Best Method for Tracking a Passage; St Martin to Australia

[Hannah on 'Rita T']

If you have SSB, Pangolin's YotRep is the best tracking out there.

[sinbad7]

I am in regular contact with Delorme and I have asked them if they can provide a Track of a previous passage across the Pacific or any other large sea area. I have heard good reports about the inReach using Iridium´s world covering sat network.

Tore

[barnakiel]

I think right now best tracking GUI is anything anchored in Google, like e.g. Spot: free, accessible to anybody and can be easily applied in anybody's own website. Etc..

BTW over a slower link I can see Google interfaced tick way before their own (Spot's) interface begins to load!

Silly, still a fact.

b.

[Ozbullwinkle]

Originally Posted by Jimbo485

Hi Ozbullwinkle, To answer your original question about the REAL coverage of SPOT....

We had coverage all over the Caribbean and then in the Pacific it ran out a couple of days west of the Galapagos. We are in French Polynesia now, so I can't tell you when we will pick up coverage again.

We had it linked through to our FB group so over 130 people, including many yachties, would see it.

We will look into Inreach and Spidertracks for the next crossing.

Yeah this confirms what they show on their website that Pacific coverage is poor, so SPOT is off the shopping list. inReach is now the front runner as we do not have SSB on board.

[Ozbullwinkle]

Originally Posted by sinbad7

I am in regular contact with Delorme and I have asked them if they can provide a Track of a previous passage across the Pacific or any other large sea area. I have heard good reports about the inReach using Iridium´s world covering sat network.

Tore

Thanks Tore, hopefully they provide you with something for us all to check out.

[sinbad7]

Hi all. Still no response from Delorme re any previous demo tracks across large sea areas but here is an interesting blog you may care to follow: Tips & Tricks « The DeLorme Weblog

Tore

[Mambo]

For the price of your investment, I would look into that Iridium Extreme phone (with built in tracker). You might find that it is competitive in price after a bit larger initial outlay. Then you'd have data download and emergency calling abilities.
.02
-M

[sinbad7]

It´s Delorme inReach for me... no doubt,paired with your bluetooth smartphone.

See a typical page attached...

Tore

[sinbad7]

I promised to post an inReach display of previous actual sea crossings.

Here is one I received from Delorme the other day...

Wish I had some REAL .gpx tracks though...

Tore

[barnakiel]

Are they screen dumps from DeLorme's GUI? If so, disappointing.

The device itself is a very neat thing. The thing is we are html5, xml, data layers (etc., etc.) now and once you get used to trackers' GUI like the ones used by some ocean races, this one comes out pretty bleak (?).

b.

[sinbad7]

Don´t know where they found that terrible looking map... but Delorme have their own Google Maps based viewer,also with Topo maps.

They recently also brought out a Delorme inReach app. with the above maps.

Have a look:DeLorme inReach app gets free worldwide atlas with topo maps | GPS Tracklog

You can also display your tracks and routes and much more,using SPOTWalla,which is the only one that makes sense. You can see many of their past tracks here from various sources as you can see from the attached listing. MENU-1

Tore

[stara]

have you looked at Yellowbrick already? Similar to Spot but runs over Iridium satellite network so better coverage
Yellowbrick Tracking - truly global satellite tracking beacons for yacht racing, adventures, treks, expeditions and challenges

Another tracking solution could be satellite AIS. If your boat has Class-B AIS transceiver the signal already now gets captured by Orbcomm satellites and with right subscription you could track your location anywhere on earth from a website. Not sure what that would cost though but why not ask here exactEarth | AIS Vessel Tracking | Maritime Ship Monitoring

[Ozbullwinkle]

Hi guys, I have been doing a bit more research and just to re clarify the requirements.

- The vessel will be making a Pacific crossing commencing in St Maarten via the Panama Canal.

- It will not have HF radio.

- It will have a Satellite phone on board - to be purchased.

- The track of the vessel must be accessible online for the whole passage by those onshore connected to the delivery crew through either Google maps or a proprietary application.

- The track must be able to be transmitted at pre determined timeframes at least once a day or say every 6 hours or more with data such as Date, Long & Lat, SOG, Distance travelled since last transmission & ideally Distance travelled in last 24 hours.

- As we will be purchasing a Satphone if the Satphone like the Iridium Extreme can do all of this, which it looks like it can, then it looks like a good solution without the need to purchase a separate tracker like inReach or Yellowbrick. The Iridium Accesspoint attached to the Extreme handset also gives WiFi access to allow Internet access through say a tablet or laptop for weather reports which is something that we will require.

- I'd like to hear from anyone using the Iridium Extreme who ideally has done so on a trans ocean passage. If so I'd love to see a sample of the tracking information generated if possible.

- Any other pros & cons from personal experience.

This is the webpage I've been looking at for the Iridium Extreme.

Iridium | Products | Iridium Extreme Satellite Phone

[sinbad7]

I would definately go for InReach which uses the Iridium satellite system which covers most part of the world. Combined with SpotWalla to let your family and friends follow you and see photos along the way.

InReach is about $ 250.- and unlimited tracking every 10 min. is $ 25.- per month.
That also includes a fixed number of 500 character text messages with an extra charge per message over the allowed limit. You can also receive messages.

Tore

[Ozbullwinkle]

Originally Posted by sinbad7

I would definately go for InReach which uses the Iridium satellite system which covers most part of the world. Combined with SpotWalla to let your family and friends follow you and see photos along the way.

InReach is about $ 250.- and unlimited tracking every 10 min. is $ 25.- per month.
That also includes a fixed number of 500 character text messages with an extra charge per message over the allowed limit. You can also receive messages.

Tore

Tore,

Thanks for your reply. The inReach is certainly well priced & the tracking looks good but it seems that if I went for this I would still need to get a Satphone as well to get the WiFi access point for internet access through an on board laptop for general internet access & weather reports & grib charts etc.

This is why I was thinking that the Iridium Extreme would be able to do it all. Have I overlooked some of the additional functionality of the inReach?