Lars Thrane Iridium LT-3100S GMDSS Terminal

[Jammer]

These have been available for a while now and are priced at $5500 which includes all the relevant pieces except for a printer.



Airtime plans start at $5 a month with a $660 annual plan available that would cover most typical cruising uses. These rates are somewhat lower than typical Iridium rates for non-GMDSS handsets.


It looks like they are supposed to draw 17 watts when idle, though this is a maximum and may exceed typical values. From the dimensions of the unit and the photo of the heat sink, it does not appear to be designed to dissipate that much power, though there are some electronics in the antenna and some of the power and heat may go there.



https://www.satphonestore.com/soluti...-terminal.html


Does anyone have one of these?


It looks like a reasonably compelling product for boats where Iridium is the preferred long-distance communications method.

[svmobert]

Hi Jammer,

It is definitely low power since it's based on the narrowband connection technology. There is also a non-GMDSS LT-3100 version of this unit which has much of the same functionality at a much lower price.

For someone looking for low cost emergency comms, using an installed unit that has a small antenna, the LT-3100/S is a pretty good solution. It has voice, sms, and can do email/weather using an Optimizer so you could use Iridiium Mail, Xgate/OCENS, Predictwind Offshore with it.

for the GMDSS version, you can sign up for Basic plan which is actually $0/mo but has no included minutes, but since it's active for $0 it allows you to have it available for emergency purposes at all times regardless of budget. You only pay for the minutes you use on that plan.

There is also a monthly and annual plan that includes 50 minutes (voice only, not data) and 50 SMS per month, or 600 of each per year. Data minutes would be bille seperately but at a discounted rate compared with the $0/mo Basic plan.

The LT-3100 non-GMDSS can use standard Iridium handheld plans, prepaid or monthly but in that case you have to pay the prepay voucher cost or monthly service fee for it to be available for emergency use.

You may also want to look at the LT-4100 which is the same form factor and still has a small antenna but is Certus 100 based so data speed is 88kbps download instead of 2.4kbps download. but no SMS texting with Iridium Certus. This unit is also cheaper than the LT-3100S/GMDSS model, but a bit more than the non-GMDSS unit. Airtime plans for Certus 100 with a little data that you could use for predictwind/email would run around $115/mo (10MB data) and voice minutes are cheaper on certus with much better voice quality.

That said, the LT-3100S GMDSS model does have specific GMDSS emergency functionality AND the $0/mo satety standby plan that the other options do not. It's SOLAS approved for high seas (if you need that) and has the quick distress button right on the unit to initiate a GMDSS distress call. It recieves maritime safety broadcasts for nav warnings, weather warnings, piracy, etc and connects direct to emergency services and they get all your info and position automatically. It also outputs GPS data from it's own sensor over NMEA.

Lastly, all 3 units have a SIP/VOIP PBX internal, so if you connect the data port to an Optimizer or other wifi network you can use a SIP/VOIP App on your smartphone to make voice calls if you want. But of course they all have a standard handset integrated for calls as well.

Let me know if you'd like any more info or help on these units..

Richard Anderson