>>2742708We don't have ham radio licenses (and I'm not sure that's something my wife would be very interested in getting, kek).
I've only glanced at devices online, since I don't think I'll be deep in the woods again until October. So I haven't taken a very informed approach to research yet. Some of the options that seem promising include:
>Garmin GSMAP 66i GPS Handheld and Satellite Communicator>Garmin GPSMAP 67i GPS Handheld and Satellite Communicator... and shit, I guess that's all I've really looked at. Now that I'm reading the product descriptions, it seems that you can only send and receive text messages. Honestly, that's fine--I just want to be able to give my wife a heads-up that I'm alright and to send the ocasional check-in message. I could probalby afford a "real" satellite phone with some savings, but that'd probably be overkill.
I do like the general look of the aforementioned Garmin devides. I have a cheapo Garmin right now, and it helped me out lots on my last trip. But it doesn't show topography or other natural features. Not a massive deal, but I grew up hunting pretty flat terrain in the Midwest--I'm hunting in the Appalachians now, and the hills have been kicking my sedentary WFH ass, kek.
I might look into the ham option as a potential hobby, though. I've been struggling to figure out what to do with my down time here. I lived overseas for most of my 20s, and a lot of things I did at and around "home" aren't as easy to do here. And I grew up in a much more rural area--so a lot of the things I like to do require way more driving (I love shooting black powder guns, for example, and the nearest non-club/members-only range that permtis black powder is a 1:15 hour drive away).
Again, I'm just getting back into huntig the first time as an adult. Realized on my last trip how fucking clueless I am, kek. But it's alright--my biggest priority is just being able to see stars and get the fuck away from people and traffic.
