Communication in the outback is everything. Without it, things can end up in disaster. Especially when you get off the main roads. There have been many stories of people being broken down in the middle of nowhere, only to be found, when it was too late. As you can see from the map below, there’s not a lot of mobile phone coverage in the middle of Australia. The green and purple is where you can get mobile reception.
For my trip I have 3 forms of communication;
- Mobile Phone.
- 80 Channel UHF Oricom CB Radio. Line of sight communication, limited to 35km range.
- HF Radio Codan Envoy. Long range communication. where transmission is reflected off the ionosphere back to Earth for reception. Operators can converse between bases all over Australia. I have experienced transmission from Melbourne to as far away as Albany W.A and Fraser Island Qld.
I have subscribed to VKS737 to provide me with emergency and general radio communication. Especially in remote areas. At Finke Gorge National Park ther is no mobile reception. If for any reason you need to contact me, when I’m out of mobile phone coverage. You can do the following;
- Telephone (08)7235 2610
- Follow the prompts. Note that you will be asked for………..
- My name (given and family name)
- My callsign number. State “Mobile 1568”
- A general location of where I am. Refer to my “VIEW MAP OF ADVENTURE” page for this information.
- Leave your name
- Your phone number (VKS737 may need to get back to you)
- Lastly leave your message. You have approximately 1 minute for the recording.
VKS737 run daily skeds, where I can listen for any messages. HF Radio operators, such as myself, monitor these skeds at least once a day. The messages are read out over the airwaves, for all to hear. So keep it clean (LOL). This is where I can respond back to VKS737 and if need be, they can contact you with my response.