Ham radio operator

maby said:
... The holder of a (UK) full amateur radio licence will be better qualified than almost all other licence types, but they are still not permitted to transmit on the frequencies reserved for marine long range traffic.
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Added the bit in brackets as the bar for getting a licence in the UK allowing offshore boat use is quite high; essentially the Full ham licence assumes you want to build the radio and the course is very technical, expect to need to understand circuit design, propogation and a number of other subjects. By contrast in the US, as has been said, a license to use is issued by post.
 
Ohlin Karcher said:
You can use SSB on a yacht with a ham licence, for any legal purpose. The transceiver is meant to be a special approved marine one if you are using marine frequencies, ham ones may cause interference.
You can use SSB on a yacht, on specific marine channels only, with a LRC.
You can't use ham frequencies with a LRC.
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Bit confusing as SSB tends to have 2 meanings. For a HAM it's a modulation format like FM or AM. But 'SSB' also commonly gets used on boats as a shortened 'marine single sideband radio', different frequencies, license, type approved radios etc to HAM.

You can't actually technically legally use a marine SSB radio with a ham license, if it's been opened up to transmit on the HAM frequencies then it's no longer type approved as it's been altered and is no longer a Marine SSB. Nit picking though, doubtful anyone will know.
 
RobbieW said:
Added the bit in brackets as the bar for getting a licence in the UK allowing offshore boat use is quite high; essentially the Full ham licence assumes you want to build the radio and the course is very technical, expect to need to understand circuit design, propogation and a number of other subjects. By contrast in the US, as has been said, a license to use is issued by post.
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I think the reference to the US licence above was to their equivalent of our marine long range licence. My understanding of US amateur radio licences is that their equivalent of our "full" licence is pretty technical too.
 
maby said:
You need to clarify "legal purpose" - it is contextual. An amateur radio licence is a lot more permissive than almost all other types of radio transmitting licence - in terms of the type of equipment you can use and the things you can do with it - but it only permits operation in the amateur radio frequency bands. The holder of a full amateur radio licence will be better qualified than almost all other licence types, but they are still not permitted to transmit on the frequencies reserved for marine long range traffic.
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I stand corrected, I thought a ham could transmit on marine bands.
 
Ohlin Karcher said:
I stand corrected, I thought a ham could transmit on marine bands.
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Not in Britain, at least. That may be different elsewhere - the US seems to be more willing to grant permission to hams to do other things - as in the MARS licence extensions.
 
You will see below that none of the marine frequencies are within the ITU Ham radio allocations, but all in the range of a ham radio that’s been opened up to full range operation, not against rules to do just not allowed to transmit

MF/HF
2 MHz
4 MHz
6 MHz
8 MHz
12 MHz
16 MHz
 
maby said:
I think you'll find that he's using "am" as an abbreviation for "amateur", not "Amplitude Modulated".
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Sorry, I'm never seen "am" used as an abbreviation for "amateur" in any context, and I think it particularly unlikely in the context of amateur radio, where AM has a distinct and relevant meaning :rolleyes:
 
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elton said:
Sorry, I'm never seen "am" used as an abbreviation for "amateur" in any context, and I think it particularly unlikely in the context of amateur radio, where AM has a distinct and relevant meaning :rolleyes:
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It took me by surprise at first, but reading the post in context makes me believe that he was using "am" as an abbreviation for "amateur"
 
A quick recap of the differences between Marine and Amateur band radio, in particular data for offshore boats.
Both allow to speak to other stations in the appropriate frequency bands, both allow long distance communications (thousands of km), both are subject to propagation, etc etc.
Data service is basically the same that can be had with satellite phones: one first connection to send an email request, a few minutes later a second connection to get the answer. Data includes (almost) everything one can need from the internet: text bulletins, gribs, even weather charts, the only limitation being file size (same as with satellite phone). Both systems allow to send position reports which put the position of the boats on a map, and of course send email home, etc (we once used it to get medical advice by email while in the middle of the Atlantic).
Both marine and amateur services allow to do all of this, with some differences:

1. Marine
. Needs a marine band radio, often quite costly (£2k+)
. Needs also a Pactor modem, again £1-1.5k
. Operator certificate is quite easy, a few days course, there are some fees for it;
. The system works through Sailmail https://sailmail.com/ ; they have a number of land radio stations all over the world which bridge with the internet. The annual fee is USD275.
. The total time of radio connections is somewhat limited on a weekly basis in order to allow all stations to exchange their messages, in practical terms one can request all the needed information, the limitations are mainly there to avoid abuse

2. Amateur
. Does not need a marine radio, an amateur band transceiver for data communications can be found upwards of say £500
. The licence syllabus is (a lot) more complex than the marine one but anyone with say memories of high school physics can get it. Possibly a few months study if one devotes a few evening hours a week. There is a fee for the examination, details on the RSGB web site.
. With an amateur licence, one can get a Winlink account, and use a software named "Winlink Express" to exchange email via radio, the free version is fully functional it has just a small pop-up, the registration costs a few tens of dollars. Very simple, it s like a normal email client software. You may download it from the Winlink web site and have a look.
. Big advantage of the Winlink system: in the last 10y they have developed data communications with virtual modems working with the computer sound card, that is, there is no need to buy a Pactor modem (though the system can handle it). Data transfer speed is around that of Pactor3, plenty enough. Depending on the chosen protocol, these software are either free or available at a small fee (abt 60-70euro). They are *not* available on the Sailmail Marine band system, which only works with Pactor.
. No additional costs, no yearly fees.
. Communication content subject to amateur radio licence terms, in particular one cannot do business (which is instead allowed by the Sailmail system).
. Volume of weekly/monthly data basically left to the operator, as in Sailmail one just needs to be sensible and do not spend hours and hours every day exchanging emails.

In practical terms, both systems offer broadly the same type of service, the Marine is a lot easier on the operator certificate side but a lot more costly in terms of radio equipment; the amateur is a lot more difficult on the operator certificate side but at a fraction of the cost in terms of radio equipment, actually impossible to be beaten in offshore communications.


There are of course a lot more specific details, I hope this has given a broad idea of the differences. :)
 
zoidberg said:
I did the mandatory '12 words a minute' exam close on 50 years ago
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Some simple age-related sums suggest that you likely aren't wanting certification in order to work on SOLAS vessels but if you did you'd be looking at the General Operator's Certificate rather than LRC. I was considering this a few years back before getting sucked into (non-marine) work. IIRC it was a week and £1k at Warsash last time I looked. Now it seems to be 10 days £1335. LRC is shorter/cheaper.

I'm guessing a ham course wouldn't reference GMDSS so it wouldn't be my choice
 
elton said:
"am" is not, and never has been used as an abbreviation for "amateur", and you know it. Grow up.
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You mean all those "pro-am" golf tournaments were just about professionals varying the size of their swings?
(edit: or ones for those advocating that golf should be over and done with before lunchtime)
 
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elton said:
"am" is not, and never has been used as an abbreviation for "amateur", and you know it. Grow up.
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No need to get shirty with me - I didn't post it - if you reread the post you questioned, I think it's pretty clear that the intention of "am" was "amateur"!
 
Chasps, chasps....

You're muddying the waters with 'atmospherics'. 'Straighten up and fly right'. Puleeze!

Or I'll find some other mixed metaphors to torture us all with.
 
laika said:
Some simple age-related sums suggest that you likely aren't wanting certification in order to work on SOLAS vessels but if you did you'd be looking at the General Operator's Certificate rather than LRC. I was considering this a few years back before getting sucked into (non-marine) work. IIRC it was a week and £1k at Warsash last time I looked. Now it seems to be 10 days £1335. LRC is shorter/cheaper.
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In some countries, the GOC allows to be granted an amateur licence without exams, I do not know precisely about the UK but maybe worth investigating.
 
GHA said:
Heard the LRC marine SSB license/course in the UK is actually pretty basic compared to the advanced ham license.
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Very much so as I did both fairly close together. Got quite irritated by the LRC instructor as course was more about passing an exam than first principles but I did do radio basics as an apprentice in the 70s
 
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