Thread: HF Radio - Which one and why

Originally Posted by HowardSmall

Just another point...

For emergency comms, have you ever tried to take a Codan or whatever on a bush walk?

Get lost, break a leg, or any other mishap - pull your Thuraya satphone out of the Pelican case, ring emergency or RFDS, send an SMS with position from the built-in GPS and wait for help...

Howard

Just one point, to those people who rely on sat phones. Have you ever tried to make a sat phone call from australia when there is heavy cloud? doesn't happen, how many times have you been unable to catch a satelite with an available line.

How many times to other sat phone users across the next sandhill have ever come to your aid?

Sat phones are hand portable, useful and expensive but don't offer all the same functions as HF particularly that of being part of a 4WD community.

On EPIRB they are a great emergency final resort and probably a must for any group travelling in remote places. Their failing is the lack of two way communication.

An EPIRB response is always search and rescue utilising expensive coordinated logistics. A little embarrasing when you only have a breakdown that has immobilised your vehicle. HF and sat phones can arrange for spare parts when you're in a breakdown situation, but only with HF do you have the possibility of fellow travellers with HF on VKS737 being able to listen in on the emergency call and provide rapid assistance from a nearby location.

Diana

I would agree Diana. I mentioned the EPRIB as an option to the "broken leg" scenario. They will get you rescued PDQ.

I think we are really talking about 3 different modes - all which have there pro's and con's.

HF is great for the picking up infromation - if you just listen you can hear others reporting on poor weather and road conditions. Probably the most difficult of the 3 to operate but not that hard.

SAT Phone - is much more "one on one" comms - and requires you to actively seek information. Easier to operate than HF. More portable.

EPIRB/ELT is really for when you need help - quickly! More for life threatening issues. Even simpler to operate, longer battery life and may acitvate when you are unconcious - (eg: rollover/crash).

I would have a HF (either Barret or Codan) cause I like fiddling with radios.
(I think they work fine on Ham bands (15, 20 and 80m) Howard - and arguably higher stability and sensitivity than my other ham gear. THe Codan has a much better reciever than my old FT747 - although that's not hard And as a bonus I have 27Mhz CB too - 100w pep )

Aah, the old satphone-versus-radio debate.

I hate satphones because I've never had one work really well. It can take ages to get a signal and then when you finally do you spend the whole call talking quickly in case the signal drops out and leaves you back at square one. But's that just my experience.

To answer your question: I have a little Codan X2. This is a simple HF radio from about the mid-1990s. If you can find one, they don't cost too much - maybe a few hundred. Then it's a few hundred more for a good tapped whip antenna. You also have to join (my preference) VKS-737 for about a $100 a year. This is the cheapest way of getting HF that I have found. (Which is why I have it.)

I've used it a few times and it works really well.

Lots of good points. But we have to keep to the original issue which was emergency communications.

Cloud - not an issue with the satphone I have. Maybe it was with some of the now defunct systems.

EPIRB - not intended for most of the scenarios in the bush - activates a full search and rescue effort.

HF - not really reliable. My (extensive) experience with HF is that it works great if you can choose when and where and what frequency you want to communicate on but if you have to have a path at a specific time and place you are at the mercy of the (ionosphere) gods amonst other things.

Cost - The original question was for a solution under $1,000. You don't get highly reliable, up to date HF gear for anything like that.

Bottom line - emergency I would go for sat phone. If there are more dollars in the bucket then go for HF as well. If it is not really emergency gear, just fun stuff, get HF. just be honest with your self in assessing the need and solution.

My recent tests from Cairns to Croydon show a solid sat signal virtually 100% while mobile and clear calls at 100kph with the satphone inbuilt antenna.

Howard

Originally Posted by Davo

Aah, the old satphone-versus-radio debate.

Actually I think Bytmerk started a Barret vs. Codan debate

Originally Posted by HowardSmall

EPIRB - not intended for most of the scenarios in the bush - activates a full search and rescue effort.

It is intended for any emergency and we have rescued many bushwalkers, sailors, travellers and pilots. (SAR is where my extensivity lies)

I recall one SAR where an elderly couple rolled their 4wd and caravan, alone, in outback SA. Thier ELT activated by itself due to the crash. We had an aircraft overhead in 20 minutes. They were sitting on the side of the road waving and seemed ok. Dropped a helibox with comms, food and had a vehicle there within hours. Very reassuring as my parents were doing the grey nomadic trail at the time. No one should be afraid to press the red button if in distress.

Your right though - this type of crash would proabably total the HF antenna. Hopefully a Satphone would survive - somewhere in the wrekage.

A full search is not automatic - we first get local aircraft to divert and investigate . Have found plenty of fase alarms without scambling the full blown search.

Satphones certainly are a valuabl tool too, As is HF.

I would think the ELT should be carried as well as either SATPHONE/HF for remote work - especially solo.

Ok, Bytmerk, sorry for the hijack, back to the Barret/Codan debate....

True, but "My primary use is for emergency contact - so really only thinking of RFDS, VKS737 and probably the ABC, BBC listen only stuff.
" tells me it is worth raising all the options...

Howard

Originally Posted by Sleepy

Actually I think Bytmerk started a Barret vs. Codan debate

Fully understand and agree Smiley. What I meant was that most scenarios where people need help would not justify turning on the EPIRB. For example, dear Mr and Mrs Grey can't undo the wheel nuts to change the spare. I imagine, not being a SAR expert, that most scenarios where people face difficulty are not of the serious or immediately life threatening type but help is still needed to get out of a situation (which maybe they should not have got into in the first place but that is another topic).

However, if they don't have their primary comms to get help in a couple of days the status will change...

Is this hijacking or adding useful info to the original enquirer about his best options? I hope the latter

And I also hope it is not an HF/Sat debate. The technologies, their capabilities and usability are pretty well documented these days - no debate Of course personal preference and vested interests will always come into play in any discussion regardless. I love playing HF but number one for my safety is the sat phone. Regrettably in technology there will never be a 100% guaranteed 24/7 availabilty of any system. Just hope the moment it fails isn't the moment you need it.

OR have your epirb as the fall back

Howard

Howard