Communication Tools of Today

Good old fashion radio!  To start these things work great, but have their limitations.  You must have a radio station / repeater / or line of sight to another radio to be functional.  They are great in a rescue senario however, as they are great to communicate with a helicopter and search and rescue.  Number two is a Spot transmitter.  These things are worth their weight, but keep in mind they are light… (joke).  They work very well, but also have limitations with your surroundings.  Example, trees, mountains, weather, etc.  A fairly clear line of sight South can dramatically help your efforts getting a signal as the satilites for SPOT circle the earth around the equator… (remember that word from Jr. High School?).  
Globalstar has just recently released a new super light and small satphone.  This thing is TIGHT!  I’ve been playing with it tones and I’m super impressed with it’s clarity.  Picks up a signal quickly and rarely drops a call.  When I make an outgoing call the first thing I say is “I’m on a Sat phone I may loose you, but I will call you back as soon as I can” and continue with my call.  That why I won’t scare someone if a call gets dropped.  They have a great contract right now that is $40 / month for a year everything included.  And the phone has come WAY down in price to just $500… yeah not SUPER cheap but cheap for this kind of technology!
Last I do not have but I’m interested in is called “In Reach”.  This is a SPOT like device however it is capable of recieving a text now aswell as sending.  Great idea and I wish I had more info for you on this one.  Maybe as the winter goes on.