So, while on the boat we will want to communicate with friends, family and other boats and vessels within the vicinity. This means we will have a myriad of items and ways to do this. I will mostly focus on what Utopia has on the boat at this time since I think we have it pretty covered at this point. Having said this, I will discuss possible future items that we might consider.
VHF
One of the most important communication items on Utopia is our VHF radio. This radio is the main device which will allow us to communicate with boats and people within close vicinity to Utopia. It also serves as a safely device since if something life threatening was happening on Utopia, we could request assistance from nearby vessels and from the coast guard. Our set up has a VHF down below at our navigation station where we can communicate. In addition, there is an extension mic and speaker on the binnacle so we can communicate while underway and on watch in the cockpit. Our VHF also can serve as a proximity beacon if the distress button is activated on the radio. It will transmit our location in addition to a warning to nearby mariners.
We also have a secondary handheld VHF. This serves two purposes as a backup to the regular VHF and as a radio that goes with us when we leave the mothership on our dingy to go explore.
Single Side Band Radio (SSB)
I touched on this in my last article regarding the internet, but this radio also serves as a very long range communication device. Where the VHF maximum range is around 25 nautical miles (if that) the SSB can have a range of thousands of miles if you use the proper frequency, and the atmosphere is conducive to signal propagation. It is a whole lot more complex than VHF since you have hundreds (if not thousands) of frequencies at your fingertips. There is a lot of information out there online on how to tune the radio to pick up various weather reports, pacific crossing cruiser nets, radio stations from other countries and other interesting items. I am still very much a novice to this radio, but I can already see that this is another great communication device for information and safety when the vhf won’t do.
Garmin In Reach
I also touched on this in my internet article, but this also serves as a great communication device. It works pretty much anywhere in the world, and I can text with family when no other device in our arsenal will work. It also serves as a safety device since there is a build in SOS button on the side in case something bad happens.
Cell Phone
We should be well in reach of cell towers for a large portion of our travels and in the short term, we will keep our Verizon account since will won’t be leaving the country for a bit. This will still probably be our main communication device that will be used for contacting family and friends. In the future we might investigate other options for cell phone while keeping our present number. I will touch on that possibility below.
Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon (EPIRB)
The main reason for an EPIRB is for safety at sea and a way for Emergency Vessels to find and rescue you if disaster occurs. This device has a button on it that when pressed will communicate to the “authorities” that a rescue is needed. Hopefully this will never be needed but is a necessary piece of communication equipment on Utopia. It’s very portable so it will go into our ditch bag and into the life raft if it ever comes to that.
Good ole snail mail. On a boat we don’t expect to get many letters, but we will still need to receive packages from time to time. We have most of our mail set up electronically, but any paper mail will go to a relative’s house in which they will alert us of any important communication. Anything we need to receive directly (like boat parts) delivered to a local post office or to a nearby marina.
Future Items
The only future item I can really think of is how to keep our cell phone number active while out of the Country for extended periods. Keeping a US Cell phone account while out of the country is quite expensive. I am sure I will get a lot of suggestions from other cruisers, but my thoughts were to port our phone numbers over to a system like Google Voice or other VOIP services and still be able to make and receive calls on our present phone cell numbers. This will work if we have internet and the monthly cost can range between free and a few dollars a month. Cheap internet only data plans in other countries is a common way to do this but my ultimate goal is to get Starlink so we can have data wherever we are. I touched on that in the last article, but I thought I would mention it again since it will directly relate to communication.
Well that is it on Communication. Stay tuned for my next system topic "Navigation and Weather Routing" some time in the next few weeks.
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