Why avoid the higher Telstra costs by carrying two phones and paying two service providers, seems like false economy to me.
From my experience our radio networks work fine; if your out landing broadcast the fact with your position with an expectation that you will be calling on the ground, I have never failed to get a relay from someone. If no contacts are made I agree if you cant then make contact by phone ask for a relay from an overflying on the area VHF and if no contact there 121.5 MHz, you may make contact with a high flyer in an adjacent area, they will soon move you to another frequency if that is seen as the best way to handle the communications. The down side of this is that ATC will declare an Alert Phase on you and may overreact; better an over reaction than an under reaction, but try to get them to understand that you are OK ( assuming you are) and all you need is a retrieve crew to be dispatched and how to contact your crew. Any tracking system is good and there are a number available on the market, SPOT is the cheapest and it's main limitation is that is uses the Globalstar Network. If your using a tracker have it set up to make automatic reports so if you do have a mishap it will continue to report your "Last Known Position" Finally carry a GPS encoded PLB to be used in an emergency, these little puppies set the SAR system bells whistles going if you need them. Stuart FERGUSON Mob 0419 797508 On 20/12/2010, at 16:36, Derek Ruddock <[email protected]> wrote: > I’ll second that. I carry a cheap Telstra prepaid in my outlanding kit in > case my Optus phone does not work. > > If you can, get the bonus ‘never expire’ for the prepaid amount. > > Forget Vodaphone. > > > > Remember, you could always try the area frequency used by the power jocks, > and failing that, if your situation warrants it, you can always raise a > passing passenger jet on the emergency frequency 121.5 to relay a message. > > > > From: [email protected] > [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Matthew > Scutter > Sent: Monday, 20 December 2010 4:12 PM > To: Discussion of issues relating to Soaring in Australia. > Subject: Re: [Aus-soaring] Mobile Phone Networks > > > > Telstra (NextG) is by far the best for country coverage. Make sure your phone > supports the 850Mhz frequency for 3G (should say NextG on the box or > something similar). I bought a NextG one for 20$ from Dick Smiths. > > > > I have a prepaid NextG and a prepaid Optus phone I keep in my glider, along > with my regular Vodaphone phone. Never landed somewhere without coverage on > one of them. > > > > You can usually find the coverage maps on the networks website. > > http://www.telstra.com.au/mobile/networks/coverage/state.html > > http://www.optus.com.au/aboutoptus/About+Optus/Network+Coverage/Optus+Network+Coverage+Maps/NSW > > http://www.vodafone.com.au/tools/checker/index.htm > > > > ~Matthew~ > > > > On Mon, Dec 20, 2010 at 3:29 PM, Adam Webb <[email protected]> wrote: > > Hi All, > > > > I’m looking at changing mobile phone networks. Does anyone know any details > on which networks have best coverage (especially country NSW where I do most > of my XC flying)? I understand that some networks are near useless outside > the CBDs and increase the chance of a long walk after an outlanding. > > > > Cheers > > > > Adam > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > Aus-soaring mailing list > [email protected] > To check or change subscription details, visit: > http://lists.internode.on.net/mailman/listinfo/aus-soaring > > > > _______________________________________________ > Aus-soaring mailing list > [email protected] > To check or change subscription details, visit: > http://lists.internode.on.net/mailman/listinfo/aus-soaring
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