KVH Satellite Phone an old satellite system and I wonder if it still is in use. I have put it on the shelf. Today I would recommend a handheld sat phone for voice communications.

This system  covers the USA, Central America and Caribbean. Internet access is at 4800 baud, which is good for e-mail and NWS weatherfax pictures including satellite pictures and 500mB upper air charts. These are the same charts used by weather forecasters in USA. Phone quality is very good. It will keep track of the satellites at any angle of heel, and however rough it gates. Can scan below the horizon to directly overhead. The Terlin  Outbacker anntena is the black vertical pole on the aft end of the solar panel assembly. The solar array acts as a ground plane which couples to the sea via the vertical support pole and a copper strap that connects internally to the pole and then is fed into the engine compartment through a slit above a berth, and finally is clamped to the sea cock.

Radiation alternates between the vertical and the solar array, each acting as the primary radiator on alternate half cycles of the transmission. The radio tunes up to this unusual antenna quite well with VSWR usually under 3.0, and often under 2.0. A perfect vertical antenna rarely gets below a VSWR of 1.5.

Most of the RF radiation stays outside the living quarters.