UKC

I'm off there next month. Took a sat phone 10 years ago in case of emergencies. Anyone know if you can get a signal anywhere on the island now? Thanks!

There was a recent thread. 

I got good enough signal for texting and getting internet weather forecasts from the top of the hill. I'd expect it to be unreliable in bad weather, but I'd be happy enough to go again without a satphone. 

Wouldn't an InReach be cheaper than a satphone?

We were on Pabbay last year and folk with EE managed to get a signal from the top of the hill. I’ve just changed over to EE as seems to be more reliable signal than O2 in the mountains/west coast of Scotland.

Last year I was on a tour of several islands.  Needed O2 on Coll and Tiree, then switched to EE for Barra.  A real pain.  Cannot remember if I got a signal on Mingulay unfortunately.

Bollocks. 

I meant Pabbay, I've never been to Mingulay. 

I definitely got enough signal for texts on pabbay and possibly enough for a distorted phone call from the top of the hill.

On mingulay I managed to send and receive texts from the north of the island while standing on a rock reaching for the sky!

I was with EE at the time but this was 14 years ago.

When I've been recently with Francis he's given us a radio to use for emergencies. I'm pretty sure we had the channel for the coast guard on it plus the local fishing boats. We also all managed to get some signal on top of the hill on Mingulay. So I don't think you'd need a sat phone. 

Agree with those (Gary for ex.) who've recommended EE rather than O2 or others for that matter. I'm on EE and usually have much better coverage than my wife's (Vodaphone) and only very occasionally the other way around - across the NW Highlands.

Have a good one. 

Graham

Also, for info, you can use the Ofcom interactive map to check for signal. It has Pabbay / Mingulay as blank spaces for all providers, but the coverage on Vatersay / Barra  is way better for EE than any of the others. So a much better chance of getting something on Pabbay with EE.

https://checker.ofcom.org.uk/en-gb/mobile-coverage#pc=IV67QD&uprn=13006...

No idea about phones, but when I was on Mingulay and the nearby islands 25 years ago I stayed a couple of nights in a B&B on Barra. The man of the house was a retired trawlerman and he said they only had to sail about a day west of Barra Head before starting to pick up American east coast radio stations.

Managed to get a Boston station on Bla Bheinn once.  Only noticed when the time difference kicked in - lunch time traffic and I was up there in the evening after hitching up from my finals in Edinburgh.  Still think this is impossible and wish I had a recording.

That's entirely possible and I similarly, have heard European stations on the other side of the Atlantic. But the cause is called "Sporadic E propagation" which gives a hint at both its unpredictability and its rarity.

EE's own coverage map showed some coverage on Pabbay when I was heading there last year, and that was accurate because I had signal in lots of areas of the island. And even reliable data on higher areas that faced the mainland. So would definitely echo other people's recommendation for EE in general terms in that area, and perhaps worth checking their own coverage map as well as the Ofcom one. You'd think they'd be using the same data but maybe not.

Thanks for the Sporadic E Propagation explanation.  Given my experience was very close to the solstice and an FM transmission, this is possible.  First explanation I have come across.

The EE coverage map shows good coverage on the hills in the north and west of Mingulay - Tom a' Reithean, Cnoc Mhic-a-Phì, Tom a' Mhaide and Carnan summit (summit).  Indoors and out! 

Link is for Vatersay:

https://ee.co.uk/help/mobile-coverage-checker/results?postcode=HS95YW

 Zoom out and scroll south a bit to find Mingulay.

I got zilch on Mingulay with EE 

I think it depends a lot on the weather. Was it clear or damp and mizzley when you tried?

No, we had great weather 

Also depends on your phone. An older phone with EE, I struggled with poor reception on many hill tops. Newer phone on same hill tops solid reception and data.

Probably other factors also affect…..which we are unaware.

Many thanks all!

In the past I have had to sprint across Pabbay to raise the alarm when someone required evacuation by helicopter. This might bias my opinion in favour of having a sat phone rather than relying on having to run up a hill to get reception! So, just in case you aren't reassured by the possibility of getting some reception in the case of an emergency, we used gtc.co.uk to rent an iridium sat phone on Sandray last year. Across a group of 12 people it came to about £8 each for the week.

When I'm out of reception a satellite icon appears on my iPhone to show it can be used in emergencies.

Not all iPhone models have this, to have the sat phone feature it is the iPhone 14, iPhone 14 Pro, and iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 pro. Quite an handy addition to the phone and could have real use up there as when I was on Pabbay I had zero signal with O2 from the moment we got out into the Oban Channel on the Calmac boat.