HF versus Sat Phone

We've travelled with a HF radio since the mid 80's when it was the only communication available especially in remote areas.
In that time we've used it probably a half a dozen times in an emergency for ourselves (a family of five with three small children in the early days), fellow travellers and to obtain assistance for other travellers.
On top of that it's been used innumerable times to obtain mechanical assistance and/or parts for us and others in remote areas.
In the last 20 years it has been used twice by us to organise assistance due to mechanical breakdown, in both cases we also had an Iridium satphone which was next to useless due to atmospheric and local conditions and on both occasions it was easily sorted out with VKS on the HF.
We ditched the satphone about 8 or 9 years ago due to it's ongoing costs with no benefit and now have a Starlink but will still have the HF as a backup.
You still see Police and emergency vehicles with HF in remote areas as it still works when the chips are down, sat comms can be turned off at the flick of a switch by the provider and with the way the world's going it might be the only thing that does work in an emergency.

We used to use a HF radio many moons ago when there was no other form of emergency help if needed.

Back then I was registered with all the RFDS base and would speak with them. The bases then went away of general communications and the world of communications changed for ever.

We then went with an Inmarsat Satellite phone that has performed faultlessly right around Australia with never any dead spots.

The best thing with the Inmarsat, you do not need any credit to keep your number and 000 calls are free.

Also carry PLB and SPOT.


Roll a vehicle with HF and damage your antenna and your are up shit creek without a paddle.


With SPOT and PLB just press your emergency button and you know your massage will get out, and the same with a Satphone, point your antenna to the sky and ring 000

G'day Murray

I am a VKS - 737 network member and have be so for decades, luckily I've never had to use the network or my (old technology) HF radio in an emergency situation in a personal sense.

I was able to relay messages for a VKS member who was having difficulty during an emergency situation, his vehicle had rolled, the HF radio antenna was damaged but he was still able to make an emergency call to VKS but the signal was unreliable, I just happened to be in a relative ' sweet spot ' having a good signal from the poor bugger in strife and a good signal back to the VKS base in Tasmania.

Anyway, after a lot of too and fro-ing over the airwaves things were arranged for the bloke in distress and I was asked if I could remain on channel until an all clear was given ~ this did not happen as airway/radio signal hash, as I call it flooded in from Indonesia at the time.

I boot the Codan 9323 up, every time I head out of town, even if it's just to watch the Sun set or to have cup of Tea.

The VKS member in strife was somewhere along what is known as the Boreline road, inland from Port Hedland, VKS-737 Saint Mary's Tasmania and I just happen to be at a place known locally as Eagle Rock Falls ~ North East of Newman in the Pilbara.

Safe travels : Joe Fury
VKS - 737 Mobile 1709

I have been a member of VKS since 2009 when I did Cape York - had the HFTel function enabled so I could make calls back to home as well.

I have used it in a couple of instances in recent times apart from calling in on the Skeds to give updates as to my location, if all else fails they know where to start looking.

I was on the Canning a few years back and a member of our group broke both rear springs, everyone in the group had Satphones and the numbers they had were Victorian numbers so hardly useful at Georgia Bore, they tried for a while but to no avail, one quick call to VKS and I had about 7 numbers to call, new springs were sent up from Perth to Newman and I collected them on his behalf and drove them back out to Georgia Bore.

Recently my vehicle kept going into limp mode on the first dune heading for the pinnacle trip to the Geo Centres, instead of making a bad situation worse I pulled out and headed south on the Colson Track, did this track many years ago but this time it was overgrown and lost the track numerous times, after about 5 hours I found a spot to pull in for the night. The next morning I called VKS and alerted them of my situation and they tracked me for the rest of the day to make sure I was OK, after removing a pile of spinifex from my Auto Trans Cooler it was OK but I was reassured that they were covering me.

I am about to head into the APY Lands for work, they do have Telstra coverage in the main centres, and made sure that my HF is working, I'm also going out for a take 2 of the Geo Centres next year making sure I go over the vehicle myself instead of relying on the dealer mechanics.

I also carry a PLB / Epirb as a fail safe - life dependency.

cheers

Can you get a hand held HF radio, or is that not possible?

Our first HF was a Codan 6924, worked well and simple to set up, aerial over the highest tree you could throw it over , ground wire out along the ground, clip power leads to the battery and away you went.
Biggest problem was changing the crystals to the required ones for the RFDS bases you were likely to use for each trip.

Hi Everyone,
Just purchased a HF Radio for my LC. I always wanted one and I think they are still important and relevant. I looked at Sat phone options, but decided in favour of communications that doesn't rely on satellites and doesn't have high ongoing costs. I also have a PLB/Epirb and UHF. I think I have most bases covered in the event of breakdown or emergency.

G’day Murray,

We have a sat phone, PLB and currently looking at mobile HF rig.

I may be off the mark here, but one benefit I can also see with HF is the network of users.
If you require assistance, you may find another user on frequency in closer proximity to you than the emergency services you contact on 000 for instance.

Cheers,

Andrew W.

The HF radio is still very handy now and would probably be by far the best option in the event of the apocalypse. Civilization can't stand even short periods without the electricity grid. Satellites are very vulnerable and impossible to repair quickly. Paper maps, solar panels and HF radio might be the survival goto if the bombs start dropping and all of them are useful now, so what's the downside?

Just my thoughts so no shooting me down in flames for your enjoyment thanks!

I had a sat phone and I also have VHF as well as other devices. I am now replacing the trackers and HF with a Starlink setup as it gives me a phone service and internet service and I can stop and start the subscription when I'm travelling. Starlink have also now allowed mobile use on my plans so I can phone and internet access 24/7 while travelling if I wish to.

The discussion of which is better in a vehicle roll over is an interesting point with those saying the HF antenna will most likely be damaged and the HF therefor unservicable. In the event of a roll over who's to say the sat phone won't get damaged or you'll be able to use it for that matter? In such an instance an PLB might be the preferd goto anyway.

The advantage of HF regarding help from someone else in the area who may be able to get to you to give assistance is a valid point, I believe though that VKS737 offers a satellite phone service now. If they know of someone in the area then they could try and contact them for you.

.
I have held back on this until now because it is emotional.
I used VKS737 for some time. At first it was novel listening to Skeds but that became boring so for the most part is remained off.
Eventually I swapped it for a Satphone which was kept on power and with an external antenna.
One night in the middle of the of the Great Victoria Desert I received a call that my Dear sister was in hospital in her final moments. Her son was with her and along with other family members had my number. Although Dawn could not reply she was able to listen to my words of love.
No other form of communication could have provided that service and that Satphone was worth more than all the rest of your communication devices added together. I would never be outback without it.

HF radio was useful when I was driving around the Woomera Range in the 1950’s but today it is nostalgia.

We stopped using HF radio long ago, briefly tried a satellite phone, but found it cumbersome. In recent years, we've been very satisfied with Starlink paired with our devices. Since starting our full-time travels in December 2023, about 90% of our overnight stays have been in areas with little to no phone service. Our routine is to set up the Starlink antenna upon arrival, which connects all our devices—phones, laptops, MacBook, iPad, and car headunit—allowing us to handle daily work uploads, sync our tracking, manage our banking, emails, respond to customer service queries, return missed calls, listen to voicemails, process image uploads to OneDrive, and more. There's nothing we can't do that we could do at home.

We keep our phones connected to Starlink overnight so that family, even with a time zone difference of up to three hours, can reach us as needed. During the day, we often pick up some mobile data while passing through towns or stopping for supplies. This setup works perfectly for running our business, staying connected with family, and ensuring consistent customer support and is typical of what we see the majority of long term travellers doing. Very common.

With that said, there are the ocassional times when we are camped deep in a forest where the tree coverage blocks the satellites and the connections continuously drop out. We tend to overcome this by site selection - you need a clear open line of sight for the StarLink antenna dish to point to the southern quadrant of the sky where the satellites are in orbit. Most services will reconnect automatically after a drop out such as phone calls there is just a pause and you wait a bit but the line does not disconnect but if uploading videos this can be problematic, as can downloading large files that require authentication for permission to download etc. Not a problem if in the open deserts or plains which was your query.
Michelle