Nautilus Lifeline - why no satellite communication?

[Crush]

I have found two threads (here: http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/sp...nautilus-lifeline-gps-marine-vhf-contest.html and here: http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/general-scuba-equipment-discussions/369841-nautilus-lifeline.html) and a forum (here: Nautilus Lifeline - ScubaBoard) which deal with the Nautilus Lifeline but don't answer my questions.

I have seen the advertising on SB and not there is an article about the device in the Winter 2011 edition of Alert Diver. Apparently you can chat with a boat or other divers at the surface (may or may not be legal on VHF frequencies depending on where you are in the world), download your dive locations (but probably not your dive profile), determine your GPS location, and send a DSC distress signal to marine radios within an eight-mile radius. What bothers me is the lack of satellite communication [clarification: by satellite communication I mean EPIRB, not a satellite phone] in case you are further than eight miles from the nearest marine radio. Is this a valid concern? If you were, say, on the Great Barrier Reef, could you quickly find yourself more than eight miles from the nearest marine radio, or is this unrealistic?

I have no affiliation with the Nautilus Lifeline or it manufacturers.

 

[tugnutt]

I would guess there are a few reasons for not including satellite communications in that product.

To answer your concern about the range, I would imagine that it would be unlikely to drift more than 8 miles away from the shore or from the boat you were diving on during a typical dive.

I would also guess that adding that tech to the product would increase both the size (large antennas and more components to fit in the shell) and price (cost of additional components and phone service) to the Nautilus substantially.

I'm not affiliated with them either, just my 2psi.

 

[Aigtbootbp]

Do you like a satellite phone? or are you thinking something like an EPIRB.
A satellite phone would be much much larger and of course trying to hold an antenna steady while bobbing about would be next to impossible and of course the cost of activating such a phone.
An EPIRB would be possible but accidentally setting one off is a very serious thing. I don't think the Coast Guard would like scrambling it's search and rescue assets because a diver surfaced a bit too far from the boat.
Just my opinions....

 

[GrumpyOldGuy]

I would not count on that 8 mile range. Like all VHF, it is line of sight and since you are low in the water, it depends on how high the ant is mounted on the boat. I would guess 2-3 miles or so typical.

It may be still worthwhile, I figured I would wait it out and see how the early adopters make out. The whole concept is direct communication to the boat via common VHS.

 

[tedwhiteva]

As Grumpy said, don't count on 8 mile range. Depends on how high the boat antenna is. That said, the DSC alert whch is just data will go further. And better range to an aircraft, assuming of course it was equipped with Marine Radio AKA USCG Search aircraft. And BTW they are not always up on CH16 FM either.

 

[Crush]

Do you like a satellite phone? or are you thinking something like an EPIRB.
A satellite phone would be much much larger and of course trying to hold an antenna steady while bobbing about would be next to impossible and of course the cost of activating such a phone.
An EPIRB would be possible but accidentally setting one off is a very serious thing. I don't think the Coast Guard would like scrambling it's search and rescue assets because a diver surfaced a bit too far from the boat.
Just my opinions....

My bad - I meant EPIRB but typed satellite phone.

 

[ChaosHokie]

Do you like a satellite phone?

Thuraya and/or Iridium phones aren't really that huge, but they are bigger than your standard phone.

However, building out the infrastructure for a "satellite radio" means you have to have bandwidth available on the satellite, which happens to be an expensive commodity. You could have some sort of contract with Thuraya or Iridium, but that gets real expensive real fast.

If you're really concerned about global coverage, I wonder if you could find a water resistant Iridium/Thuraya phone and maybe stick it in a pelican case....

 

[GrumpyOldGuy]

My bad - I meant EPIRB but typed satellite phone.

EPIRB is nice, but is it not meant for an instant response. They have a lot of false triggers and the response is slowed down by the need to verify that it is real. Great for someone in a life raft who has hours / days to kill, not so good if you just floated beyond view from the dive boat and need a lift.

That is the beauty of the Nautilus, the boat "should" be monitoring ch16 already and you just shout out for help. Direct, simple and using existing equipment on the boats.

 

[kanonfodr]

I think that with proper briefing of the crew "Hey, I have a Nautilus Lifeline" who should be monitoring the distress channel or some other pre-arranged channel, a satellite phone would be an expensive and not-so-necessary addition.

You've got a two-way, a radio beacon, light beacon, and a GPS receiver that gives you your coordinates. You don't need much more IMO to effectively assist rescue assets once they are engaged. If you got that far away from the boat, then the captain should already have alerted rescue assets and those guys are really proficient at what they do. It may take some time to get spun up, but they have a ground team actively planning what needs to happen once they are on scene. I don't see how a satellite phone would be of much use, unless all efforts have failed and then you can call your mother to say your final Aloha.

Peace,
Greg

 

[greatdane]

Agree your comments/concern. As a safety tool it is great, if you are close to boats (and they will actually come and pick you up), but if you drift away and outside their range, you are in trouble.....

It would be a much better tool if it was paired with the GPS satellite functionalities of the SPOT satellite transmitter....