52 grams which keeps you in touch with other members of your party by texting with your phone, eg if they become separated. Works up to 6 kilometres even when there is no phone service. I think this is a good option for Della and me when hiking just in case. We carry whistles, but whilst Della can hear mine, I can’t hear hers.
It is much lighter also than carrying 2-way radios and messages are less garbled by text (when you are deaf like me)! We also have an epirb/ satellite messenger and a satellite phone for emergencies, but this lightweight device would be useful if you just become separated where it is not an emergency. Because one of us can’t hear and the other can’t see (well not very well anyway) it is quite easy for us to become separated in the bush and not know where the other is.It would also be great for contacting each other (eg to save money, or if your are in a foreign city where you might not have a plan).
Hunters (and others) might also find the device useful because it doesn’t make any noise.
Two for US$149 (June 2017): http://www.gotenna.com/index
See also:
http://www.theultralighthiker.com/the-poor-mans-satellite-phone/
http://www.theultralighthiker.com/nz-topo-maps-app-for-hiking-in-nz/
http://www.theultralighthiker.com/restore-pdf-maps-functionality/
http://www.theultralighthiker.com/backcountry-radio/
http://www.theultralighthiker.com/emergency-cb-radios/
First Published 23/11/2015
There is an up-and-coming alternative with an open ecosystem (Open Source software and hardware) and even more affordable devices: https://meshtastic.org
This is an absolutely fantastic development which clearly has awesome potential.I will do a separate post about it (soon) once I get my head around it a bit more. There are all these other specialty radio things out there (like the ‘pico baloon’ people and the folks who bounce radio signals off the moon) all of which most people are unaware of. I have just met a guy who is an expert on this stuff so I will try to inform people further as soon as I understand it better too. Thanks for letting me know. Cheers, Steve.