ORCV Safety and Communications.

Are you covered?

Offshore coverage for third generation mobile telecommunications is an interesting and often frustrating affair. Even on land it can be hilarious, now that I look back on it in hindsight. I can still see myself twisted in to all sorts of positions to get the device in the right angle and during a recent regatta, I was down below doing a posting of the midway results, while we chugged along at about 3knots into a 2m sea. Just delightful... Not.

Now depending on your carrier, it can all be even more interesting. Just ask someone on Vodafone, for instance. There is no doubt that Telstra offers the best and widest coverage, so we'll take a look at that.

Vice Commodore, Don Fraser, has set up specific communications topics in the forum where you can go and detail your experiences. It would be good to see what you have found out for real and who has something different to offer, based on weather, sea state or other. To start you off, Don feels that the coverage maps you see here, for our spheres of activity "...seem pretty consistent with my experience and what I have heard from folk with suitable aerials, but possibly a little optimistic". Actually, that last point is something worth noting and our friends Markus Grinblat and Colin Miller, (the former presented at the Long Distance Offshore Sailing Seminar a while ago) would be a good reference point if you need equipment or assistance. Offshore Marine Electronics P/L - 0419 505 467 or at SYC.

Naturally, I have a vested interest here, as the better covered you are, the more material I get from you to share with our audience and it is at this point I must than Greg Clinnick and Team Audacious for all they do whilst out racing with us. The Secretary also deserve and honourable mention for their efforts.

You can see what Telstra have to say about offshore coverage HERE and what they offer about maximising your coverage opportunities HERE.

We look forward to seeing what comes up in the forum. We are very keen to look at options which can supplement or improve on traditional marine radios.

By John Curnow