cell phones

[moss13]

On the issue of communication on the Isle, people might be interested in seeing the radio frequency chart published by the National Park Service in the Isle Royale Fire Management Plan.

Thanks! That is a great resource there. I am making a copy of this.

[rainelde]

HI EVERYONE
JUST GOT BACK, WE HAD NO SERVICE RIGHT BEFORE THE TUNNELS HEADING UP THE SHORE TO GRAND PORTAGE. THERE IS NO SERVICE ON ISLAND.

[DonNewcomb]

THERE IS NO SERVICE ON ISLAND.

And your wireless carrier is?

[Keweenaw]

Hey DonNewcomb,

Want a further mystery? I have an Alltel pre-paid plan and was able to get a couple of calls out in May from the North side of the Greenstone near Lookout Louise. Normally only a Thunder Bay tower would connect from there, but in the past when that has happened I still could not place a call unless I dialed another number to give my credit card info, which I never did.

This time the calls just went on through normally, and I was never billed.

Bob

[DonNewcomb]

I have an Alltel pre-paid plan ..... Normally only a Thunder Bay tower would connect .... I still could not place a call unless I dialed another number to give my credit card info, which I never did.

This time the calls just went on through normally, and I was never billed.

This probably has something to do with the merger of Alltel and Verizon. Maybe Verizon prepaids can roam on TBayTel and Alltel is now using Verizon's roaming system. Just a guess.

[DonNewcomb]

Here's a brand new service that some people might find interesting: http://www.terrestar.com.

[JC_Geo]

I have Sprint and my phone showed "International" when I was in Copper Harbor and at the lookout tower on Greenstone. We were there in June.

I did not make a call, fearing the rates would be astronomical. I had no plans on bringing my phone, but by habit, put it in my pocket before boarding the boat to IR.

[DonNewcomb]

I also doubt I'll be testing my cell phone on the trail. On eBay I found a deal on a soon-to-expire used Iridium prepaid SIM. So I plan to take my old satellite phone. Call me a geek.

[upnorthjeeper]

Hey Don, thanks for the link to http://www.terrestar.com it looks pretty interesting. I work in the telecomm industry somewhat, but I know little about the actual technologies themselves besides a few acronyms and such. You seem to be pretty well versed and have offered some great info and resources to the group, thanks!

Could you please explain a bit more about what this is? Looks like satellite phone with data ability?? Looks to work on all "networks" too...

[DonNewcomb]

Could you please explain a bit more about what this is? Looks like satellite phone with data ability?? Looks to work on all "networks" too...

It is supposed to be a quad-band GSM phone with a satellite capacity. The trick is that the geostationary satellite is huge so it can put enough power on the ground so that you don't need a big phone or extended antenna. The phone is supposed to be a PDA-type smart phone with data capacity. AFAIK, these are not yet for sale anywhere. I don't know who will be selling them. It was just something I saw on a communications-related forum (howardforums.com)

[sonofasailor]

Just got back, I could not get service anywhere, but I was only in the western part of the island around Windigo and Feldtmann Lake - I have Sprint, my son has an i-phone with AT&T, no service there either but I'm not sure he tried on the trail. Definitely no service in Washington Harbor.

It turns out, though, that our marine band radios came in handy - 3 hikers in our group had the portable VHF, I had the one with the mast-mounted antenna on the boat in the harbor. One of the hikers was injured on the trail, stabbed in the head by a low branch, we picked him up at Rainbow Cove but it was a little hairy with a strong west wind, could not come right up to the shore, the dinghy was almost swamped getting him to the boat. Thought he would need stitches but it had healed sufficiently so he didn't need them at the hospital in Grand Marais (2 days later).

[Ucity]

Just got back from IR myself. Yeah, cell phones pretty much didn't work.

I did have my 5w 2m HT with me and was easily able to hit the 147.315 Keweenaw repeater from the Greenstone ridge. I didn't make a contact there.

From the tower at Mt. Ojibway I was also able to hit the Thunder Bay repeater, 147.060 and make a contact. We actually wound up talking simplex!

The frequency chart I posted a couple of weeks ago came in handy as we were able to listen to Canadian weather radio all Thursday night predicting that there might be a break in the rain Friday morning which we took advantage of to break camp at Lane Cove early and head back to Rock Harbor to catch the Queen!

We still got wet, but were lucky to get on the boat--apparently the Queen didn't sail on Saturday!

[DonNewcomb]

Just came off island. Turns out that ATT does have extended range GSM. With my Wilson 5-elemnet Yagi antenna and Motorola V550 phone it was easy to make cell calls from Rock Harbor. More details later.

[srparr]

On Sept. 1st I hiked out to the tip of Scoville Point, where two young ladies were sitting. I heard one of them saying "Guess where I am?" and I realized they were using a cell phone.

When I asked if they were getting cell signal, one of them smiled and said "I have two bars here!"

I smiled and moved away as far as I could to get out of earshot. The scenery was still phenomenal ... but it had suddenly become a little less wild for me.

[DonNewcomb]

I smiled and moved away as far as I could to get out of earshot. The scenery was still phenomenal ... but it had suddenly become a little less wild for me.

Yeah, I hope it never gets to the point that folks are wandering around ISRO wearing their bluetooth headsets and constantly talking to themselves. I actually hate it when people live on their cell phones and particularly when they try to drive and have a cellular conversation at the same time. You might find it odd that, for me, 3-minutes is a long call.

My interests in this subject are as it relates to important communications, particularly emergency communications. I guess I need to appologize if my research leads to an increase in the level of inane blather in the backcountry.