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Paul,
I can't understand that. If you actually use these systems, the cost of satellite is outrageous. We opted to use UUplus to compress everything (for $350.- per year) and still paid $100.- or more monthly for connection fee's. Winlink is completely free and sailmail is what, $250.- per year ?? The cost of our Pactor modem ($1000) was recovered by savings in connection fee's within 1.5 years.
Also, many boats already have the SSB so it's just the modem that needs to be invested in. And Irridium... I would not want to use a handset version for everyday use with the computer and the fixed mount versions are much more expensive.
It's not that I don't like satphones... I love my mini-M phone but I also love the fact that it doesn't cost me anything anymore since we switched to Pactor.
On transfer rates: If your avg. Pactor rate is 1.2 kBps like you write, you can improve that by selecting a different shore station or a different time of day because our avg rate is > 2 kBps. (or may be sailmail is slower? we use winlink)
cheers,
Nick.
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