Making Satellite Calls With A 1973 Telephone (And Inmarsat Mobile Terminal)

[@k.o.0]

Ordering an Inmarsat SIM card: $250 dollars Ordering a bacon double cheese pizza: $ Priceless!!!

[@coreybabcock2023]

@@k.o.0 right 😂😂😂😂

[@nintendolunchbox]

I’ve jumped out of those c130s.

[@alexdhall]

Honestly I would of also called the British talking clock for 💩 and giggles....

[@91thewatcher23]

70's candle phone, 80's phone that didn't work, 90's dialer, modem & sat from 00's, wireless mic probably from the 10's... this is like a convention of the decades

[@raygunsforronnie847]

"Where we proudly use whatever is available, exclusively!"

[@Francois_Dupont]

the worst is that most of his problem would have been fixed with just a normal cable powered phone set. i had one for years it was very practical for emergencies. it looked like a normal desk phone, but didnt need a power supply.

[@raygunsforronnie847]

@@Francois_Dupont I've got a 2500 style Touch Tone desk set, no memories, no internal recording, it just dials, rings, and we talk. It's not used for anything ATM, but it's in the pile of "whatever is available" if I need it!

[@userscott]

Proud to be the man on the other end of the phone! We love you Gabe, keep up the freedom!

[@saveitforparts]

Think I forgot to @ you in the description, better add that in before this goes legit public!

[@coreybabcock2023]

@@saveitforparts I didn't know that was your name

[@ithuri3l]

One dodgy mofo talking to another dodgy mofo.... classic boys :)

[@gastonbell108]

Gabe is already the hero of a post-apocalyptic movie, we're all just still in the prologue.

[@YuNherd]

yep, if doomsday comes you can rely on this guy

[@mikemar42]

I'm pretty sure the character the Warlock in Live Free Die Hard was based on Gabe. End of the world and he's online.

[@AltimaHurricaneChasing]

@@YuNherdI was thinking the same thing. He could possibly monitor hurricane/weather activity, make international phone calls, and provide incredible information in the event of a worldwide blackout.

[@kameljoe21]

I was going to say "how did I miss this, 4 days ago!" It is unlisted... Glad I watch shorts....

[@saveitforparts]

Yeah I may have accidentally sneak-released the Wednesday video, oh well :-P

[@landgrenade]

Same here!!

[@feelincrispy7053]

I love your jank satellite and camera/mic set ups. For one it’s authentic and secondly it’s a reminder of old KZbin. It’s nostalgic for anyone older than 30 that misses that golden era of KZbin where it was just a man, his new toy and a 5MP camera and that was it. These days it all ultra edited and scripted with a production team. Don’t ever change, it’s good the way it is background noise, sun glare and all

[@RICHat22]

As a well weathered 49 year old... Agree 100%

[@coreybabcock2023]

@@feelincrispy7053 I agree

[@MisterTalkingMachine]

Agreed, Cody's Lab is good in the same way

[@YeshuaLoves_You]

Agreed

[@phaeilo]

So much this!

[@AaronzDad]

AHHHHH!!! This is FANTASTIC! Using a stars and stripes candlestick phone to call via satellite. When you got through to your friend Scott in the UK I thought it was great. Then you said you managed to order a pizza and I figured that was the pinnacle. But then you called your friend. On his Payphone. In his front yard. With a rotary dial candlestick phone. Via satellite. They can close KZbin now. It ain't gonna get any better than this.

[@saveitforparts]

It was fun to play with some of that stuff!

[@FriesOfTheDead]

Lol I donno if I got baited, but the + is used on any international phone number, even American phone numbers (+1) when dialing America from another country. It's not just a European thing. The '+' symbol in an international phone number is a placeholder for the international access code required to dial out of the country you are in. When dialing from abroad, the '+' ensures that the appropriate code is included no matter where you're calling from. For example, if you're calling the United States from another country, you would dial +1, where '1' is the country code for the U.S., and the '+' automatically substitutes the correct international access code (such as 011 for the U.S.). This format allows for consistency in dialing, regardless of location.

[@saveitforparts]

It's mostly a joke that Americans don't understand how to dial +, although I legitimately had to think about it a bit and figure out which code worked on which phone!

[@RakTheGoose]

@@saveitforparts you can hold 0 to convert it into a + , or for certain devices, 00 is equal to a +

[@jrr851]

When i moved to NZ i had to add the +1 to all the contacts in my address book i still wanted to call/text with.

[@heuheuheu993]

Doesn't 00 substitute +? I remember dialing 00(country code) usually Edit: yes it is. It's what Gabe did.

[@nathanward9865]

@@heuheuheu993it depends. In Australia it’s 0011 for.. reasons.

[@dagmarsuarez3033]

So, someone who does not want to be identified sends you technology from some sort of unspecified government source. Random military aircraft fly over. And a pizza arrives.

[@raygunsforronnie847]

I think I'd try some of the pizza on a test critter before eating it. Just saying.

[@sumduma55]

​@@raygunsforronnie847nah... nothing to worry about. They just want to ensure that they can Contact him when skynet takes over.

[@arjovenzia]

If anyone is wondering how such a tiny amount of data is useful, we once deployed a bunch of iridium modems to some LED signage into outback Australia. Mainly to close roads when flooded. The security was handled by the modem, and it took a whole 4 bytes of rs232 to change the signs display. There was also a water level guage that came in over RF from a few km away, that wasn't our hardware, but I think that was 12 bytes. Needless to say, the 2.5mb yearly data cap went a pretty long way.

[@saveitforparts]

Yeah, stuff like this is mostly for IoT. You'd never want to visit a modern webpage with it, the data allowance would be gone on the home page!

[@HPad2]

Area code 480 is in Arizona. +1 is the USA/Canada country code. They show that for those who may NOT be in the US. The +870 is a country code specifically for Inmarsat which would be an international call

[@bubbafett2328]

I’m a new ham operator and I gotta say this is so friggin cool. You’ve earned my subscription sir

[@coreybabcock2023]

@@bubbafett2328 definitely agree

[@saveitforparts]

This isn't exactly ham related... maybe adjacent :-)

[@brianbarker2551]

God damn that's janky and fun. Sat terminal from the 2000s on a cd-rom equipped laptop using a 1973 freedom phone and a 90s novelty dialer. And it works! This is why I watch this channel

[@sergoogle5061]

Whoever sent you that was a real one. What a badass. Thanks for sharing, it was a great watch before work!

[@Rettro404]

Starlink works so much better but for some reason I'm obsessed with the older stuff lol

[@georgeleroytirebitergi812]

Starlink becomes self-aware when Eloon becomes a trillionaire. Goodbye, Earth people ...

[@systemchris]

Taiwan is looking to build their own analogue of starlink

[@TouYubeTom]

@@systemchris not digital?

[@systemchris]

@@TouYubeTom haha different meaning of analogue - their version of the type low orbit satellite that starlink uses

[@paulsengupta971]

@@systemchris China are already launching satellites for their version.

[@AdmiralCupcake91]

4:22 Don’t forget about aircraft! On our longer range planes (traversing the oceans mostly) we utilize Inmarsat for satellite phone communications with air traffic control or more commonly with the company itself if we need voice communication with them.

[@TheAlchaemist]

Right, although it's not the same terminals. The regular BGAN terminals cannot handle doppler shift.

[@willywerkel1330]

Gabe, i wish i kept that kid in me like you do. I am astonished from ur human(?) being. You are awesome.

[@MNGermann]

Self pointing antennas always fascinated me.

[@DoRullings]

I just want to say I really enjoy your videos. I don't care if the video or audio isn't flawless, I'm here for the content. Love it! Greetings from Norway.

[@onradioactivewaves]

Agreed, I'd much rather see his time spent showcasing all this amazing old technology together over polished audio or onscreen video graphics wankery.

[@AndrewWestaway]

Your jank and wacky setups make this channel fun to watch. Keep rolling with it, Gabe!

[@falafell]

I love this type of content, yet another expansion to the satellite adventures! Edit: this video is amazing, the story is actually quite in depth and interesting, making this edit after watching the entire video.

[@DarrenRipley]

Great video man! I'm a huge space AND phone nerd, this hit all the right boxes for my weird brain, lol. Pulse dial is pretty much out, but oddly enough my optical network transceiver I got from my ISP still supports pulse! I love that my 1950s rotary phone completely works, it freaks people out because it looks like a decoration, but then it actually, fully, works!

[@Kai-Made]

I know the sim cards are only 5 bucks, but to load just 50 units is over 150 bucks. I use to work with a man who had one of these(or very similar) in his mechanics rig. He was a head mechanic on a big oil pipeline, and he was on that thing all the time. The short wave/radios were not reliable outside of a few miles, and he needed to reliably talk to people when he was in the boonies...so I guess it was worth it. BUT I kid you not, he was on that thing like 3 hours a day. Too rich for my blood.

[@coreybabcock2023]

@@Kai-Made yea that sucks the homeless like me couldn't benefit from that kind of money I need a RV

[@jhonbus]

Oil companies are like the other end of that saying "If you have to ask the price, you can't afford it". If you start telling them a product or service they want you to provide will cost they just cut you off and say that won't be a problem, just send an invoice. Their recruiters would come to my University and have open-invite events for my entire department (chem eng) where they would take anyone who signed up on nights out to extremely fancy restaurants and tell us to order whatever without even counting the students. Don't worry, this is Manchester, and even in London we've never yet managed to hit the company card limit! I guess this was the exact point of their recruitment tactic - show of the ridiculous "baller lifestyle" and imply that's what you could expect working for them. Not necessarily true of course, but still.

[@coreybabcock2023]

@@jhonbus wish they could help me get a RV

[@jhonbus]

@@coreybabcock2023 Me too, man. Ever greater amounts of hoarded wealth by the likes of oil company execs and shareholders making less to go around and more and more people landing in poverty as a result. I never could stomach the idea of working in oil. I hope you get the break you need soon. All the best.

[@Kai-Made]

@@coreybabcock2023 not saying it is the answer to your plight. BUT consider looking into the homesteading groups in rural PA, WV, and VA. I know a couple folks who let people live on their property, giving them a place to be, and live and thrive and only ask for X number of hours of labor...I know a "landless peasant" a homeless person by anyother name, who lives on one near me...and he actually does about 30 hours labor a month which pays his rent, food, and most basics. Then he picks up odds and ends in the surrounding areas...which goes to his luxury stuffs. Just a thought. They do exist. I would suggest the one near me, but I think they are full currently. Having 2 folks living there.

[@lambo_drives]

22:58 Omg!! That’s my neighbor… the phone actually works??? I’ve made a couple videos (see shorts) with it but sound designed in the ringing 😊

[@huboz0r]

That antenna mount quality is just outstanding. Well done!

[@dakota.zimmerman]

This is pretty cool to see all the old technology still working. Nice job powering through the issues and making it work! Also nice wheel barrow collection, I've only ever seen 2 at one house before, never 3 lol.

[@jeredjohnson5300]

The amount of effort you put in to every single video is very admirable

[@AcidOllie]

If you ever need a hand with anything UK related feel free to ask me if your other guys are busy or something. I'm UK born and bred and I would be happy to help! Great video dude.

[@coquicrops]

Dude, this is my new fav channel. Really cool stuff you are doing. Thank you for the cool content, so chill and informative.

[@mdamaged]

12:14 In case you weren't joking, you don't actually dial the +, it just means the number after it is used to denote what country code to dial. 13:58 you can use a dtmf app on your phone to generate the tones.

[@coreybabcock2023]

@@mdamaged like a blue box lol

[@FPVMystique]

Jealous of the space pizza. Love your content. Perhaps we are distant cousins.

[@confuseatronica]

the phone audio quality is way way better than i expected!

[@reneberthold334]

Love the stuff you do that's so great. Greetings from germany.

[@jayprojects9693]

This is so cool, and such a collision of techs and phreakery!

[@MAGGOT_VOMIT]

This was awesome!! It felt like we were desperately tryin' to call from our crashed space-ship on Titan, to any random space-cargo vessel that may be flying in our quadrant and could do a supply-drop. 😎👍

[@DonnyLA]

One of your best vids ever!!! You ordered a pizza from space!!! You are awesome Gabe 👍

[@syanopgh]

Plus dialing is documented under ITU standard E.164 if you want to know more about it. Country code 870 is specifically for Inmarsat and isn't assigned to any one country. I believe most carriers would consider it an international call from any non-Inmarsat phone.

[@juanharu]

it's always refreshing seeing your videos Gabe it brings pace to mind! THANK YOU!

[@RICHat22]

Around 8:30 I said "That's cool" in sync with you. lol. Nice toys. Glad to see someone your age with as much knowledge of the older tech as you have.

[@Winsane]

I really appreciate getting to see the inside of that antenna unit. It's almost as well built as a Juicero!

[@Segranz]

20:48 This is the shot. Love it.

[@VR-Fanatic666]

When the call went through it was just An amazing moment

[@thesausage351]

I bought a watch from eBay, in Japan, and I’m in Australia and it said it would be here in one weeks time. I laughed, because currently if I get a parcel from the same state within one week I think I’m doing good. Sure enough, one week later, my 1990’s Tag Heuer, the same as Ayrton Senna once wore, arrived on my doorstep for my wife to receive and then question how much i paid for it and all those fun things.

[@gergoantal1066]

That's extremely cool. Japanese eBay sellers sometimes have the craziest stuff for sale.

[@thenewfast1]

I'm soo jelly. Dude ur content is really informative and as always interesting. Ty

[@karcinogen]

Had to become a member. Love this channel and can't wait for more. Cheers!

[@PDXDT]

Don't ever change. Your videos are awesome just like this. Please. Sending you some $$$

[@michaellichter4091]

This is the latest and greatest, it works really well. You can go hunting for Bigfoot in remote corners and still have a phone. Now they can explore the South Pole-thank you for sharing your experiences with the satellite phone with us.

[@guitrain]

The air traffic has been insane these last few days. Great vid!

[@gregaluise5727]

I just recently discovered your channel and only wish I had done so sooner! Love your content and you just seem like a wonderful and fun human! Keep doing what you do!

[@nathanlewis5682]

That scene from Airplane 2. E.T. is at the airport payphone and wants to call home. He dials 0 for the operator. The operator says to deposit 6 million dollars for the first 3 minutes. E.T. hangs up the handset back on the phone.

[@itsalexjones]

Haven't heard of BGAN in ages! Just before I got into my career it was _the_ way to get a 2 way call back to the radio station when abroad. They made a foldable, laptop sized terminal for static use - all I know is we'd sold ours a shortly before I started because of the obnoxious cost for what was effectively a 64k link (IIRC you may as well have just lit piles of money on fire every minute) and it got replaced with the Eutelsat Ka band Tooway system and now that's been replaced by bonded 4G and Starlink

[@ddtcs]

Plus in a number is a area code indicator. For example, +43 is Austria.

[@Hk_Network127]

And you know what we do love the setup because this is our comfort palace also

[@SawdustSoftwareSiliconChippy]

This is awesome! You can feed DTMF into the decadic dialing phone microphone (AFAIK). And Pizza 😆

[@willowen5781]

Most in focus UFO footage ever!

[@kgmoome]

A spotted cow on top of a Weber charcoal grill… that is what the Midwest is about!

[@coreybabcock2023]

@@kgmoome beef it's what's for dinner dun dun dun

[@al_lazy3519]

Great video, I really enjoyed it! I guess you could try playing the dtmf tones on your cellphone's speaker into the microphone of the freedom phone, there's a chance it might pick it up without excess noise

[@paulsengupta971]

That's what I thought he was going to do with the laptop, generate DTMF tones to play into the microphone on the phone. I've still got a handheld DTMF tone generator somewhere at home.

[@prozacgod]

Ordering pizza over a satphone is the ultimate nerd flex.

[@nrdgrrrl]

I love your videos.

[@DerDonCH]

Tom Scott send me here. I love your style, mate!

[@swrekcfest]

Wow , nice to see that transmitter on the inside ! Great video as usual man !

[@JarheadCrayonEater]

You'd probably love to see what the USACE uses at the 17th Street, Orleans, and London canals in NOLA. They use satellite phones connected to the level monitoring sensors. I used to be the control system engineer on those pump stations and the level monitoring stations in those canals. I even designed the recent ones, and the USACE required that we offer a way to upload via satellite using those Iridium phones. The same phones I used in Iraq in 2003. Back when I piloted a C-130 from Baghdad to Kuwait City in the Marines.

[@brucelytle1144]

I was on a ship on the 90's that had an Inmar satellite system on it, looked pretty much the same. So, we were upgrading our internal phone system from an X-Y switch to a PBX system. I hooked up all the new phones and programmed the PBX. In the process I found a phone line to the Inmarsat modem 😊. I set it up (the PBX) so any phone could dial it up, with a code. While doing that, I read through the Instructions for the Inmarsat system (much larger than the one you showed!) and found what was basically a back door to make, uh, lets call it non-toll calls 😮 Once at sea, my wife called the ship, I let her know that calling me from a landline costs $30 a minute, she cut it short! I didn't abuse it, figured if I did it too much, I'd get caught!

[@wickedmuffin76]

I had one of those "pocket phones", worked at Radio Shack and one came back missing all accessories. I took it home and used it with a standard phone cord and 2.5mm wired headset I had from an old cell phone.

[@griffithd05]

This gave me such nostalgic flashbacks of working with old sat gear in the Marines and trying to get things to work with no support. 😂

[@joegroom3195]

Awesome video! That's sweet that it all still functions. It sounds like you need a telephone ring booster to amp up the number of REN the system can handle. Basically it's like amperage on power supplies. If the power supply can do 1000ma and you have 2 devices taking 600ma, then it's maxing out the power supply. The modem has a limited amount of REN available and your devices are exceeding it. It'd be best to get a somewhat modern phone. Perhaps you could get a cordless phone and add local wireless to the global wireless. 😆 Keep it up! Loving the videos!

[@tomschneider4870]

Dude.... I don't know what to say. I wouldn't know where to start! Amazing.

[@drones7838]

"because i dont know what to do" 'I am going to take the drastic measure and read the manual" 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@tekvax01]

Your wireless microphone and transmitter is FINE! Sounds great...

[@_z4ppy]

You’ve very quickly become one of my favorite KZbin channels! Thanks for mentioning the Patreon… just subscribed, keep up the great work!! Ps. Thanks for encouraging me to get out there and build a milkcrate support of my own 😂

[@paulsengupta971]

What an awesome piece of equipment! Shame the service is so expensive!

[@bakapapasama]

Too funny. Gabe's gotta hunt for a computer with a CD drive, and here I am watching him on a dinosaur with a CDRW drive.

[@saveitforparts]

My last desktop had a CDRW... when I tried to use it, it was rusted shut from disuse :-P

[@ericgulseth74]

This is such a "ham radio" way to make a phone call.

[@noimnotarobotcanubeleiveit7024]

Before cellphones i used to carry one of those mini pocket phones with crocodile clips. Free calls from every booth

[@NoTraceOfSense]

The Bell System is onto you, phreak!

[@twobob]

Pizza via space. nice. I used to use satellites to do web-dev from a building that was in a field on the edge of the middle of nowhere. The connection was neither reliable or fast.

[@spooktales57]

if ur into tech this is probably one of the best channels

[@dereklouis4710]

The visual of you using that ye olde phone, big grin on your face, satellite dish spinning around on top of a milk crate tower with the laptop and other gear about is priceless. I’m just imagining a stranger walking by, seeing you, and wondering whether you are a genius, or just broke out of the mental institution. Fascinating and hilarious video, making me want to engage in questionable financial decisions.

[@faxcorp]

15:51 What a setup to make satellite calls

[@riffzifnab9254]

Getting dial tone in 2024 must be quite the experience, especially (ostensibly) from SPACE! (:

[@InopVirtualPilot]

Should've named it "ordering takeaway pizza on satellite phone". Legend!

[@KQ4JGS]

I about spit my drink out when you said $9 a min! Good stuff.

[@shawnerz98]

That was amazing! Loved that episode!

[@BennyTheBee]

Can of spotted cow to go with the Freedom Sat Phone. Fantastic combo

[@ericgulseth74]

I moved to CNY, I'm always bringing Spotted Cow home with me.

[@r0bst4rl1ng]

Nice. I think the final thing that would impress me would be receiving a call. That seems like it would involve more shenanigans than initiating.

[@zachwak]

the payphone beer was awesome

[@glockenspielsdesk]

knowing this stuff exists makes me happy

[@starrmann314]

Reminds me of when E.T. made his communication device with a speak-n-spell, and a saw blade...

[@njaneardude]

As soon as I saw the thumbnail it occurred to me, yeah, any ol' analog phone with an RJ11 connected to the Hughes terminal for a $4 phone call 😂

[@onradioactivewaves]

It's always cool for me to see anything Hughs, as my father worked there prior to Howard's passing up until a bit after GeneralMotors acquired the company ('76-'89). Unfortunately for me though, he was unable to disclose anything beyond "military tech" - radar/ sonar systems. There's a neat little exhibit on Howard in the Harry Reid International Airport lobby casino air museum (not secured area), plus another little exhibit at the terminal hallways of Spirit Airlines (secured area) , it's worth checking out if you find yourself at that location.

[@RinoaL]

I like how you start the video with a reminder that people don't need to send you things because you have a lot already. haha I'm actually in the opposite situation and might ask you to send me a huge box of junk because I keep using up my things for work and prototyping.

[@anactualpilot]

Nice upload - Good representation of your intelligence. Thank you.

[@dunravin]

You can dial a plus sign by entering 00 (zero zero) before the number, you will need the full number which includes the country code, area code and phone number. For UK for example you would dial 0044 (country code) then the area code omitting leading zeros and then the number.

[@utp216]

You’re one helluva madlad doing this! 🙏🤘

[@herzogsbuick]

i just got back to anchorage from cordova with my band the jephries. all the times i've been off the road system have been for music. sounds like you were really out there though heh. anyway, i've been watching your videos for over a year now. thanks for keeping it fun

[@saveitforparts]

Nice! I visited Cordova when I worked in Anchorage for a summer, cool area out there.

[@Fred_Klingon]

Lol great video! 😄 I think that sound you're getting (the slow repeating beep) means that the number or the line is busy, at least it's like that here in Italy. That pizza was heavy!

[@PhonePhreak3z]

I love your content and Peter Fairlies content. You two should do some type of collab content!! Maybe you should both call each other from your satellite phones!!! Edit: You ended up calling him!! haha

[@DaRoosterSee]

Perfect timing on the ducks 24:01

[@BAgodmode]

We still IDSN for remotes in radio broadcasting. When Robin on stern was going through cancer, she worked from home over IDSN. It’s stable and reliable and networked everywhere.

[@tammymakesthings]

Pretty sure ISDN is also still used for the control signals in the landline phone network, too.

[@BAgodmode]

@@tammymakesthings that sounds right, I wouldn’t know for sure, my exposure to it was deploying it remotes for radio shows, shockingly recent too. Like just before the pandemic. Apparently two 128 up/down links and a person in the studio at the main board is all you need for broadcast quality audio.

[@tammymakesthings]

@@BAgodmode I’m reaching waaaay back in my memory here, but IIRC an ISDN BRI (Basic Rate Interface) circuit is two 64 Kbps “bearer” (data) channels plus a single 16 Kbps data channel for signaling and call setup. So you could use the bearer channels to get 44 Kbps bi-directional audio pretty readily, I would imagine. Back in the day when I worked in Silicon Valley in the mid 90s, I had an ISDN line at home for “high speed” internet. Most ISDN modems could “bond” the two bearer channels into a single 128 Kbps data pipe. At the time, that seemed hugely fast.

[@foobarf8766]

12:20 the plus is your international outdial prefix, usually its 00 or for domestic its 0 unless you have a pabx, dial 1 or 9 to 'get out' first etc

[@imchris5000]

recording with a remote mic is kind of an art to do well in terms of filming and editing you need to use a repeatable tone at the start of the recording so you can sync it to the audio on the cameras recording

[@adslf874yti3q7u4hf83]

Haha, when I saw the short of this thing I thought the internals of the dish were some janky thing made from left-over parts. Nope, that's just what it looks like. Seeing it up close in this video, obviously it's a very high quality piece of equipment.