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From: Baumgart, James (no email)
Date: Tue Dec 09 2003 - 18:05:25 EST
I might add to this discussion that I have a $250 Radio Shack digital
(portable) receiver. This unit receives shortwave, Marine SSB, and Ham
frequencies. No license is necessary. Just put in AA batteries and fire it
up (I find headphones useful). I have a AC and 12 vdc adaptor but the
signal is cleanest with batteries. Although the receiver can be connected
to a computer for weather fax ($90 adaptor and software needed), I did not
find it necessary on my cruise. Just have a large area chart of your area
(ex. Western Carribean) and a piece of acetate. As you listen to the
Offshore Forecast, make quick notes and jot down positions of interest to
you on the acetate. You can get a special weather overlay chart for this.
I think a tape recorder would be wonderful - those marine forecasts go by
fast and sometime you miss the few words about your location or destination.
Unlike VHF forecasts they only occur once every 4 hours.
You can listen to all the nets on this device. Most always you can contact
a boat with HAM on your VHF if you need to get a message out on the net.
You'll know who is close because their signal will knock the headphones off
your head!
Why not try this first, and be a "lurker" or listener before investing $3000
+ in a HAM or Marine SSB rig for your boat. Plus you can listen to BBC and
Voice of America.
Marine SSB receiver
Cell Phone with modem
Pocketmail
VHF
Internet cafe
These are the low budget and highly reliable ways of keeping in touch.
-----Original Message-----
From: Rick H Kennerly [mailto:]
Sent: Tuesday, December 09, 2003 2:54 PM
To:
Subject: RE: [world-cruising] HF communication equipment
.:.to get into it aside from a license to use it and some
.:."unknown" equipment. What, pray tell, is the equipment
.:.I would need to get into this area or, should I just
.:.go to the store and take their word that whatever they
.:.say is what I need?
.:.
The basics are pretty easy. You need an HF radio (HAM or Marine SSB, they
use slightly different frequencies but always in pieces of the spectrum
adjacent to each other--A Thanksgiving Image: think of them as different
pieces of the same pie). You need an antennae tuner (mostly fully automatic
units, now). And you need an an--an insulated backstay is traditional for
sailboats, but it can be a whip, a coiled unit (like the Hustler or
Outback). If you want to do e-mail (no web browsing) you'll need a TNC
(Terminal Node Controller) which is a radio modem.
You can get a lot of information using voice only. Not only does the USCG
do automated High Seas broadcasts, usually referred to as Mechanical Mike,
there are dozens of cruising nets you can join, many devoted to weather.
http://www.mouseherder.com/xapic/freq.html
<http://www.mouseherder.com/xapic/freq.html>
The radios are normally all band receive but restricted to transmitting in
their own "service". The Amateur Radio Service for HAM and the Marine
Mobile Service for Marine SSB. Many HAM rigs have been "clipped" to allow
them to transmit in both services (although it's illegal to broadcast in
these bands with a HAM rig outside of an emergency, most hams that
participate in Marine SSB and HAM nets are using clipped rigs). ICOM makes
a store bought unit that will transmit in both services. But most people
are in one camp or the other.
Marine SSB is actually gaining a lot of support around the world, as far as
nets go. If you want to do e-mail, you'll need to join Sail Mail for a
couple of hundred a year and install some software. The positive side is
that there is no test for Marine SSB, but you do have to license your
station.
HAM - very much like Marine SSB, but there are more nets and more people all
around the world who have absolutely nothing to do but listen for, talk to,
and help Maritime Mobiles--MM. You can e-mail via Ham radio, but it's free.
You'll still need the software, though. There is that little business of
testing, however. You'll need at least a General Class license, which means
learning a bit of theory and a little bit of Morse Code (at 5 wpm).
There is a little primer for getting started in Ham here
http://www.mouseherder.com/xapic/mm.html
<http://www.mouseherder.com/xapic/mm.html>
With both services, since the receivers are general coverage (a radio
person's way of saying all frequencies) you can get marine WeFax and USCG HF
and MF voice weather
in the left column on this page
http://www.mouseherder.com/xapic/wx.html
<http://www.mouseherder.com/xapic/wx.html>
there are links to all the WeFax and Voice broadcasts.
Rick NH2F
Westsail 32 Xapic
Cabo San Juan, Puerto Rico
www.mouseherder.com/xapic/sleep.html
www.westsail.org
Sail like a Kiwi
Anchor like a Canadian
Live like a Texan
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