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Old 30-11-2010, 00:47   #1
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Yacht Tracking

I am to sail across atlantic, sint maartens/bermuda/azores/uk in my Hans Christian 38T.. I have just fitted a Raymarine widescreen C series Nav system.. I have lap top/sat phone.. Does anyone know the best system/software to upload my position whilst in transit to the UK .. Thanks
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Old 02-12-2010, 04:54   #2
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Yacht tracking and GPS position published at Google

Hi,
It seems that you never received any respnse on this one. Strange, but I am heading for the same question, and wonder if someone have some experience to share. It is quite a lot of alternatives but it should be as simple (reliable) and cost effective as possible.

Fair winds,
Gunnar
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Old 02-12-2010, 05:08   #3
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Who provides your satellite phone minutes? Often they'll provide free blogging sites where you can post a daily lat/long. We used an Iridium phone with compression by MailaSail, and their blogging service automatically plots your lat/long to a Google Earth position map for the folks back home.

Also, you could buy a Spot Messenger for about US$120 and a 1-year basic service plan for $100, and send a daily OK message to friends and family. That will provide a list of up to 10 recipients with your lat/long. Its coverage map looks good for the trans-Atlantic route, with just a small section of it at 96% versus 99% transmission probability.
http://www.findmespot.com/en/index.php?cid=109
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Old 02-12-2010, 05:47   #4
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Hi Cormorant,

It seems that the the Spot service is too limited for mee. I am going all the way, and it looks like the Spot cover is limited or nothing for parts of the Pacific and the Indian Ocean. I have not yet decided to bring satelite phone or not, so the publishing service may not be an option. Another important factor is that I am going through bot the Strait of Malaka and the Bay of Aden, so it is crucial to stop the positioning in periods.

Fari winds,
Gunnar
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Old 02-12-2010, 06:37   #5
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I posted this info on another thread concerning tracking across the Pacific. I'll paste it in here, though I confess I have no experience with either. They do sound promising.

--------------------

If you want to have some sort of tracking across the Pacific, check out these two units:

Solara Field Tracker 2100 (costs around US$ 800, and the service plan is $30 per month).
Field Tracker 2100 - Solara Remote Data Delivery
It uses the Iridium network of satellites, as opposed to the Globalstar birds used by Spot. Includes two-way emergency texting, along with GPS fixes. I haven't heard much about these in use.

Also ACR has a new PLB with an "OK" function (trying to compete with Spot). It's the Aqualink 2884. (Costs around US$ 400. Not sure what the service plan costs.)
ACR Products
I believe these have a much higher transmit signal strength than the Spot, and (I think) they use the same SARSATs that EPIRBs use. Again, haven't heard much about them in use, but I imagine they are more reliable than Spot in general, and have true global coverage.
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Old 18-01-2011, 08:13   #6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Cormorant View Post
ACR has a new PLB with an "OK" function (trying to compete with Spot). It's the Aqualink 2884. (Costs around US$ 400. Not sure what the service plan costs.)
I believe these have a much higher transmit signal strength than the Spot, and (I think) they use the same SARSATs that EPIRBs use.
Much higher transmit strength (~12X) needed for much higher satellites (~20X). Over the 5 year life of the unit (batteries) 420 "I'm OK" messages (7/month avg.) and 60 "I'm OK" with GPS coords (1/month avg.). Not a daily check-in feature, IMHO, but a good safety device.

John
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Old 12-07-2011, 04:06   #7
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Re: Yacht Tracking

This stuff seems very expensive. It seems to me that fifteen or twenty years ago I read of a marine research project done by a college in Mexico or someplace. They built small inexpensive GPS transmitters into a metal can with a 'D' battery and then dropped them into the ocean currents. The devices sent periodic coordinates to the Internet and after a period of time the battery died and the can corroded and the device sank - cleaning up after itself. The researchers had a lot of data points for their project without spending a lot of cash on each disposable device. Now after over a decade of progress one can do essentially the same thing for $800 USD + $30 USD/month?
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Old 12-07-2011, 04:27   #8
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SPOT Messenger

I have one myself, bought it for my family as they don't sail with me but worry about me. For the money it's good value.

I tried to attached a track from a friend that sailed over to Jamaica for a regatta and back on a J-22, with a dock mates SPOT. This convinced me to get one for myself. But I could do it in the time I had a the computer.

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Old 12-07-2011, 05:12   #9
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Re: Yacht Tracking

Quote:
Originally Posted by Bruce626 View Post
It seems to me that fifteen or twenty years ago I read of a marine research project done by a college in Mexico or someplace. They built small inexpensive GPS transmitters into a metal can with a 'D' battery and then dropped them into the ocean currents. The devices sent periodic coordinates to the Internet...
If they were able to transmit signals from the middle of the ocean they had to have satellite uplinks. The satellite use is the expensive part, not the device itself. My guess would be that, if they really didn't spend much money on this, they kept the cost down by getting the satellite time donated to them.
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