Transmission of a journal from loneliness
(Technical details with respect to the satellite transmission)
Whether in the midst of a desert or 1.000 kilometres away from any type of human civilization, it is nowadays possible to keep an online diary via satellite transmission.
During our passage through Australia, we used a satellite telephone (Inmarsat-Phone) from the company Gesat mbH. Owing to its reliability and the very good experiences we made with it, we've decided to make use of this well-tried and tested technology once again during our TRANS-EAST-EXPEDITION. This telephone only weighs 4 pounds, is smaller than a laptop and easy of use.
I will be using the robust GoBook 3 from ITRONIX www.itronix.de to write down our experiences every week. For the actual transmission, it is necessary to connect the sat phone with the laptop. As soon as the satellite telephone has built up a connection to a satellite, I will be able to send off our penned experiences into the ether, as if it was a normal e-mail. Thanks to a software especially programmed for this matter by the company D2S Visual Technology http://www.d2s.de, the reports can then immediately be published on our website. Due to the fact that the transmission is a lot slower than when using a modem or DSL, the regular update of our website is a pretty costly project.
Obtaining energy for the telephone and the laptop in the bush or in any desolated areas always represents a special challenge. During the RED EARTH EXPEDITION, we used a dry cell battery of 40 pounds supplied by two large solar paddles. It was important to apply a regulator, thus protecting the battery from overloading or from total discharge. In Australia we usually had plenty of solar energy available to supply the solar paddles, and the weight of the battery didn't cause us any problems either, as our camels carried all our heavy equipment.
A more lightweight solution developed by Messrs Thomas Amberger GbR www.amberger-mrs.de will serve us for the live transmission of our online diary concerning the current TRANS-EAST-EXPEDITION: 20.000 kilometres on bicycles from Germany via Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Serbia, Romania, the Ukraine, Russia, Siberia, on horseback through Mongolia, back onto the bikes through China, and then on the back of elephants through Burma.
The SonnEnergieBox 18, especially designed for outdoor expeditions, meets the following requirements: low weight, high capacity, small dimensions, longevity, and, of course, network-independence. Furthermore, it allows for a simultaneous operation of diverse instruments, such as satellite telephone, laptop, and handy at a time. Another aspect is the exact adjustment of the flexible solar modules, highly efficient when optimally adjusted to the sunlight. A 12-V-18-Ah-NiMH rechargeable battery accumulates the energy. Pure solar energy!
