Inreach from Delorme

I just splashed out and purchased an Inreach satellite device from Defender for $260 so that I could communicate when i sail offshore. Typically I lose cell phone communication a few miles away from cell towers which leaves me in the dark when it comes to weather when i sail over the horizon. Often times I have to sail close to shore so that I can pick up the internet and then I download grib files from Passage Weather.

I chose a yearly plan for $50 per month and have the capability of sending and receiving 160 character texts to email addresses and SMS messages to cell phones. It also tracks my location and you can see where I am at

https://share.delorme.com/PeterRyan

(A lot of people would prefer not to be tracked but in my case it is a good thing!) It has an SOS feature which similar to my EPIRB would notify search and rescue. I can post to my facebook account and also update my blog with short messages. The most important thing to me however is getting the weather and here I use a service offered by Martin le Roux who lives near Boulder,  CO. I send a short TXT to wx2inreach@gmail.Com and it sends me the forecast at my location. For example if I
send "wx now io," this is what I get along with a translation:

Th 10pPtCldW10mi51F Fr 6aClrSW16mi42F 2pLtRn70%NE18mi59F 10pCldW19mi48F Sa Sno2in87%14/23F Su HvyRn83%N9mi41/50F

Thursday 10pm: Partly cloudy, west wind 10 mph, 51°F Friday 6am: Clear, southwest wind 16 mph, 42°F Friday 2pm: Light rain, PoP 70%, northeast wind 18 mph, 59°F Friday 10pm: Cloudy, west wind 19 mph, 48°F Saturday: Snow 2", PoP 87%, no wind, low 14°F, high 23°F Sunday: Heavy rain, PoP 83%, north wind 9 mph,  low 41°F, high 50°F