I finished installing my SSB a couple of weeks ago and have had good luck calling WLO in Mobile and a station oug of Houstom Tx here from south Fla. I would like to try some longer distance type radio checks, I don't have my ham license and I don't know that many other boaters on the west coast (or wherever) to talk with... I would like to know how well I did on the install before I get 500 miles from home and realize I can't :call home" anybody interested in setting up some times do a few radio checks on their SSB? Brian s/v CREW REST
SSB radio check
- Thread starter FlyBri737
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Brian, here are a few thoughts...
Brian, I'm helping a fellow ham right finish up his Icom 706 install and a sked would be a big help...except that we're not far away in St. Pete so a radio sked with us wouldn't help you. But here are a few thoughts (based on my reading between the lines that you have a SSB that can be used on the Marine SSB channels): 1. Contact the Cruiseheimers Net on 8.104 USB which meets daily at 0830 or perhaps 0900 EST. Listen to the Net format, give your boat name and report your position when South Florida's location is called, and state that you wish to pass traffic to WINGS in Baltimore, MD. (WINGS is a fairly common name so I'd encourage you to specific the location). When they later work thru their traffic list and reach you, make a call for WINGS in Baltimore, but add that you request a relay if not successful on your own. That will a) tell you if you have good prop in the a.m. on 8 megs (are other boats able to work contacts that far away?), b) allow you to get an inbetween signal report from your relay station if you are unsuccessful, and c) allow you to tell Helen & Gus hello from WHOOSH.<g> 2. Monitor 8.155 USB at - I'm guessing - 1000 (it may be an hour earlier in the winter; it's been two years...) and see if you can work the Western Caribbean Net. Many of them are scattered thru-out Honduras, Guatemala on the Rio Dulce, Belize and Mexico right now, and the weather is given by a fellow in the Honduras Bay Is. (Roatan). Net controller changes by the day (as with Cruiseheimers) so I don't know who you will initially be talking with. But that will give you lots of opportunity to exercise your radio and get signal reports that can be put in context with other rigs of comparable distances. Good luck! Jack N3FYP
Brian, I'm helping a fellow ham right finish up his Icom 706 install and a sked would be a big help...except that we're not far away in St. Pete so a radio sked with us wouldn't help you. But here are a few thoughts (based on my reading between the lines that you have a SSB that can be used on the Marine SSB channels): 1. Contact the Cruiseheimers Net on 8.104 USB which meets daily at 0830 or perhaps 0900 EST. Listen to the Net format, give your boat name and report your position when South Florida's location is called, and state that you wish to pass traffic to WINGS in Baltimore, MD. (WINGS is a fairly common name so I'd encourage you to specific the location). When they later work thru their traffic list and reach you, make a call for WINGS in Baltimore, but add that you request a relay if not successful on your own. That will a) tell you if you have good prop in the a.m. on 8 megs (are other boats able to work contacts that far away?), b) allow you to get an inbetween signal report from your relay station if you are unsuccessful, and c) allow you to tell Helen & Gus hello from WHOOSH.<g> 2. Monitor 8.155 USB at - I'm guessing - 1000 (it may be an hour earlier in the winter; it's been two years...) and see if you can work the Western Caribbean Net. Many of them are scattered thru-out Honduras, Guatemala on the Rio Dulce, Belize and Mexico right now, and the weather is given by a fellow in the Honduras Bay Is. (Roatan). Net controller changes by the day (as with Cruiseheimers) so I don't know who you will initially be talking with. But that will give you lots of opportunity to exercise your radio and get signal reports that can be put in context with other rigs of comparable distances. Good luck! Jack N3FYP
Thanks Jack... Randy
I was trying to avoid getting in on the cruisers net since I wasn't out cruising... but that is a good idea
Randy. As long as you have a ship station license for your vessel that includes SSB, you are not required to have a ham license as long as you stay on the marine band freqs....(any hams feel free to correct me on this) Brian s/v CREW REST
I was trying to avoid getting in on the cruisers net since I wasn't out cruising... but that is a good idea
Randy. As long as you have a ship station license for your vessel that includes SSB, you are not required to have a ham license as long as you stay on the marine band freqs....(any hams feel free to correct me on this) Brian s/v CREW RESTLittle more complicated than that...
'SSB' is a term used in a very generic fashion outside radio hobbyist circles. (It actually refers to how the voice is modulated on the radio wave). The SSB radios which folks like us get involved in are either type certified for use on a boat (dumbed down for ease of use, protected from elements, intended for use solely on Marine HF Bands, require certified installation and an FCC license that in turn only requires a fee be paid) and are known as Marine SSB's -OR- they will be radios designed for amateur (ham) use on ham HF bands, can be self-installed, and their operation requires an Amateur Radio license for which tests must be taken and passed, the level of which in turn mandates the kinds of use which can be made of the radio. Icom has intro'd several SSB rigs recently that were type certified for both Marine and Ham use...but they are optimised for Marine use and are somewhat more difficult to use on the ham bands. I've surely butchered the details in this oversimplified answer... Jack
'SSB' is a term used in a very generic fashion outside radio hobbyist circles. (It actually refers to how the voice is modulated on the radio wave). The SSB radios which folks like us get involved in are either type certified for use on a boat (dumbed down for ease of use, protected from elements, intended for use solely on Marine HF Bands, require certified installation and an FCC license that in turn only requires a fee be paid) and are known as Marine SSB's -OR- they will be radios designed for amateur (ham) use on ham HF bands, can be self-installed, and their operation requires an Amateur Radio license for which tests must be taken and passed, the level of which in turn mandates the kinds of use which can be made of the radio. Icom has intro'd several SSB rigs recently that were type certified for both Marine and Ham use...but they are optimised for Marine use and are somewhat more difficult to use on the ham bands. I've surely butchered the details in this oversimplified answer... Jack
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