Sat comms are becoming more affordable
Developments in satellite communications used to move at a glacial pace, but the landscape is now changing rapidly. This started with small devices that bring sat comms to a much wider audience. Many UK anchorages and estuaries have little or no mobile phone reception, so even if you never sail abroad these devices are still useful for keeping in touch.
Some provide only GPS tracking, plus limited one way text-based messaging to raise an alarm if you have a problem. Others are black boxes that interface with a smartphone to provide tracking and two-way text messaging akin to the 160 character text messages of old.
Examples of the latter include ACR’s Bivy Stick and Garmin’s inReach Mini 2. These cost around £230 and £380 respectively, with subscription plans
