Iridium with a PDA or Laptop

and the " Goose " external Battery Pack

My main webpage is at IceTent.com

This page contains information on using an iridium satellite phone and a PDA to send email messages with (or without) pictures attached.

It is commonly believed that a computer is required  to send dispatches or email from remote locations by iridium satellite phones. And that it is not possible to use a PDA instead of a computer. On a recent expedition to Antarctica I used a PDA with no trouble

When they say it is not possible they mean Iridium does not provide the software to do it. Iridium supplies "Direct Internet" software for computers but they do not offer a PDA or "Windows Mobile" version. However installing special software to use a PDA with an Iridium phone is not necessary. All you need to do is configure the email software the right way. I was unable to find any guide for doing this so here it is. The is a webpage HERE that has information on using the Iridium as a modem.

If you are trekking across Antarctica an Iridium phone is a must. Bringing along a laptop is very heavy and requires a lot of battery and solar cell power. The ability to connect to a PDA for emails, pictures and blogging is a desirable option.

There is at least one commercially available way to do this using "Contact 4.0" software on a PDA. These are good people with a good product, but the software is $1,100.00 plus $20.00 per month for the required website. A lot of money when you consider that the software is unnecessary if you know how to configure the PDA and you can get a website free at blogger.com (see below).

Below is a description of the equipment I used. Other PDA's can do the same thing, but you will have to figure out any discrepancies yourself..

What I used

Iridium 9505A satellite phone - The phones service must be authorized for data service

Iridium data adapter for the 9505A - A little box that attaches to the bottom of the phone. It usually comes as part of a kit with stand, cable and software. The stand is cute but not necessary. The cable is unnecessary for our purpose and to long. The software can be downloaded from Iridium and is useless unless you plan on also using a laptop.

HP IPAQ model HX2495  - Other PDA's should work if they have serial port capability. It is also desirable that the PDA have a slot for the memory card in your camera. The HX2495 takes SD or CF cards

IPAQ serial adapter cable - A special cable that plugs into the bottom of the PDA and adapts to a 9 pin serial cable connector. About $20. I found two versions, the ISC-22   (pictured) also employs a power connection for charging the PDA.

Email software - The PDA must have email software that can be configured as specified below. However the email software that came with the PDA was all that I needed.

Canon A540 camera - Not a requirement but this camera uses a  SD card that can connect to my PDA, plus it is powered by two AA batteries allowing me to use Energizer Lithium AA batteries. These are very expensive but last a long time and are great down to very low temperatures. These batteries are also very light, a concern if you are trekking.

Photo Resizer software - Not required but allows you to convert large images to smaller images so they can be sent by email in a reasonable amount of time.

Iridium 9505A data module

How to Set it Up

Connect the PDA to the serial cable, serial cable to data adapter and data adapter to phone. The connection between the phone and adapter can be a problem. Make sure the connections are clean. An elastic band around the phone and adapter to push the connectors together is a good fix if you have connection problems.

The PDA's email software must be configured to use the phone as a modem.

With Windows Mobile select "Start" then "Settings" then "Connections" then "Connections" then "Add a new modem connection"

Settings  (Windows Mobile Ver. 5.0)

Connection name: iridium data service
modem: Hayes compatible on COM1  (may be different on some PDA's)
phone number: 008816000025
Do NOT select "dialing rules" option
User Name: directinternet
Password: directinternet
Domain: (leave blank)
Baud rate: 19200
Data bits: 8
Parity: None
Stop bits: 1
Flow control: Hardware
Wait for credit card 0 seconds
Extra dial-string modem commands: +cbst=71,0,1   (VERY IMPORTANT, DO EXACTLY, see below)

   
             Password  =  directinternet

Uncheck the following boxes
□ Wait for dial tone before dialing
□ Cancel if not connected in XX seconds
□ Use terminal before connecting
□ Use terminal after connecting
□ Enter dial command manually
□ Use Specific IP address
□ Use slip
□ Use specific server address
 

Check the Following boxes
◙ Use server-assigned IP address
◙ Use software compression
◙ Use IP header compression
◙ Use server-assigned addresses

Using a Computer

It is easier to use a laptop if power and weight are not a problem. Leaving the laptop at base camp and taking the PDA and Iridium with you is an option. With a laptop you can use special email software like "Skyfile" that compresses the email, uploads and downloads at the same time and picks up where you left off in case the connection is broken. You can also set the email server to limit attachment size or require a secret word be added to the email. You can also watch the downloads and abort a given email if it is taking to long or you know you don't want it. All email is handled by the skyfile email server so you must register and use an @skyfile.com email address, however you can forward email to that address.

SkyFile is from a company named Vizada and if free http://www.vizada.com There are other options that do much the same thing, some are free and some will cost you. Unfortunetly they all require a standard operating system like Windows XP or Mac. They will not work on a PDA. Here is a list, email me if you know of more.

Skyfile  www.vizada.com/349_1
Sailmail   www.sailmail.com
Xgate    www.globalmarinenet.net/email.htm
U U Plus  www.uuplus.com
Ocens   www.ocens.com
AmosConnect   www.amosconnect.com
G Comm   www.g-comm.co.uk/webmail/index.htm
Mail-A-Sail   www.mailasail.com
 

Batteries

I like the Energizer Lithium AA batteries. They weigh less than alkaline batteries and provide much more power. They also work great at low temperatures. Their only drawback is the cost. If your Camera, GPS, MP3 player, PDA external power pack and Iridium phone external power pack use AA batteries you can operate them all off of one stock of spare batteries. You can even save weight by leave the solar panels and chargers at home and bringing extra batteries.

There is an Ipaq external power pack using 4 AA batteries available at this link.
http://www.amazon.com/Emergency-Battery-Extender-HP-hx2495/dp/B000FD97BK/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1222958136&sr=8-2

The "Goose" - You can make your own 6 volt external Iridium power pack by adding an iridium power plug to the PDA power pack. Or make a separate one using a 4 battery holder (below) and a iridium power connector (below). I have used my Goose with great success and would not be without it. At very low temperatures even a fully charged iridium battery may be unable to operate the phone. Warming up the entire phone or the battery in your pants is an option, but not always the best option. Plugging in the external power pack will give you the extra power needed to put a call through with a dead or frozen internal battery. Keep the Goose unplugged when you don't need it or it will drain itself while charging the internal iridium battery.

12 Volts - An 8 battery holder can directly power 12 volt equipment or it can power your existing 12 volt chargers. You can even power a laptop for a limited time using this method. The 8 battery unit can also power the iridium if you also use the iridium 12 volt charger.

Parts
6 volt battery holder using 4 AA batteries  $1.99  http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2062253
12 volt battery holder using 8 AA batteries  $1.99  http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2062242
1.1mm x 3.5mm plug (power connector for Iridium 9505A)  $2.19  http://www.altex.com/11mm-x-35mm-Plug-1135-P145459.aspx
Note: 9505 phones use a custom made connector that attaches to the bottom of the phone. Therefore you will need to use the 12 volt option

Important Notes

It is VERY important that the modem receive the proper AT command string. The full string command is
"AT+cbst=71,0,1" without the quotes. However I found that my PDA must have it in the form
"+cbst=71,0,1" without the quotes. You can try it both ways if necessary

The phone number is a special internal Iridium system number that connects directly to the internet. Do NOT use dialing rules and enter it simply as 008816000025

You can use the iridium phone to dial into your own ISP. In which case it would be best to use an access number in the Phoenix area since that is where the call will originate. However using you own ISP is an additional level of complexity, probably slower, and doesn't have any advantages I am aware of.

Next (if using Windows Mobile) select "Start" then "Settings" then "Connections" then "Connections" then "Manage existing connections" then select "iridium data service"

Now you may write an email, attach an image and send the email in the normal manner. When you hit "send" the iridium will start blinking "Iridium Data Connecting". When the connection is made the message will stop blinking. If the message disappears from the Iridium, it indicates the connection is lost no matter what the PDA tells you.

When the messages have been sent and received disconnect quickly to prevent wasting airtime. Disconnecting the cable is the quickest and surest way to disconnect and be sure you are not waiting money.

You can also connect using browser software. However browsing the internet with a 2400 baud modem is excruciatingly slow and expensive. If you must use a browser try and have a link that will connect directly to the page you want. I'm trying to give you the idea that browsing the internet with an Iridium is SLOW, SLOW, SLOW. Get the idea? The quick way to brows is to call someone back home that is sitting at a computer and talk them through what you want.

Many commercial websites have mobile versions with all the extra crap removed. Even if you have a laptop they are great to use with an Iridium because they load very quickly. Here are a couple as an example  http://www.google.com/xhtml   http://m.cnn.com  and a list of more  http://cantoni.mobi/

Emails go through slowly. Emails with attachments go through even slower.  An 800 x 600 pixel, JPG image can be about 25K and take about 4 minutes to send over the Iridium. If the connection is lost while the email is going through you will have to start again from the beginning.

I recommend you use an incoming email address that is spam free and only known to people you want to hear from. Request they send you emails in "plain text" without attachments and don't quote other emails. However this request is beyond most peoples understanding or ability.

Configure your email software to download headers only. Or set a maximum download size like 2k.

"Photo Resizer 1.0"   http://www.freewarepocketpc.net/ppc-download-photoresizer-v1-0.html is a free, simple program that will allow you to reduce the size of you images. Choosing a compression of 50% to 60% you can have good picture that will download in reasonable time.

If you are sending a dispatch to friends AND a blog, use the Bcc feature. Otherwise when your friends respond their emails will be blogged.
 

Trouble Shooting

If the Iridium displays "Iridium Data Service" when you try and connect it indicates that you have made the electrical connection between the PDA and the phone and that the software is a least talking to the phone. It also means your com port and some other settings are correct.

If everything seems good but the connection does not go through or shuts down quickly you may not have a good phone to satellite connection. Connecting with Data requires a good connection. One, Two or Three bars is not going to do it. For data you should have full bars, a great connection. If you are trying this at home you should use an external antenna or go out in a field to try your connection.

If connecting to the Iridium is the problem clean the terminals between the phone and data adapter. They are a notorious problem spot. You can also try connecting to the phone using AT commands sent from terminal emulation software. This is a complex subject so if you don't know what I'm talking about it's probably not an option for you. If you understand the subject then you probably know how to proceed. Info on the Iridium AT Command Set can be found at http://www.phys.unsw.edu.au/~mcba/iridium/ISU_AT_Command_Ref_v2.7.pdf

Blogging

Getting you dispatches up on a blog can be easy.

Easy and Simple Way  - Go to blogger.com and open an account, it's free. All you need is an email address and a name for your blog. Then go into [settings] then [email] and set a "Mail-to-Blogger Address". It's just that simple. Any emails sent to that email address will be posted, so keep it secret. There are lots of settings and layouts you can play with but the defaults will get you up and running in minutes. Any images attached to the email will be posted. The maximum size however seems to be 400 pixels wide, larger images are resized. Not a very big image, but it can be sent quickly over the Iridium. Don't send a larger image file than necessary.

Better Way - Use the method above, but have a friend back home that has your password. Things can go wrong when you blog blindly by email like images that are sideways or  posts that appear multiple times.  Advertisements can show up in the "Comments" section. Your friend can fix these things easily. If the emails are not working or your PDA is dead you can call the friend and dictate a message or leave one on an answering machine. They can then post your dispatch, a good fall back plan.

Best Way - If you want you own site with you own domain name or larger images then it gets complicated. If your ISP has Wordpress on your server you are in luck, otherwise you may need to get it yourself (or use another kind of blog software). Load Wordpress, go though the setup process, then load the "Postie" add in. This add in is required if you want to email pictures. This methods gives you many more options but is about 50 times harder to get running than a blogger.com account. I mean that literally. The Postie add in does not run by itself on the server, you need to "hit" the script from a cron job so it can load the most recent emails. I set up a cron from my ISP and ended up having the blog shutdown by my ISP because the cron was running once a minute, and they only allow twice an hour. One of those things they never tell you until you are already screwed. The safest thing is to set up an cron job from an external cron handler site like http://www.webbasedcron.com/ for only $24.95 a year.  Are you getting the idea this is complicated.... Good! You can view the blog I did this way at www.icetent.com/blog

 Best Way Made Easy - Email your dispatches and pictures to a friend back home and let them maintain your blog.

Future Improvements

What this method needs is the ability to resume an email connection that has been broken, without starting from scratch. There are options to do this with a computer but I don't know of any that work on a PDA. I have used "Skyfile" from Vizada, it allows you to abort an email upload real-time if you don't like it's size or who sent it. It will also take up where it left off if you are disconnected. However there is no PDA version.
 

Links

http://www.phys.unsw.edu.au/~mcba/iridiumLinux.html   Great webpage with lots of links and information on using Iridium for data.

Back to Main Webpage www.icetent.com

If you found this information useful please send me an email...  (or a box of Thin Mint Girl Scout Cookies, I love them!)

Contact info: