EPIRB there is no guarantee that S&R will get you to a hospital before snake venom has killed you - in reality, if you're well into the bush then they probably won't!
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"I beseech you in the bowels of Christ think it possible you may be mistaken"
Oliver Cromwell, 3rd August 1650 - in a letter to the General Assembly of the Kirk of Scotland
Could include a comment on the Inreach text communicator.
So could you :)
Thought it would be better for you to have included it in your summary, but if not, here is my summary.
The Inreach satellite communicator can send and receive text messages and has an SOS button which will put you in contact with emergency services via text, while sending coordinates of your location. Current cost is $519 but we managed to get one on special for $300. Costs $19.95 per month while activated, or $6.95 per month while not active. You do not have to use preset messages, and can be linked to an ipad to make messaging easier. When we arrive at a remote location we just send a text to my daughter to say we have arrived. She then gets the message along with a map of where we are. Anyone wanting to get in contact with us can contact my daughter, get the phone number, then send us a text. we have been using it for 2 years now with no problems.
The range of radio frequencies we call "HF" cover 1.8MHz to 30MHz. In days past we commonly called them the "short waves".
HF radio has been used in Australia for bush communications for many decades; Flying Doctor, School of the Air homestead to homestead etc. It is used less these days as satellite and microwave communications have a much greater bandwidth although that comes at a price both financial and in complexity.
Nevertheless HF radio will be with us for many decades to come and whenever there is a major catastrophe (eg. the Indian Ocean tsunami) HF radio is often the only form of communications working.
For our purposes we will be considering a radio which is suitable for use on the Land Mobile System, a set of HF frequencies licenced by the ACMA, and in the main we are looking at vehicle mounted radios which, essentially, means two suppliers Codan and Barrett. Both produce well designed and well made radios and there's not much to choose between them - although the Barrett is better because a good friend of mine had a big hand in their design :) I should also mention Icom who are a more recent entrant into this market.
Modern land mobile HF radios are sophisticated items and the more expensive ones are capable of making telephone calls, sending e-mail and SMS in addition to voice communications. However in order to make all this magic happen you will need someone to communicate with at the other end and for most users that means one of the radio "clubs" such as VKS737, HF Radio Club or HF-Oz - there may be others too. You will need to check exactly which services they offer and their costs. I'm not sure of current prices but I think VKS737 is around $120 a year membership and telephone calls are charged independently.
HF Land Mobile radios are not cheap and most people will need to have them professionally installed and for a new high end radio with autotune antenna that will come to around $4000. Ouch.
There is another option; buy a secondhand unit (usually around $700) and use either a multi-tap antenna of a dipole thrown up in the trees. Installing the radio is not a trivial task and somewhat different to fitting a CB but it's not inherently complex and if you're handy with tools you will be able to do it.
Let's briefly talk HF antennas: Three options: 1 - Codan or Barrett autotune 2 - Tapped whip (Bushcomm and others) 3 - Home made wire antenna
Option 1 - Autotune - is convenient and expensive. It automatically tunes to the frequency you select on the radio - fit and forget. However vehicle mounted vertical antennas are inefficient at HF.
Option 2 - Tapped whip - is less convenient but much less costly. This antenna has a flying lead and plug and it's necessary to manually change the plug to another tap on the antenna when you wish to change radio frequency. Not a problem if you're in camp but tiresome to do at 100kph on the freeway :) Also inefficient at HF.
Option 3 - wire dipole - is really cheap! $20 or so. However you will need to tie it up into the trees (or use a squid pole) and each of its two arms will be around 9m long so you definitely won't be using the radio when on the move.
Interestingly; option 3 is by far the most efficient of the above antennas and even if I had an autotune I'd definitely be using the wire dipole for preference when in camp.
Finally, I should say that it is not essential to actually *install* a HF radio in the vehicle. If using an antenna such as a wire dipole then one can set the radio up on a table, connect the antenna and a battery (best not to use the vehicle battery) and chat to the world. Although I do have a HF Amateur radio installed in my 4WD the above is exactly what I do with a second HF Amateur radio because I want to sit by the camp fire when I'm chatting and not in the drivers seat but then I do spend an hour plus on the radio most days.
PS. As I don't own a land mobile and am not a member of a radio club perhaps others will expand or correct the above.
MH
__________________
"I beseech you in the bowels of Christ think it possible you may be mistaken"
Oliver Cromwell, 3rd August 1650 - in a letter to the General Assembly of the Kirk of Scotland
The HF Marine we used on boats. with 2 Insulators to separate 30 ft of backstay. Tail down to set. (0 to 30 basically).
I took my old Kenwood Commercial out with us. with a 30 ft wire. laid out straight on a coupla tall s\s pegs tapped into ground. worked fairly well, (depending on time of day of course..)
I used it for chatting with mates at sea. but good for Airport Weather etc.
As rec only now just a short wire. Mike in van locker shhhh. My licence ran out 20 odd yrs ago we used as a DF too. Bearing to known position Airports, less coastal deflection. Cross ref with other coastal points. B4 GPS, Satnav, etc.
Guesswork was "very" interesting closing land at night in s--t weather
if you didn't carry current Admiralty "List of lights (k)".
-- Edited by macka17 on Thursday 30th of March 2017 06:36:45 AM
Hokeydokes n fairnuff :), have had boats for offshore fishing for yonks and knew always via lat n long where I was . Now on the road is a different story ?? , so maybe you can assist me in where to go on my Samsung Mobile phone to retreive my co-ordinates from incase of nreakdown or other ??.
In the past two years ive had a need for RACQ assistance n luckilly it was on a freeway within spitting distance of a partcular turnoff or sign number..
Had I been out in the sticks ??.
Cheers and kind thanks in advance.
Couldnt wait so googled the question n came up with a " Where am I App " and its spot on too , as well as lat long it aprox tells you where you are also.
