Atlantic Circuit (and beyond?): SSB - how useful is it?

[Sarnia]

I thought about this a lot but I didn't go down the SSB transceiver route because of the initial setup outlay although admittedly once you've got it there's no further expenditure. Instead I bought an Iridium phone, a good antenna and signed up with Mailasail for airtime and email access and so far its all performed very well.

We left the UK two years ago and sailed to the Canaries, Cap Verde Islands, Brazil and then north through the Caribbean, Bahamas and we are now in Florida still north bound.

I use the Iridium to download GRIB files daily and when we got to the Bahamas we signed up for Chris Parker's excellent daily email weather service. Some Americans we have spoken to used both Chris Parker's SSB forecast and also backed it up with his daily email because they said it was sometimes difficult to write as quickly as Chris spoke!

The nets throughout the Caribbean and Bahamas were on the VHF so we didn't miss out much on the daily news and contact.
In the US the Coastguard constantly broadcast a good local weather forecast on VHF but our European ICOM set wouldn't receive it so we invested in a cheap US handheld set so we could.

The Iridium phone (the Extreme model as it has the DSC type service with built in gps ) and antenna cost me around £1400 and when we are on the move I use about 50 minutes of airtime a month.

.......but I am thinking now of buying a low cost SSB receiver just so I can pickup Navtext as we move north!

+1 (with exception of considering an SSB) Iridium every time, for reasons stated, now available for less than the £1400.00, + in an emergency, instant access, and anywhere in the world, they have the best coverage.

 

[Sarnia]

Got the KISS ground as well. :encouragement:

This has not been mentioned before: has anyone got an idea how much it would cost to isolate the backstay?
Rough figure - just to have an idea when I contact a rigger.
Thanks

No way I would cut my backstay regardless of assurances that the isolators will be just as strong, goes very much against the grain.

 

[KellysEye]

>No way I would cut my backstay regardless of assurances that the isolators will be just as strong, goes very much against the grain.

Our boat under the previous owner and I did over 25,000 NM with Stalok insulators on the backstay, they are stronger than the wire. I did change the rigging but reused the Staloks. It's a DIY job if you follow the instructions.

 

[prv]

No way I would cut my backstay regardless of assurances that the isolators will be just as strong, goes very much against the grain.

Presumably then you attach the stays to the mast using the traditional leather-covered loops, right round the spar and sitting on bolsters? Racking seizings around deadeyes at the lower ends? I too like the way that such rigging has no manufactured fittings to fail, but it's rare to see it used nowadays.

Pete

 

[tri39]

My Stalock insulators (self fitted to an existing backstay) are still good after two decades. Whereas the forestay this summer failed at the top swaged fitting, they're much more suspect than properly fitted compression fittings. I don't use my SSB (Ham) as much as I expected to, so few people to talk to on this side of the ocean, and radio wefax has always been too much work for fuzzy charts. But I'm still a fan of Wefax and Navtex altho I tend to read them in bunk on my old Blackberry (or iPad) nowadays!

 

[KellysEye]

SSB is the lifeblood of long distance cruising, ocean nets, marina nets, weather forecasts, in the Caribbean the Safety and Security net, and cruisers fix times and frequencies to keep in touch. Satcom is one to one, we had a satphone but never used it and just kept in the grab bag, charged, because emergency calls are free.

 

[oldvarnish]

If anyone's looking for an SSB set up , PM me

 

[tcm]

Cue TCM for his input

I better say something then...

I did lots of transats with no SSB and before/after nobody suggested that we make contact on SSB.

Eventually i got the gear installed, and a crew guy talked to some people, and ran a net when we did a crossing with the ARC... and they mostly talked about catching fish and gave up doing a daily net after a few days. The reception was always so-so- and the information kinda low-grade. So I sold the stuff, and didn't miss it on RTW trip.

I reckon it is definitely something you can do without, or at least leave until you are at cheaper place (e.g. carib) where it's cheaper to fit than in Europe/UK.

Sat phone + email surely far more essential i think. Get that, then ask around about SSB once in the caribbean.

 

[Koeketiene]

I reckon it is definitely something you can do without, or at least leave until you are at cheaper place (e.g. carib) where it's cheaper to fit than in Europe/UK.

Sat phone + email surely far more essential i think. Get that, then ask around about SSB once in the caribbean.

Thanks for your input. Much appreciated.

SSB had moved to the 'maybe, but not essential' part of my to-do list.

Will revist the issue the other side of the pond.

 

[tcm]

Thanks for your input. Much appreciated.

SSB had moved to the 'maybe, but not essential' part of my to-do list.

Will revist the issue the other side of the pond.

Yeah i think that's about right. I would need to have lots of spare time (hah!) on a boat before having a go with SSB. Even when we did have it I let others fiddle and listen to the lousy reception and/or dull conversations about fishing.

And anyway, the people with SSB tend to be skint and/or quite dull and/or old-thinking or any combination of these three. The guy who bought my old gear was all of these, especially after he'd bought it. Sorry, but there it is. Ask how many SSB-types have ever spent a day on Pampelonne and then another day and another, or gatecrashed the VIP section of a nightclub in Ibiza, got banned from the Harley Owners Club, bought a round for everyone in the bar, and don't bother checking out of places when bound for French-run places cos they don't care about yer funny documents if they're in English or Spanish. See?