Equipment Any diver uses a Walkie-Talkie with APRS function while losing sight of the boat?

[rhwestfall]

Assuming your antenna height is 6 foot above water level then the boat antenna would need to be 350, foot to get 50km range in vhf/uhf

another blow dealt to the "Flat Earth Believers"....

 

[Jaan]

Or to flat sea believers. Haha.

The InReach also have their own custom dive housing. Of course you can’t put anything else in there but it’s compact and made to measure. Looks like the clip-on lid similar to the one the Nautilus lifeline uses…. Sold separately so it does leave other options open depending on your needs.

 

[Russjstewart]

OK
Seems 50km is impossibleHere in Victoria we have a chain of repeaters rhat the Government agency responsible claims will provide coverage out to about 40 km, but that is based on fixedvhf radios on a bot at 25 watts. The land stations are on towers on hills.

 

[SpaceX Aquanaut]

For voice VHF radio, a Nautilus Lifeline 1st Gen in the water should be able communicate in flat seas and clear weather out to the visible horizon at 5km/3miles, to a Diveboat with an antenna 4.5m/15ft above the water. However, if you get swept around a rocky point effectively blocking line of sight, your communication reception will be spotty at best.

Below an example of a common scenario that will test the experience of your skiff driver to find and pick you up before deteriorating into a worst case lost-at-sea situation; Surfacing post-drift dive into a momentary tropical rain squall in near zero visibility, (potentially with a stiff current carrying you away):


So if you surface from a dive, and your pick-up skiff or liveaboard mothership is nowhere to be seen line-of-sight to the horizon for VHF radio communications in any direction, then you better have a PLB direct to satellite as the last resort back-up.

 

[Cymro99]

Having lost site of the dive boat on a recent dive trip in the Caribbean, I was interested in this thread. I've bought a Dryfob case to use with my PLB but was also looking at options to call or text the boat as a first step (knowing that a satellite initiated rescue might be many hours0.

While I was researching, I realized that my iPhone now has satellite text messaging built in and I can easily carry my iPhone in its camera case. Now I will do so, even if I don't plan to take pictures

Passing along this insight in the hope it helps others

 

[Cymro99]

Having lost site of the dive boat on a recent dive trip in the Caribbean, I was interested in this thread. I've bought a Dryfob case to use with my PLB but was also looking at options to call or text the boat as a first step (knowing that a satellite initiated rescue might be many hours0.

While I was researching, I realized that my iPhone now has satellite text messaging built in and I can easily carry my iPhone in its camera case. Now I will do so, even if I don't plan to take pictures

Passing along this insight in the hope it helps others

p.s. There's nothing like a couple of hours adrift and a swim to nearest shore to have a health reminder that we're 'on our own'