I’m in the U.S. We occasionally vacation at a small lake in Ontario, Canada. Cell phone reception is pretty much non-existent there. This is a concern if we’re out on the boat and run in to trouble.
We have plans to visit the lake in five weeks, and I’d like to purchase some kind of two-way radio or satellite radio to use in case of an emergency. There will always be someone back at the cabin, so I’m thinking some kind of two-way radio would be ideal. Would a pair FRS radios work?
To give a sense of scale, the cabin is located at 46.153907, -82.050294, and the boat could be anywhere on that lake.
I don’t know what is the latest and greatest satellite phone; they used to sell pre-paid Iridium SIM cards for the order of magnitude of $1 per minute, but you would still need to rent a handset.
I was actually thinking Satphone as well, a quick look online found -
But that’s just shy of $700 US for the phone, and just shy of $550 for an annual plan with 180 minutes ( + $1 per minute after).
Which was still cheaper than the Iridium phone and plan I saw on the same website. Now I’m sure some more digging could save some money, but not sure based on the OP’s usage it would be worth it.
ETA - I’m pretty sure that the OP is familiar with radio technology workings if they were suggesting it, but I as an utter novice would probably go with the satphone to keep myself with a more familiar format if I was in an emergency.
If the cabin doesn’t have a landline that means two sat phones and subscriptions. Looks as if a landline is probably there.
Looks a very nice spot.
However VHF is on the edge for line of sight and I would be dubious if it would be reliable if you ventured to the eastern parts of the lake. You can get a bit of diffraction over a hill, but I don’t think I would bet my life on it. The locals would have a better idea of what works. Marine application really assumes over water only. It tends not to like hills in the way.
All those Iridium handsets are really expensive, even used, but, according to a cursory search, various shops hire them out for $50–100 per week or so.
Besides VHF, there are other boating frequencies including in MF, but at some point it would be cheaper to acquire your own Iridium phone than to buy a bunch of high-quality radiotelephone equipment.
Obvious question, but is there any cellular service? I’ve gotten tens of km out of just a 2-watt GSM phone with clear line-of-sight to a base station.
What are they back at the cabin going to do if you have an emergency? Do they have another boat to come out & rescue you or are they only calling emergency services? How are you relaying the coordinates of where you are to them; verbally or typing it into a message, both of which have the possibility of a typo either on your side or when they manually enter it into their device; the further left a potential typo is the further away from you they’re searching. Cut out your friends/family back in the cabin & get an EPIRB which will automatically send your coordinates to a rescue center which will start the process of dispatching emergency services (Coast Guard / state/ local boats / helos / etc.) . Garmin Inreach works as one & also has limited, non-emergency text communications They cost $350 & a monthly subscription is < $15/month - you can get a subscription for just a month if that’s all you use it; annual subscriptions are available at a lower per month rate but a higher total cost because you’re paying for 12 months
Good questions that didn’t occur to me. I am sort of working on the assumption that, if a person in the boat can get a hold of someone in the cabin, then the person in the cabin can alert someone in another cabin of the problem, and hopefully they have a boat. But I would agree that it’s not the best solution. I’ll check out that Garmin Inreach. Will it work in Canada?
It uses the Iridium® satellite network; which should be worldwide coverage; might want to double check if sailing the south Pacific but where you’re going shouldn’t be an issue.
…& an InReach is a PLB which is a subset of EPIRB; while they both ultimately do the same thing in contacting emergency services with your coordinates EPIRBs are for vessels, typically mounted & can be automated, like if they get wet whereas a PLB is for a person & needs manual activation.
Just for the record, the InReach (which I own) is not considered a PLB. It’s a communication device using commercial satellites to perform a function similar to a PLB, but the PLB is much higher power and uses a more reliable satellite network dedicated in part to public safety.
I understand what you want to buy, but spending all that money, including an ongoing subscription fee, for something that you might never need seems like something to avoid. Someone suggested that you could rent a satellite phone. That might be a cheaper option overall. Or I think the personal locator beacons don’t require a subscription fee. Would one of those work?
I’m a ham radio operator and I wouldn’t consider non-licensed two-way radios (FRS, marine band & certainly not from the boat to the cabin). I might use my own radio if I (1) knew I would always be in range of a local repeater and (2) could count on other hams I knew in the area to monitor the channel. Satellite for sure. And make sure you have all the relevant telephone numbers written out on waterproof media.
Agree that it will most likely not be used but consider it an insurance policy, on your life. Also, OP stated the go here occasionally so they’d be able to use it on other trips, amortizing the unit’s purchase cost over many trips not just this one. Subscription can be turned on for just a month at a time for under $15.
Sat phone might be the least desirable option in an emergency when compared to EPIRBs/PLBs. Don’t know how big or what type of boat the OP has but in an emergency one might not have access to any mounted navaids to tell someone your location (ie. fire in the cabin requiring evacuation to deck area or fire has knocked out electrical so they’ve lost power). Transmitting exact coordinates is going to make it much quicker & easier for rescuers to find you rather than having to start up another device (GPS watch), having it locate your position & then manually telling them where you are which is subject to transposition / typo errors or just telling them ‘somewhere in miles-long lake’
They absolutely would work but many cost more than the InReach & have to be sent in for expensive battery replacement every couple of years.
The price on those Garmin satellite communicators is a bit more than I’d like to spend. OTOH, if there is an emergency, it would be well worth it. That link has a number of them. If I were to get one, I’m not sure which one would be best.
We’re renting a small boat from the camp owner for the week. Seats four and has an outboard motor.
I don’t think the question is one of licensing (in a real emergency, I do not think anyone is going to wait and check that you have the proper certificate and are paid up, yet without a working knowledge of radio theory, operation, and procedure, would you be sure you were using it correctly in the chaos of an emergency), but rather the range, and whether the frequency is constantly monitored. Marine radio has designated channels for distress calls, but, assuming limited range, you had better know in advance exactly who is listening to it around that lake and test it.
At least some of those Iridium sat-phones do have features like GPS location and an SOS button, but I can envision all sorts of scenarios, also applicable to HF/VHF radios or any other gadget, like you get it wet and, oops, it doesn’t work anymore, or you drop it overboard, or you can’t get to it for some reason… all can be mitigated, but you need to think of these sorts of things in advance!
Purchasing Pre-Programmed Two-Way Radios with Canadian and American Frequencies
"When you purchase pre-programmed two-way radios, it is certainly important to use the correct frequencies for your location. For example: If you use your radios in Canada, you need radios pre-programmed with Canadian frequencies. Likewise, if you use your radios in America, you need radios pre-programmed with American frequencies. The charts above shows the radio spectrum allocated to each country. Both are in different frequencies because they are separately handled in different departments.
When you purchase pre-programmed radios in different frequencies, your two-way radios will not be able to link together. In other words, you cannot communicate your first set of radios with your second set of radios. This is because Canadian frequencies are not compatible with American Frequencies".
In the US, $80 buys a license for GMRS (up to 50 watts). -No test required and your family is authorized to transmit on your license.
Not sure about GMRS rules in Canada.