CDMA, Globalstar versus Iridium, Inmarsat, etc. Message Board

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Technology Stocks : CDMA, Globalstar versus Iridium, Inmarsat, etc.

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To: Snowshoe who wrote (284)	8/28/1997 6:46:00 PM
From: Maurice Winn	of 381

Greg, Mr Adrenaline is exaggerating a little. Readers, if you check out: globalstar.com and click into the system, mobile, constellation part of it, you'll find a picture of the world with the tracks of the satellites on it. They say on a list of facts about it that they give coverage to 70 deg North. Which includes all of Alaska. You can see that the satellites only go as far north as the tip of the Alaska Peninsular. The viewing angle to the satellites from cental Alaska is about thirty degrees, which means that on the north side of a mountain, it would need to be more cliff-like than mountainous to shade a handset from the satellite. Not many mountains exceed a 30 degree angle. 45 deg has to be bare solid rock rather than scree slopes or eroded debris. But if you break a leg behind a rocky outcrop on the north side of a mountain in Alaska, you would be better to have an Iridium phone as it will fly to the north of you. Your phone is sure to see it. Nobody has said Globalstar needs to get ALL customers. There are going on 6 billion in the warmer areas and they will more than fill the system. The decision to fly to 50 degrees north was a decision to abandon some people to the frozen wilderness. But even there, nearly everyone could happily use a Globalstar phone. It isn't all rocky outcrops in Alaska. You can also see the circles of coverage which satellites give at each point on the map. See how they are as big as the North Atlantic? Just to explain one thing you'll notice, the circles are wonky at the north and south. That is because they have flattened the earth so you can view it on a piece of paper, or screen. As most of you know, the earth is actually spherical rather than flat. That means the circles of footprint coverage don't look like circles. As you will also see, it really would be good to have twice as many satellites to improve coverage by giving more satellites to choose from and to reduce transmission distances. Flat batteries are going to be a major curse with these things. More satellites will help. We need 3 x 48 = 144. Mr Adrenaline, are you saying that Globalstar handsets WON'T have GPS as an available service when you say the GPS aspect will be transparent to handset holders? Mqurice

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