Thread: Is HF radio dying?

Being a licenced amateur radio operator with an APRS TNC (RPi running DireWolf) connected to my HF radio, I can send and receive messages over HF APRS via multiple APRS internet gateways to/from email accounts or to/from other amateur stations that have message handling capability.

Over the years Ive had 4 different sat phone technologies , Codan 100W on VKS737 , Spot tracker, & all have their merits but none are dependable in dire emergency.

I now have starlink on the truck but in the event truck is destroyed or I'm away from truck a PLB with RLS is the only thing thats truly dependable.

Originally Posted by V8Ian

My experience with sat phones was that reception was akin to vodafail, beyond the CBD.
How reliable are EPERBs?

In the comments to the vid it says the 2nd sat-phone did work when they got out from under a tree. Also, what actually happened starts at approx 9 mins in and the lessons learned is a separate chapter at about 44 mins for those who want to skim.

Originally Posted by prelude

Regarding starlink, that someone mentioned; I would NOT trust my life to that. I am sure the tech is reasonably reliable but the it's more a question of the company behind it. It's a consumer thing with consumer level support and what not. Me, personally, I'd rather bring an iridium sat phone I think.
-P

Not sure what you mean by that. Regardless of people's thoughts on the owner, Starlink has a pretty good reputation, and until the US Govt intervened it was providing reliable internet to the people in Ukraine. I mentioned it as something to have along with a PLB. People can inform their family etc of progress and location, and can keep an eye on weather ( or potential civil uprisings ) and use their normal phones for day to day communication over the internet.

Here in OZ satellite or HF are about the only choices. You can forget the mobile phone network, and not because it's a commercial operation, folks in the US trust their life to it everyday. It's just that Australia has some of the most remote locations on the planet, and coverage doesn't exist. But I guess you know that.

When I finally sell my house and 'ss off the Oka will have Starlink, a satphone or at least a sat skin for my iphone, and it will still have the Codan HF.

Funny, the last time I went anywhere seriously remote hardly any of this stuff existed. Only rich buggers and Telecom trucks had HF. If anything went wrong for me I would have had to fall back on smoke signals. Unless you carry the PLB on your person the same thing will apply if the vehicle is a total loss due to fire etc.

Hope for the best, plan for the worst.

Originally Posted by Tins

<snip>

Funny, the last time I went anywhere seriously remote hardly any of this stuff existed. Only rich buggers and Telecom trucks had HF. If anything went wrong for me I would have had to fall back on smoke signals. Unless you carry the PLB on your person the same thing will apply if the vehicle is a total loss due to fire etc.

Hope for the best, plan for the worst.

funny you should mention Telecom trucks.

I worked for Telecom 30 years & my form of emergency comms was to tap into someones phone line & make a call on my buttinski. For many years I still carried a butt with me when I left Telecom as my fallback emergency comms. Not so much any use in the outback though.

PLB are so compact now, silly not to carry with you, they are foolproof and require no thought or maintenance (like remembering to keep charged) . Get one with RLS , a light comes on when your message had been recieved and will be acted upon.

I still like the hf radio, have made some good friends through the club we are in, subscription is cheap enough, can text make ph calls if needed, Facebook group for those that use it( we not Facebook people) gps logging so someone always knows where you are once logged, emergency button is peace of mind for wife as she only needs to push that and it alerts a few in the club.
I like vks for there usually no nonsense skeds, and the above mentioned seems quite out of character for most of the volunteer operators, it’s all horses for courses and il keep ours going 🥃

I had a Codan 9323 HF in the garage for quite some years but never fitted it to the P38A. There really wasn't anywhere one could fit it. I then bought a QMac HF90 to fit but that never happened, either.

I had read that both could play havoc with the P38A electronics.

I am thinking of taking my Yaesu FT-840 with me when camping so I have something to do at night. I'd need to work out a suitable antenna system. I have an HVT-600 tapped HF mobile antenna but haven't had much success with it.

Originally Posted by p38arover

I had read that both could play havoc with the P38A electronics.

I'll have to watch that in the OKA...