I received a email from marine rescue today ( I am a member) advising that they shall be launching a new app this Saturday. The app allows you to log on and off via an app on the mobile phone which will be convenient. I always log on when at sea but communication can sometimes be a bit confused. I often wonder if the message has been correctly understood so an Internet based system should eliminate part of the human factor.
Marine rescue are also saying that there will be a optional feature that allows Marine rescue to, via your mobile, monitor your position every 30 minutes. Sounds like a great idea. It will be interesting to see how it works in practice. By all accounts Google have been tracking us for years so the technology must be available.
That sounds like a good app.
I will be sailing the eastcoast soon and I guess mobile reception should be available in all the ports (South of Sydney).
By the way, how is reception along the coast?
Select to expand quoteSeaodyssey said..
By the way, how is reception along the coast?
North of Sydney it is good, when they man the stations!
NSW, I think that seaodysey may have been asking about phone reception to log in, and for the monitoring of location.
The new system can monitor your location every 30 minutes. I assume that this is throught the mobile phone network, so you would need mobile coverage. It won't be perfect and you would drop out of range at times. I suppose tht the system would only trigger a response from marine rescue if you failed to log off at around the expected arrival time.
LMY,
Phone reception is pretty good all the way north except maybe for the Military areas in QLD.
Of course if you are too far off shore you have Buckleys!
Telstra only. Once you get into/between regional areas with the other carriers its still marginal
Select to expand quoteSeaodyssey said..
That sounds like a good app.
I will be sailing the eastcoast soon and I guess mobile reception should be available in all the ports (South of Sydney).
By the way, how is reception along the coast?
Coastal Patrol radio coverage South of Sydney is very good. Phone coverage is about 8miles offshore here.
Select to expand quoteSeaodyssey said..
That sounds like a good app.
I will be sailing the eastcoast soon and I guess mobile reception should be available in all the ports (South of Sydney).
By the way, how is reception along the coast?
Hi Seaod, I gather from your post that you are going to be sailing in waters south of Sydney so this information may not be helpful to you. I sailed from Qld to Sydney late last year and had phone and internet connection all of the way. You can purchase from quality radio supply shops a device that will extend the range of your mobile phone and wireless internet connection. I have one on board but cant really comment on its performance as I have not needed to use it so far. It came with the boat and the previous owner swears it increases the range noticeably. It consists of an antennae and a lead and you then purchase adapters from the lead to whatever device you are using. My wireless hot spot has antennae plugs at the base but my phone does not. You can still purchase phones with antennae sockets and one of those will be my next phone.
Does anyone have a name for this new app ?
I tried one last year that was a subscription service and I didn't think much of it and deleted it.
I can't remember its name, sorry.
Franrick,
search for "marinerescue" in the apps store. We have both Apple and android devices. I cannot find the app for Apple.
I tried the the app this morning and had a play. To set a destination you need to search on a map of Australia, this is a bit clunky but the app keeps a list of old destinations so that would be fine After you had used it a couple of times. While playing I had a call from marine rescue asking how I intended getting from Lake macquarie to Pittwater in an hour, so they are clearly looking at trips entered.
I like it, I am always concerned when logging on by radio, there is lots of potential for communication to go wrong. This app would eliminate that possibility.
You do need telephone signal to log on and use the tracking feature, but I suspect that there are not a lot of places with radio reception and no phone. The system is limited as when at sea the tracking feature would drop out. You should have logged on before then anyway and you are still monitored at your arrival time so you are no worse off than with the previous systems.
LMY,
I had a look at the app. It looks like it could be the start of something that could be a lot more comprehensive.
It would be nice to see the other states follow suite and perhaps integrate so that it could be a national resource. Of course state pride and rivalry would be a great hinderance to that.
Personally, I am not a great follower of logging onto VMR. This is a personal choice that stems from when I was both a radio operator and crew member of a VMR station and my experiences there.
That is not to say that the people that man VMR stations do not do a very good job. Many of them put in their own time and money to make it safer on to water for everybody and for some very dedicated people it is what they live for. Most volunteers are very dedicated.
Select to expand quoteFranrick said..
LMY,
I had a look at the app. It looks like it could be the start of something that could be a lot more comprehensive.
It would be nice to see the other states follow suite and perhaps integrate so that it could be a national resource. Of course state pride and rivalry would be a great hinderance to that.
Personally, I am not a great follower of logging onto VMR. This is a personal choice that stems from when I was both a radio operator and crew member of a VMR station and my experiences there.
That is not to say that the people that man VMR stations do not do a very good job. Many of them put in their own time and money to make it safer on to water for everybody and for some very dedicated people it is what they live for. Most volunteers are very dedicated.
I some time feel a lot of this should start federal Government and spread from there ,States seem to like making it to justify that Dept's existence and keep them employed 
so it will always be slightly different from state to state .
Its like there budgets
If a deptment has money left over before the end of the financial year they spend it regardless ,so in the next budget they do not get less money .
