Cell phones offshore

[www]

I took a cell phone with me to the Farallones on Saturday. I figured if I was out of radio range when it was time to call in position reports, I might be able to use that. I also wanted to call my wife about dusk if I was still out there, to let her know everything was OK. She was a little nervous, given the recent ... maybe "hysteria" is too strong a word.

But a funny thing happened: Although I left home with the phone fully-charged, when I picked it up to make a call about 7:30 it was totally dead!

The only theory I could come up with was that it must have been straining to find a signal the whole time I was out of range, and it burned down the battery in the process. A little Googling when I got home turned up a couple of hits that vaguely supported that idea, but nothing conclusive.

So I wonder: Is this a known problem with cell phones offshore? I suspect that just turning it off until I needed it would have been the thing to do, but who'd have guessed?

www
I28 "Horizon"

 

[Critter]

Interesting; a couple of other boats reported dead cell phones to the race committee.

I just turned mine on after I rounded the island; I couldn't get a signal there, but about halfway back I noticed I had bars and made a call.

Max

 

[tiger beetle]

An interesting feature of cell phone radio transmission is the phone will operate at the minimum power output needed to maintain a signal; as the signal level goes down the power output of the handset goes up.

When the phone cannot communicate with any tower it will raise radio output to the phone's maximum and continue to search for an available tower. This will carry on until the battery is exhausted or a tower is found.

- rob/beetle

 

[Coyote]

Yes, same thing happened to me! My wife had called several times,,,,finally at 8:30pm, I picked up my phone (a charge usually lasts a full week) and it was off! I called her, but then my phone went dead, it as the wierdest thing, to have my batteries toasted!

 

[Wylieguy]

Cell Phone Worked

I left my cell phone on all day. That would be from the Clipper berth around 0700 until I arrived back home in Santa Rosa around 2200. I called from the Light Bucket both going out and coming in, and then about every hour until I climbed into the van around 2100 to drive home. I turned it off around 2200 for the night. No problem with the battery. It was still showing a strong charge Sunday when I plugged in the charger to top it off. I got a strong AT&T signal several miles beyond the Light Bucket on the OYRA Farallones Race. I don't have a 12-volt charger, but have been thinking about getting one, both for the van when traveling and for the boat.
Pat
"NANCY" Wyliecat 28890

 

[www]

What kind of phone do you have? (Please tell me it's an iPhone!) Mine is a Motorola Razr with Verizon.

Thanks,
www

 

[Wylieguy]

Pat's Phone

No, not an iPhone. It's an older Nokia 6085 flip phone. I must admit it hasn't been used as much as most cell phones. We don't have good coverage from the house and I don't photo, text, twitter, or do any of the other "ers" with it.
Pat "NANCY"

 

[BobJ]

I use my cell phone about like Pat (not much). I left it on all day and it hadn't run down when I fished it out of the bag Saturday night. (AT&T).


Memos to self:

Three Bridge Fiasco - when Hank goes by, follow him.

SH Farallones - when Pat goes by, follow him.

 

[Dazzler]

Cell Phone for SHF

My cell phone (Palm Treo/ Verizon) was on all day and was at about half charge at 1920 when I placed my first call of the day after finishing.

Tom
Dazzler

 

[Matt]

Call from Lightship

I called my home phone and left a message from around the lightship buoy at 3 p.m. with two bars on my signal meter.

The phone was off until I needed it.