Buying a marine SSB in Australia

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Oscarpop

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We are toying with the idea of fitting a marine SSB before heading off at some point.

SWMBO is Australian, and we are heading over for a month at christmas . It would appear as if SSB in OZ is far cheaper than the UK.
From talking to ICOM just now. They are unable to produce any new stock due to some EU regulation, so I cant actually purchase from new in the UK through ICOM.


http://www.radios.net.au/marine-radio-packages/marine-hf-ssb-radios/cat_22.html



Cheers.
 
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Do you know the legality issue here?
According to icom you are not allowed to have one on a uk registered yacht.
 
If you are comparing the spec apples for apples (CE marking, too), if Icom UK, or where ever you happen to be, will honour any warranty / service needs and if you declare it to HMRC upon your return, why wouldn't you buy in Oz.
 
davidjackson said:
If you are comparing the spec apples for apples (CE marking, too), if Icom UK, or where ever you happen to be, will honour any warranty / service needs and if you declare it to HMRC upon your return, why wouldn't you buy in Oz.
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There is some question as to whether it is legal to install one on a uk registered yacht.
 
Oscarpop said:
There is some question as to whether it is legal to install one on a uk registered yacht.
Click to expand...
We went thru this on here years ago, used to be a guy worked for icom posting IIRC. He tried to say it was illegal, illegal my ar se!
Stu
 
Oscarpop said:
Do you know the legality issue here?
According to icom you are not allowed to have one on a uk registered yacht.
Click to expand...
we sail to the Carib, we buy a non CE marked radio, we sail back to Europe with it fitted on board. As soon as we get in UK waters it starts shouting to mama, illegal illegal and stops working, yeah, right! Ask yourself when was the last time officialdom came knocking to check CE marks, when was the last time an american yacht stopped working because it had non CE marked equipment?
Stu
 
There are, or have been several other manufacturers of SSB transceivers in Australia. This is because for many years HF SSB was much in demand for vehicle communication in the outback for the mineral exploration boom. Possibly now being overtaken by sat phones. These oz built radios should be excellent design etc but of course warranty and repair would have to be back to Oz. One guy down the road from me makes "Barrett SSB" but there are others.
Just be careful. You want a radio that will cover all frequencies for Ham and Maritime government communications from the front panel. Some radios are factory fitted with firmware to give only the licenced frequencies. This makes operation much easier and foolproof but not flexible. In some cases it is an obligation to the licensing authority to do this. So an operator cannot run amuck. Good luck enjoy your visit. Bring your hat and sun glasses. olewill
 
William_H said:
There are, or have been several other manufacturers of SSB transceivers in Australia. This is because for many years HF SSB was much in demand for vehicle communication in the outback for the mineral exploration boom. Possibly now being overtaken by sat phones. These oz built radios should be excellent design etc but of course warranty and repair would have to be back to Oz. One guy down the road from me makes "Barrett SSB" but there are others.
Just be careful. You want a radio that will cover all frequencies for Ham and Maritime government communications from the front panel. Some radios are factory fitted with firmware to give only the licenced frequencies. This makes operation much easier and foolproof but not flexible. In some cases it is an obligation to the licensing authority to do this. So an operator cannot run amuck. Good luck enjoy your visit. Bring your hat and sun glasses. olewill
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Icom M801 and M802 are made in Japan for worldwide use. Each flag state would normally give approval at a cost to the manufacturer.
It seems that Icom have got Approval for the GMDSS version for use in OZ and USA but not in the UK. The radios are probably CE marked as are
many electrical items sold in USA chandleries . This is not the same as type approval.

These radios can easily be put to open mode allowing them to be used both on Ham and SSB marine frequencies just by holding three buttons whilst switching on and this could possibly be why they at not approved in the UK. Perfectly good radios if used correctly but there are some references on the net to ensuring GMDSS procedures are followed correctly. Maybe the built in protocols are not idiot proof.

These are certainly used by many long distant sailors including some on these forums and will operate Pactor modems etc. I would suggest not trying to prove they can work 100% duty cycle downloading Grib files :) There is no need to wind them up most of the time and the PA stages are much happier bunnies when running cool.

Just a note for any owners not aware.. If your M801 etc is blowing fuses and not even receiving you can operate in receive mode only by disconnecting the internal leads to the PA stage as this is probably what is blowing the fuses if it has blown. This will allow you to receive faxes.
 
Bilgediver said:
Icom M801 and M802 are made in Japan for worldwide use. Each flag state would normally give approval at a cost to the manufacturer.
It seems that Icom have got Approval for the GMDSS version for use in OZ and USA but not in the UK. The radios are probably CE marked as are
many electrical items sold in USA chandleries . This is not the same as type approval.

These radios can easily be put to open mode allowing them to be used both on Ham and SSB marine frequencies just by holding three buttons whilst switching on and this could possibly be why they at not approved in the UK.
Click to expand...
It's not just UK, it's the CE mark which the 802 doesn't have.
http://www.yachtcom.co.uk/M801/
Not so long ago icom stopped shipping 12v 801E's so it wasn't possible to buy a 12v CE marked SSB but they seem to be available again.
 
GHA said:
It's not just UK, it's the CE mark which the 802 doesn't have.
http://www.yachtcom.co.uk/M801/
Not so long ago icom stopped shipping 12v 801E's so it wasn't possible to buy a 12v CE marked SSB but they seem to be available again.
Click to expand...

The Icom 801E may soon be available and may still have the CE mark which is as I said displayed on most electonic equipment in the USA chandleries
however the question is..... Will it have type approval. it did not before though some places in the UK sold it to marine customers :)

http://www.icomuk.co.uk/IC-M801E/HF-SSB_Marine_Radio
 
Bilgediver said:
The Icom 801E may soon be available and may still have the CE mark which is as I said displayed on most electonic equipment in the USA chandleries
however the question is..... Will it have type approval. it did not before though some places in the UK sold it to marine customers :)

http://www.icomuk.co.uk/IC-M801E/HF-SSB_Marine_Radio
Click to expand...

The manual has CE type approval declaration of conformity in it with a disclaimer to check the version is correct to meet country specific licensing and frequency requirements.
Unless the CE spec has changed.

All very confusing.
 
GHA said:
The manual has CE type approval declaration of conformity in it with a disclaimer to check the version is correct to meet country specific licensing and frequency requirements.
Unless the CE spec has changed.

All very confusing.
Click to expand...

That is the understatement of the decade :) :) Even some different European countries can not agree....


CE cold mean nothing on a label. I checked out a whole shelf full of american electronics in West Marine USA and most of them had CE marks though not suitable for the UK....I was puzzled what benefit there was or did they just insist the far east makers put on as many different marks for as many different countries as possible.

The CE mark is certainly not just exclusive for goods heading to the UK!
 
GHA said:
Any ideas which UK reg applies to marine ssb? Ofcom & dtf came up with just IMO solas stuff.
Click to expand...

Sounds about normal for the right hand not knowing what the left hand is doing.....Mind you maybe folk at Ofcom also have difficulty reading their own documents.

http://www.ofcom.org.uk/static/archive/ra/topics/conformity/document/rtte/rtteman/rtteman.htm


Icom will have put radios up for type approval so maybe on a good day someone there could advise what the problem was.

Reading the document in the link I can see why Ofcom and others might not like the M801E. See the bit about operating on correct frequencies.

They probably have a view regarding a radio which the operator can easily make by a simple button push to be continuously tunable from one end of the short wave to the other for both receive and transmit. There may also be other reasons relating to the functionality of the DSC however I am not sure about this and it may be heresay.

Unfortunately approvals and specs vary through Europe. Take Atis. We have it and others do not! In fact it should not be used strictly speaking in the UK but many ships crews seem unaware they are transmitting it. ATIS signals were Roger Bleeping all around the New Forth Crossing in the early days presumably because the foreign contractors had bought radios over from their home country.

Ofcom have a list of approved radios and could check the licence applications to conform stations are conforming..... Well they could if they asked the Applicants to give Model details :D:o This was requested back in the dark ages then they stopped!!! Anyone know if it is asked for now?
 
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