Down where we are, the NextG network is extremely patchy and there is a very good chance that if you outland, you will have no mobile service. This is good for the retrieve crews (do such things exist these days?) because they can sit in a bar with good coverage waiting for a call instead of driving down the road.
Regrettably, the good old strong CDMA phones have been replaced by pansy NextG ones which don't like being dropped. Because the standard technique with the CDMA phones in places where there was no reception, was to key in a message, press send, and chuck it up in the air as high as you could. The message would normally get out OK. We have found the in-car GPS systems work quite well for the pickup if you walk around the paddock, find the access road and fwd this via "aerophone" to the retrieve crew in the bar. What does not work at all well is the trip back to the club since most of these GPS systems have rubbish maps of the backroads. We've had retrieve cars turn up in a very short time using Lat and Long, and then get horribly lost for most of the night trying to get back to the pub... sorry, club with the trailer. D _______________________________________________ Aus-soaring mailing list [email protected] To check or change subscription details, visit: http://lists.internode.on.net/mailman/listinfo/aus-soaring
