G'day Paul,

Start with the simple things first and work your way up from there.

An 80 ch UHF radio and antenna from either Oricom or GME would be your first starting point. This will give you about 10km range (line of sight) to others that also have a UHF radio and are either scanning all channels or are on the same channel that you are on.

When traveling with a group this is easy communications with everyone else you are traveling with.

Traveling in the outback or remote areas you can get a satellite phone. Either purchase on (prices have come down considerably in recent years) or you can hire them for the duration of your trip. For instance if you are doing the Simpson Desert, MT Dare and the Birdsville Pub hire out Sat phones for one way trips.

If you are going to be traveling alone then an EPIRB is a must. Buy or rent these as well.

I did a quick search on Google and got several hits for hiring Sat phones and EPIRBS here is one of them - http://www.epirbhire.com.au/

Then there is always the "Old School" traveling practice of notifying local police stations in the areas where you will be travelling and giving them your travel plans. You can check in with them when in the outback and let them know were you are going and when you plan to be back or when you plan to reach your destination and if you don't check in within a certain period of time they send out a search party.

Cheers,

Rob