|
|
|
|
|||||
|
||||||
From: Greg Dawson (no email)
Date: Sun Jul 01 2007 - 16:41:02 EDT
Ken, great content in your reply. Thanks. I am now led to more
questions, and for the sake of diligence I have already disseminated the
website. But before contacting the company directly, I thought I would
venture a few more questions. Thank you for your patience with me on
this matter.
Q1: Once an email is sent from the computer, and the system is in a
wait-state for a satellite to pass, does the laptop need to stay on or
just the SkyMate unit? Power consumption of the small black-box SkyMate
unit is manageable, but leaving a computer on for a few hours waiting
for a satellite ping might be taxing on the house batteries. The
literature shows a green message-indicator light on the unit, which
leads me to believe that it receives and stores emails on its own,
without laptop software running.
Q2: I realize that position reports (up to two per day) are allotted in
the monthly fees, without decreasing from the monthly character
allotment, but what about requested weather reports? Does the content
requested count toward the monthly budgeted text?
Q3: Much of my time offshore will be in the south, rounding capes.
Winlink does not appear (via map) to have near as much presence in the
southern latitudes, thus my reluctance to rely on a Pactor for
communications in some areas. Is the coverage from SkyMate worldwide,
or is it limited to certain global areas (as is satellite radio)?
Q4: With regards to weather reporting, would you say that the reports
serve all oceanic weather systems, or are they limited to more common
cruising grounds?
Thank you for your assistance.
Greg, s/v Someday
Ken Williams wrote:
> Greg:
>
> I crossed the Atlantic with Skymate on board in 2004. My information is out
> of date, but my assumption is that that they have gotten better, not worse,
> over the past three years.
>
> If you have the right attitude, it is fantastic. I'm building a new boat and
> am installing Skymate again.
>
> -Ken Williams
>
> Nordhavn68.com
>
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
|