Ham radio

[Guest]

can anybody help me? im thinking of taking the the Ham radio exam, I understand there are three levels,at which this exam can be taken do I have to start at level one and work my way up? secondly can this be done from home on a correspondence course or do I have to go to night school ?

The reason for taking the examination is that that I can instal a ham radio on the boat, this will enable me to send receives e-mails while i am sailing abroad. Are there any radio hams out there that can help?

The other question is what type of radio is the best use on the boat,how much do they cost, and can they be obtained second hand?

last and not least, where can equipment be obtained from.
I sail from East Anglia as this is the first attempt to find information on the subject,I will of course try searching the Internet. Reason for starting here is it is more likely that there is a yachtsmen out there has gone through this stage before me,and may be able to help.
Thanking you here in anticipation.
Dave

 

[Guest]

Dave, you picked the right day to post this as I took the exam just this evening! First you have to take the "Radio Amateur's Exam" (RAE) and if you pass that it entitles you to apply for a Class B licence which means that you can transmit on frequencies of 30MHz and above which is not much use to sailors!

If you want to use frequencies below 30 MHz, you have to pass a morse test - 12 words a minute will get you the full class A licence but there is a 5 wpm test which will get you an "A/B Licence" which allows you to transmit on those frequencies with power not above 100 Watts. That is what I am going for.

The Radio Society of Great Britain put out a book called the "Radio Amateurs' Examination Manual" (ISBN 1 872309 45 3) which covers the sylabus and you could probably pass the exam having only seen that book however I did an evening class which certainly helped!

The exam is held twice a year, I think the next will be in November but I suggest your next move should be either a phone call to the RSGB or have a look at their website.

73s and Good luck!

 

[Guest]

i believe that the previous advice was not correct - the 5wpm teston morse allows you to transmit on the hf bands (the ones of use to a sailor) but only under the supervision of someone with a full class a license. so what, you might say, but if you are going to the trouble of getting a license in the first place, you presumably are wanting to stick to the rules. many people just buy the radio, dont bother with the license, and get on with it! up to you.
ham equipment is freely available second hand - get a copy of the rsgb magazine, or alternatively practical wireless. however, hamkit will not do gmdss even though it canbe "all banded" to cover the marine frequencies. incidentally, hamkit is not type approved for marine comms
the morse test is difficult at12 wpm - it took me 2 years of rather sporadic effort.
i have not bothered to buy the radio. unless you are going well offshore, mobile phone and pda is a better route. just for staying in touch it is better too - many more sailors have mobiles than have ssb. offshore, a sat phone.
sad to say, but i suspect it is a dying means of communication long term.

 

[Guest]

Paulj and Howard

Thank you both for your ,advice I will contact the radio society,and also buy the rsgb mag.
Dave

 

[Guest]

Howard, my posting was correct - with an A/B licence you CAN transmit on frequencies below 30MHz with power up to 100W without the supervision of an A licence holder. I checked this with the RSGB today and they also advised that it is likely that the morse test will be abolished within the next couple of years though something else may be put in it's place to qualify for a "full" license.

 

[Guest]

5 wpm does get you access to the mf/hf ham bands using restricted power and only within uk territorial waters, or so I understand.

Email via ham radio is restricted to amateur to amateur contacts until UK licence conditions change (not very likely) and is only effective using Pactor 2, less so with Pactor 1. Pactor is a proprietary code; SCS, the developers of the code, also design and produce the PTC 2, PTC 2e and the PTC 2 Plus - the "e" version is the cheapest but lacks some very useful features such as rig control. You'll also need a laptop; Airmail2000 is the software for ham use (Sailmail2000 for (US?) sailors and the land stations (MBO) use winlink or winlink2000 - they are not the same! Recommended rig is the Icom M710 or variant thereof - some rigs don't like data modes and can't cope with high duty cycle at high power - the Icom M710's can and they are "marinised?" whereas ham rigs are not but have more bells and whistles and are less easy to use by the non-amateur radio enthusiast! So if the Skipper is the only ham on/over board and it's a ham rig....

To me the M710RT has the advantage of being easier to mount having a remote head - the 710's are big. The Yaesu FT100D/Icom 706 Mk 11 are very sophisticated multi-band 1.8MHz to 70cm rig - tiny packages - FT100D import from USA - not available within CE, same goes for the M710RT.

Have a look at www.airmail2000.com and www.hfradio.com and links - there is a wealth of info out there and as long as there are amateurs world wide listening for that faint contact which just might be a /mm calling for help, I'll be sticking to ssb in preference to gmdss or satellite neither of which give coverage world wide...

 

[Guest]

Ken

Thank you for your responce. It shows you how much I know about Ham radio Havent a clue what Practor is but I guess that the M710RT is the radio you recomend, any idea of the cost and where they can be bought, the backstay to my Westerly Conway is insulated, would that do for the arial?
Dave bagheeraspost@hotmail.com

 

[Guest]

PACTOR is a digital code - I don't know all the details but there is good info on www.scs.com or use a search engine to find "pactor".

I think the RT version has lots going for it - if you buy/import it through Don Melcher at hfradio.com he will programme the user 160 memory slots for "USeful" frequencies - very much a US slant - but you can use/change them to suit yourself; some of the ham bands are programmed in to available simplex slots; all the ITU marine frequencies/bands are there; he will fit the 500Hz filter for pactor and other data modes if you wish - (but cheaper and easy to do yourself - the filter is an Icom standard fitted to many rigs) and test it out before dispatch. Delivery is very swift and efficient via DHL - overall cost c.£1400 - don't forget you will have to pay the vat to DHL who pay it on arrival in uk on your behalf - NO IMPORT DUTY! Because the 710 is a large/heavy rig due to it's die-cast aluminium chassis it presents problems mounting it in small boats - the RT version makes it easier because there is a separate control head which is in fact identical to the standard 710 front panel. There is stacks of control cable and the RT comes with mountings for both main unit and control head. Both units require a 12V supply. If you have a PalmPilot Don also sells "hampad" which makes the 710 easier to use as a ham rig - but not really essential.

If you already have an insulated backstay then I'd recommend the SGC 230 smart-tuner (www.sgcworld.com I think or do a search on sgc) - it is said to be superior to the Icom AT130. SGC also have a very useful guide to marine installation (so does Icom if you can find it!) in .pdf format to download off internet. I use two groundplates but if you have a solid iron or lead keel you could tap a keel bolt or into the keel from inside the boat and use 3" copper strip to set up the essential ground connection to your ATU. Manual ATU is a scutter and result could be RFI problems due to high impedance high voltage feed to backstay! Keep backstay and ground connections to ATU as short as possible - site the ATU as close to backstay as possible - use GTO15 to connect backstay to ATU. If using ground plates mount them on outside of hull below waterline and as close as possible to ATU. If I can offer any further info let me know.

 

[Guest]

Ken
thank you for that must have taken ages to type if you are a 2 finger typist like me,it has helped a lot and given me sites to research.
once again ...thanks
Dave

 

[Guest]

ken and paulj
you're quite correct. between the time i started to learn morse, and the time i took the 12 wpm test, the radiocommunications agency altered the rules and created the A/B licences able to use the HF bands. I wouldn't have bothered to do 12wpm if I had known, since 100 w transmitted power is quite sufficient for most applications and 5 wpm is easy. infuriating!
still think mobile phone is more practical unless you are going ocean sailing.