Talulah
Well-known member
Having spent the weekend fitting both an Icom M601 and M802 I thought I would update people as it brings together several recent threads discussed on this forum.
1. Nick posted regarding choice of replacement VHF with Remote Station? We ended up with the Icom M601 from Pumkin complete with remote command mic. Fitting was straightforward although routing of cable for command mike depends upon boat. Display is large, clear and bright. Reception is clear. Very pleased with choice - hated the Simrad RD68. Two other factors in decision process were matching head unit with M802 and service and support especially from Jon Brooks here on the forum.
2. SSB Installation. Chose Icom M802 due to seperate head unit from main box. This means the head unit is surface mounted on the main panel at the nav station rather then bolted on somewhere. The end result is very neat and tidy with the main gubbins hidden away. Converting the backstay made use of the 'Top Climber'. Climbing the mast was the subject of another thread. Using the Top Climber was a slow process (due to lack of fitness) but did get the job done. I felt safe and was able to work at the top of the mast without gripping on for dear life.
The back stay was lowered and converted to the SSB aerial. The length of the aerial - again the subject of another thread was determined by the cuts - the first 1m from the top, the second at about shoulder height. The resulting length is just over 40ft. The ICOM ATU is fitted just under the deck. I have not fitted any stand offs yet but will do. The connection of the aerial wire to the backstay was achieved by soldering the wire to some of the 3" wide copper strip and then wrapping this around the backstay and then using hose clips to tighten the whole thing up before sealing with self amalgamating tape. For the backstay insulators we chose the Hi-MOD failsafe insulators. (The idea being that if the insulators fail you won't loose your backstay.) These were easy to fit. The backstay was cut using a hacksaw. We tested the cable cutters on the offcut off rigging. Even though we have huge cable cutters they made no impact on the 10mm rigging making me realise that in the event I had to use them at sea they would be a waste of time.
The installation of the SSB requires the routing of numerous cables - NMEA, ATU control wire, speaker, Head unit controller wire, power, second aerial wire for DSC monitor, + serial cables for modem and laptop.
The ground strap (3" wide copper) has to connect the ATU and main box to the counterpoise. We have a Dynaplate Guest bronze plate as a counterpoise.
Not all of the jobs have been completed on the SSB installation so I can't yet report on final job.
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1. Nick posted regarding choice of replacement VHF with Remote Station? We ended up with the Icom M601 from Pumkin complete with remote command mic. Fitting was straightforward although routing of cable for command mike depends upon boat. Display is large, clear and bright. Reception is clear. Very pleased with choice - hated the Simrad RD68. Two other factors in decision process were matching head unit with M802 and service and support especially from Jon Brooks here on the forum.
2. SSB Installation. Chose Icom M802 due to seperate head unit from main box. This means the head unit is surface mounted on the main panel at the nav station rather then bolted on somewhere. The end result is very neat and tidy with the main gubbins hidden away. Converting the backstay made use of the 'Top Climber'. Climbing the mast was the subject of another thread. Using the Top Climber was a slow process (due to lack of fitness) but did get the job done. I felt safe and was able to work at the top of the mast without gripping on for dear life.
The back stay was lowered and converted to the SSB aerial. The length of the aerial - again the subject of another thread was determined by the cuts - the first 1m from the top, the second at about shoulder height. The resulting length is just over 40ft. The ICOM ATU is fitted just under the deck. I have not fitted any stand offs yet but will do. The connection of the aerial wire to the backstay was achieved by soldering the wire to some of the 3" wide copper strip and then wrapping this around the backstay and then using hose clips to tighten the whole thing up before sealing with self amalgamating tape. For the backstay insulators we chose the Hi-MOD failsafe insulators. (The idea being that if the insulators fail you won't loose your backstay.) These were easy to fit. The backstay was cut using a hacksaw. We tested the cable cutters on the offcut off rigging. Even though we have huge cable cutters they made no impact on the 10mm rigging making me realise that in the event I had to use them at sea they would be a waste of time.
The installation of the SSB requires the routing of numerous cables - NMEA, ATU control wire, speaker, Head unit controller wire, power, second aerial wire for DSC monitor, + serial cables for modem and laptop.
The ground strap (3" wide copper) has to connect the ATU and main box to the counterpoise. We have a Dynaplate Guest bronze plate as a counterpoise.
Not all of the jobs have been completed on the SSB installation so I can't yet report on final job.
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