Internet At Sea

[plc]

We have a chartered sailboat for 3 wks from April 1, Phuket, Andaman. Will bring laptop and gsm mobile phone, need to stay in touch with office in Spain. Can anyone tell me what equipment I need to buy, where from and how to connect to the internet whilst at sea??

[thaigerd]

There's a good device available here, cost about 4000.-Baht additional a phone card 999.-Baht for 1 month connection.

Wireless internet connection.

Drop me a mail, can give you the phone number.

Gerd

[monty]

Hi Gerd,

Are you talking about GPRS? I not I would be curious what system you're talking about!

[thaigerd]

It's a small device that you plug in into your laptop.

Works like a mobile phone receiver, the only thing you have buy is a special phone card, 999.-Baht for 1 month.

Gerd

[tuky]

If you have the money to blow or charge back to your office, you can hire an Inmarsat mini M. Very expensive but can be used anywhere. Many vessels will have an Inmarsat B Fleet 77, also very good but requires solid base and stabilised antenna.

But I guess this is really going overboard

[mouse]

If you use GPRS or GSMyou will have a weak signal if too far from shore. Expect t loose a singal after being further than 20 km from land.

[thaigerd]

I've forwarded your email to me to an expert.

He helps some boat/yacht owners with the same problem like you.

He will answer you very soon.

You need a chef for your sailing trip ???

Gerd

[dr_Pat_Pong]

I've forwarded your email to me to an expert.

He helps some boat/yacht owners with the same problem like you.

He will answer you very soon.

You need a chef for your sailing trip ???

Gerd

and a bar steward

[moonman]

For GSM / GPRS you need to stay close to shore, and then you might as well step off the boat and visit an Internet cafe with a real connection. GSM is too slow and too expensive. And inmarsat is even worse.

[phazey]

ACeS ?

Surely rental of one of these for a few weeks would be....reasonable

./P

[thaigerd]

From my inbox today:

I will try my best to help you, although I am still trying to get more information on your behalf. I will email you again when I have more answers.

The unit that I market is a USB unit which contains a motorola mobile telephone and modem.

It has no dial pad, microphone or speakers. It operates exactly as a GPRS telephone.

Thailand DOES have GPRS service and virtually all of Phuket Island receives good coverage.

Because it is GPRS it will not work outside of a GPRS network (ie at sea)

I have learned of a new system from the USA that uses satelite and can be used at sea - as soon as I get more information on the I will contact you

David Eburne-Day

The Computerman - Phuket

[SoiSniffer]

Good adice on not using a mobile phone signal as they disappear near to the shore. You get about nothing in the Andaman. There is a big Floating dive barge out in the Similans that has a long antenna but still poor signals out that way!

[Khutan]

OK, as a fact of life, the only way you can truly track a sattelite at sea is firstly to inderstand how much your boat is youing to Pitch ect. you need a dish the size to cover the entire area.

so if you have a 1.2 cm dish normally and the boat will move 5 X that area, then you will need about a 6m Dish.

To add to the complexity, you need softaware to calculate the theoretical "Pivot" point" of the boat and some software to calculate hte offset of the disk.

Otherwise the feed from the sattelite at sea will never work to complete satisfaction.

[monty]

Mattnich,

sorry to discredit you reasoning, but you're not going to cover the pitch of your boat with a bigger dish! The only thing a bigger dish gives you is a higher gain, not a bigger area of reception...In the yacht world they market satellite tracking dishes, they're not bigger in size, but they do track the sattelite you're tuned into by moving the dish around with attenuators...

you can get a perfetct UBC tracking dish for a boat not bigger then 60 cm. The only thing is it'll set you back over 1000 US$... It works perfectly though, except in very bad weather... I know, I have one installed, it works alright.....

[monty]

Oops,

That's over 5000 US$ instead 1000....

Tracvision website

It can also be used for High speed internet, but you still need a phone connection for the uplink. This can be a mobile phone with regular data connection (9.6kbps).

The slow upload speed (through the mobile) wouldn't be a big problem since most data traffic is incoming...except if you want to upload loads of pictures etc.

[rogerdee123]

I'll second what Phazey suggested .... an ACeS satellite phone. They cost about $1000 or 40,000 baht and they should be for rent ... somewhere. You can get a prepaid card. They are easy to use for internet although not so fast.

The problem is finding out where to buy or rent one in Thailand. I got contact numbers on the web and no one returns my calls. The address from the web site is out in Nontaburi and before I go all the way out there I want to be sure they are selling them. In other Asian countries they are available at Marine supply shops.

I saw one of the ACeS phones for sale at Mahboonkrong but it was new and pricey and I'd prefer to buy something that expensive from the authorized agent.

[Khutan]

Monty;

Not wanting to get into a argument

but you're not going to cover the pitch of your boat with a bigger dish! The only thing a bigger dish gives you is a higher gain, not a bigger area of reception...In the yacht world they market satellite tracking dishes, they're not bigger in size, but they do track the sattelite you're tuned into by moving the dish around with attenuators...

I was referring to offset of the feed of the dish. You need the tracking to calculate its offsef constantly from the "Theoretical Pivot" point of the boat. Therefore as the boat pitches and rolls you change the angle of the offset. So when the mast is at 15 degrees then the offset fot that .001 of a second would be set to 15 degrees. Then as it rolls back then the offset angle will constantly change. Obviously if the boat was in Dry Dock and the mast is vertical, the offset would be 0. The feed focal point would also be set to the .60cm or 1.2m not at the entire 6m.

If fact as you picked up a bigger dish with no software offset adjustment would be more dificult to work with.

[johng]

Yes the larger the dish the smaller the beam width of the dish.

So a bigger dish requires more accurate pointing/alighnment,but will have better gain..

A smaller dish does not have to be so accuratly pointed but has less gain.

for boats at sea you need gyroscopic correction of the Azimuth and Elevation.

cheap NOT.