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Okay, very good insight and great point about the EPIRB: it works without a subscription. I swear, tech has made it easier to take a payment on everything and paying for every little thing has gotten super annoying.
Yeah, I need to get an EPIRB and call that a day.
Now, the Garmin InReach serves as an SOS (not sure how well that works, if it’s comparable to EPIRB or not), satellite communicator and tracker. The communicator works best with the Garmin Messenger App. FWIW, the Android version uses GMS (Google Mobile Services) and some people don’t enjoy that or run exotic OS’s that are de-Googled and can’t run an app with GMS. That probably doesn’t apply to anyone here, but it is something to consider if that’s what you’re into. You’ll have to carry a secondary phone. Maybe just glue-gun the InReach to the mobile device’s case.
Anyway, there’s a unique, password protected webpage that select friends and family use to see where I’m at and track my progress, especially when at the furthest reaches of the marsh. And they can text me to see what’s up.
Actually, WAIT A SECOND, on SECOND THOUGHT I’m not putting AIS in my boat because then the rest of Louisiana can see where my ass is at. Like on this public-facing website where you can look up where someone has ever been with their AIS. Ain’t no way. lol
No sir, not doing that. No fkn way. lol That’s getting turned off or going in a Faraday bag and I’ll just have to remember to pull it out when I’m drowning. LOL
Ha ha ha ha ha! Still gonna invest in an EPIRB though.
Now, as for Starlink, I already priced it for Slidell area and I got $150/month, which is kinda pricey for Internet. I currently pay $83/month for Spectrum and my firewall is reporting 482.34 down and 11.41 up, right now. Not bad, but of course I’m not using all of that.
I don’t use streaming services, just about everything most people need Internet for in their house is hardened against Internet loss in mine (i.e. DVDs over streaming services). The point here is that I’m not using that bandwidth.
I could write off Starlink, however, that’s not a problem. Anything to keep the IRS’s greedy fingers off my money.
But I didn’t get the big home dish, I got the portable Mini. I had to buy the hardware, which was $545.16. The 50GB plan I’m on is $50/month and it can be paused. So I can shelve the hardware, pause the subscription and it won’t cost me a dime. When a hurricane hits, I can break it out and have Internet and communicate with the outside world.
Of course, it’d be a great way to stay in touch when camping at Pass a Loutre WMA in Venice, for example. Do you want same day fishing reports from Venice? lol If I bring my laptop I could probably edit videos in-camp and get them out while I’m down there. Like, this could be big for LAFB.
Thanks for the heads up on the EPIRB
