Re:Winlink 2000 Radio-Email System Overview (2009)
by jdietrich on Sunday August 20, 2017 @04:53PM
(#15060210)
Until very recently, satellite broadband was unobtanium for most leisure sailors. It's much cheaper now, but $800 for an Iridium Go hotspot and $124/mo for service is still steep for leisure sailors who might occasionally need to send an email at sea. Any bluewater boat should have a decent HF rig for safety, so adding a Winlink system is basically free.
I've sailed with a guy who had a Pactor modem + SSB radio + frequency thingy + one of the rigging cables made into 11 meter antenna.
Yes, it was cool AF from nerdy standpoint - calculate propagation and you can dial anywhere in the world. But also it's a huge investment. IIRC Inmarsat gives you all-you-can-eat (apparently the spectrum gets quite saturated in some areas quite saturated) matchbox sized modem that connects to your iPhone for $100 per month.
You'd have to sail for many years to break even and probably have worse experience all the time.