Issues with Sending and Receiving Messages in the Rain Forest of Nigeria.

Wet foliage is a very effective signal blocker. You will probably have to find a clearing - a location with a clear view of a substantial portion of the sky - in order to use iR messaging.

Thank you for your response Sir. So its not a devices/setting issue but satellite reception issue

Yes. Possibly more so on the transmit side than the receive side. All the iR handheld devices have relatively low power transmitters. Although it's not intuitive, you need to successfully transmit in order to receive a message.

Regardless of the details, the overhead foliage is the problem. And the wetter it is, the worse it is.

Thank you for your response Sir. So its not a devices/setting issue but satellite reception issue?

I would guess: yes. For a good iridium reception a free view to the sky is necessary. Dense wet covering by leaves (signal reflections) complicate the whole thing in the rainforest. No device issue. 

A gps satellite signal should be available more easily for navigation/position locating because there are much more gps satellites available as iridium satellites.

Many thanks for your response.