Sportsman's Seminar:

coverage, consequently making it abit more expensive. A handheld unitgoes for around $1,495, but if you'rea boater who frequents The Bahamasor beyond then it is probably smartinvesting the few extra dollars. Iridiumunits use a constellation of 66 satel­

lites and offer incoming messaging upto 120 characters. Iridium's completecoverage means you will be able tostay in contact through phone, pagerand even e-mail anywhere and atanytime. Programs start at about $32a month, with zero minutes and air­time of about $1.49 per minute.

Inmarsat is not quite global, butprovides coverage from 70 degreesnorth latitude to 70 degrees south­way more than you need for any

. Florida-based adventure. However,the company primarily targets theshipping industry, and they use largeantennas (up to 5 feet across) and arefairly pricey, at $2,000 and up, so aregenerally not the preferred choice forsmall boats.

I personally went with a Globalstarsystem because it was affordable, andseems generally user-friendly to thesmall boat skipper. A new QualcommGlobalstar 1600 Tri-mode handheld

type of phone service. A satellitephone works in much the same wayas a cellular except that you must beoutside in an unobstructed area with

ample visibility to the sky in order toattain line-of-sight to the satellites­again, think of GPS. The phones aresimilar to cell phones but generallylarger, and they have larger anten­nas-they're not designed to go inyour pocket. Most have removablebatteries, or can run from a DCadapter to your boat's cigarettelighter socket.

The best known companies in theindustry are Globalstar, Iridium andInmarsat. Of the three, Iridium is theonly system capable of worldwide

You must beoutside, in anunobstructedarea.

If a breakdown in the deep Everglades or other remote waters leaves you out of cellular range, you'll be glad you brought a satellite phone.

Even with increases in nationwidecellular coverage range, thereare still areas that are completelyout of range, and those may includesome of your favorite fishing andboating areas around the state. Ifyour boat were to break down or anyother emergency arise deep in theEverglades or 50 miles offshore, whatcould you do? There are times whenthe old VHF antenna-on-a-pushpolejust won't work. How can you attainline-of-sight when mangroves tower30 feet into the sky? And of course,being far offshore, neither cell norVHF is likely to get you in touch withthe world.

The solution is a satellite phone,which depends on satellites circlingthe globe to provide coverageworldwide, similar to the way GPSsatellites aid navigation. These havebeen around for years but the priceswere astronomical, so to speak.Now, they're becoming reasonablyaffordable and consequently a lotmore useful to the average angleror boater.

Satellite service was specificallyengineered to use in remote out­doors locations where there is no

72 flORIDA SPORTSMAN/September 2004 floridasportsman.com

Give your number to family and friends.

satellite phone retails for just $499at local West Marine and PC centers.

Used and operable phones canalso be found via Internet in placeslike Ebay for even less money. Anoth­er place to shop for reconditionedphones is a service provider of globalmobile satellite communications.

Renting the phones for extendedtravel into distant destinations is

another alternative to owning-ifyou're making a one-time voyageinto The Bahamas or Central Amer­

ica, for example. Rents are around$70 a week, plus around $2 a minutefor airtime.

The Globalstar system depends .on a 48-satellite constellation in low

orbit. I have found reception goodthroughout the Everglades, whereI work most often. I opted for thebasic plan which includes 30 minutesat a monthly fee of $34.95. Addition­al minutes are 99 cents.

Using a satellite phone is a lot likeusing a cell phone. Turn on thephone by pressing the power buttonand pull out the antenna, directing ittoward the sky. To make a call, waitfor an icon to pop up on the screen(it may take a minute) and then enter1 - the area code and the phonenumber on the keypad and presssend-it's all very familiar for cellphoneusers. Calling a Globalstar phone froma cellular or landline phone is thesame as calling any other phone: Dial1 plus the 10-digit Globalstar phonenumber and you'll be connected. Inorder to receive calls the sat-phonemust of course be on and have a clear

view of the sky-it's not going to workinside a cabin or under a heavy over­hang of mangroves.

Give your new satellite phone.number to your family and closefriends but remember, it's not forchatting. Exceed your particular con­tract and you will be required to payfor the extra time, usually at a muchhigher price per minute.

Firsthand experience has taughtme that when safety is in question,a few hundred dollars is a small priceto pay. When my engine seized some25 miles away from the FlamingoMarina I had to wait three and ahalf hours before communication

was available through my cellularphone. Having a sat-phone wouldhave saved time and a long ride in

a passing sailboat's inflatable dinghy.While cell-phone service is ever

expanding, areas like the backcountryof the Everglades are unlikely ever tosee ground-to-ground cellular towersbeing erected. And if you're a serious

offshore angler regularly running overthe horizon, you will sooner or laterbe very, very glad that you have in­vested the extra bucks to allow youto pull an E.T.and phone home onyour satellite phone. ~

. f1oridasportsman.com fLORIDA SPORTSMAN/September 2004 73