Idiots Guide to SSB?

[Normalfornorfolk]

Almost completely wrong
I did it in about 6 months, might have been 9. Didn't cost much at all and I learnt a lot. Very welcoming radio club out Essex way, not secret society type stuff in any way. First 2 licenses are quite easy, but you need the advanced license needed to transmit as a maritime mobile call sign on a boat beyond the low water line was quite involved.
No restrictions whatsoever on the kit you use, any old cobbled together bits of wire is fine so long as you only transmit on the frequencies stated on the license and output a good clean signal that doesn't interfere with anyone else on the airways.

It strikes me that 6-9 months to learn to use a radio that anyone can just switch on and use is a fairly epic business. VHF takes an afternoon and that's only because DSC is complex compared to a plain VHF set. I' d have thought that having to study that amount amount of esoteric knowledge for that long does make it look somewhat impenetrable, hence my perhaps overstated remark about being somewhat like a secret society.
It's an interesting comparison against the aviation RT licence which covers HF and as far as I recall I was never given any specific instruction in how to use it bar a wee bit of propagation theorey, skip and SSB which was all lumped in with VHF.
Aid agencies and UN personnel the world over use/d SSB in remote areas and for certain none of them ever had any training at all, let alone a licence. Why, then, need another user on the same part of the spectrum be required to study for half a year to use one?
Just curious.

 

[GHA]

Why, then, need another user on the same part of the spectrum be required to study for half a year to use one?
Just curious.

Its not the same part of the spectrum at all. The difference you are unaware of is that with a ham licence you are allowed to make and use your own radio equipment and are expected to know enough to ensure that the transmissions going out are clean and don't make a mess of the frequencies nearby. That's why the ham licenses require passing an exam to demonstrate technical abibility . Other users of marine vhf or marine ssb are only allowed to use radios which have limited adjustments , none of which can mess up the airways.

 

[Normalfornorfolk]

1) It's all part of the HF spectrum.

2) Predictably your wild guess about my level of knowledge is completely wrong, as such wild guesses are apt to be. I am perfectly aware that the Amateur licences involve a good deal of circuitry and design aspects thanks.
What I don't understand is why you need all that expertise merely to operate a communications radio.

 

[Skylark]

What I don't understand is why you need all that expertise merely to operate a communications radio.

It may help your understanding to have sight of an Amateur License A. The license grants privileges beyond the operation of a communication radio.

IIRC, there is an easy to be obtain license to operate a 10m/27MHz HF communication radio. In the 1980’s it was not very charitably but colloquially known as Cretins Band, or CB.

 

[Normalfornorfolk]

You'd really have to be some kind of cretin to imagine, as you have suggested that CB is either HF or in any way related to this subject. What on earth are you smoking?

Bejasus! Whatever will you come up with next?

 

[Daverw]

Almost completely wrong
I did it in about 6 months, might have been 9. Didn't cost much at all and I learnt a lot. Very welcoming radio club out Essex way, not secret society type stuff in any way. First 2 licenses are quite easy, but you need the advanced license needed to transmit as a maritime mobile call sign on a boat beyond the low water line was quite involved.
No restrictions whatsoever on the kit you use, any old cobbled together bits of wire is fine so long as you only transmit on the frequencies stated on the license and output a good clean signal that doesn't interfere with anyone else on the airways.

+1 I went from foundation to full Ham licence in 9 months as well so can be done, as said first 2 levels ok with final taking a bit of in-depth study, opens up the kit you can use especially as the icom marine SSB is not sold over here.

 

[Prasutigus]

Quick question, is this correct:
The Long Range cert. grants zero ham privileges. I'm on fairly firm ground here, I think.

But does the RSGB Advanced cert. encompass the Long Range privileges for DSC HF/MF operation at sea? I don't think GMDSS etc is in the RSGB syllabus, happy to be proved wrong..
I don't have an Advanced book to hand, but have a feeling that it doesn't. If I'm wrong, I will do my advanced at the local club where I did the Intermediate, it would be a cheap and interesting way in, bypassing the expensive LRC which reputedly wastes a couple of days on satellite comms which are not applicable to cruising yachts.
A penny for your thoughts if you understand the question..(Normal for Norfolk, please roll up your left trouser leg and hold out your hand.)

 

[GHA]

You'd really have to be some kind of cretin to imagine, as you have suggested that CB is either HF or in any way related to this subject. What on earth are you smoking?

Bejasus! Whatever will you come up with next?

 

[GHA]

Quick question, is this correct:
The Long Range cert. grants zero ham privileges. I'm on fairly firm ground here, I think.

But does the RSGB Advanced cert. encompass the Long Range privileges for DSC HF/MF operation at sea?
I don't have an Advanced book to hand, but have a feeling that it doesn't. If I'm wrong, I will do my advanced at the local club where I did the Intermediate, it would be a cheap and interesting way in, bypassing the expensive LRC which reputedly wastes a couple of days on satellite comms which are not applicable to cruising yachts.
A penny for your thoughts if you understand the question..

None of the ham licenses give any privileges for transmitting on marine ssb bands unfortunately .
One area where the muricans have it easy, they just send off for a marine ssb license & call sign.

http://ukspec.tripod.com/specbw.html

 

[Prasutigus]

None of the ham licenses give any privileges for transmitting on marine ssb bands unfortunately .
One area where the muricans have it easy, they just send off for a marine ssb license & call sign.

http://ukspec.tripod.com/specbw.html

Thanks for that, it's a funny old world.

 

[GHA]

Thanks for that, it's a funny old world.

Same for their marine vhf license I believe. Which would explain the awful radio etiquette you sometimes hear on the nets they love to set up round the Caribbean

 

[prv]

Quick question, is this correct:
The Long Range cert. grants zero ham privileges. I'm on fairly firm ground here, I think.

But does the RSGB Advanced cert. encompass the Long Range privileges for DSC HF/MF operation at sea?

Nope - ham license only allows you to use the ham bands. To be able to talk on both proper marine frequencies and join ham nets, you need both.

Strictly speaking you can't even share a single radio for the two purposes - a set that can transmit on ham bands (whether as originally designed, or after modification of a unit intended for marine HF) is not permitted for use under your marine license - but in practice I doubt many people actually install two radios on their yachts. The commonly used marine sets can be "opened up" for the ham bands, and of course a ham's radio can transmit anywhere he wants it to.

Pete

 

[William_H]

As with so many things in technology Ham radio has morphed into something else. When I was young and newly traine din radio a ham licence was easily obtained by 3hr written exam. As a ham I built from scratch my own receiver and transmitter and put up an antenna. Actual talk on ham bands was firstly to prove the gear worked then to discuss design and explore propagation. Ham radio has changed because technology became cheaper but also more complex so that a very good ham radio set is not so expensive yet is very difficult to design and build. So ham radio became a talk fest of discussion and communication for the fun of it. With the internet and email ham radio has declined hugely. Similarly the 27meg CB band was once very busy but now it's value has largely been surpassed by mobile phones.
So we have ham bands used for world adventurers on their yachts. A very worth while use for bands once set up for experimentation. It is just that the bureaucracy has not recognised that ham radio has changed and still requires the technical knowledge for experimenting. Granted of recent years in Oz the requirement for proficiency in morse code has been dropped. So all I can say is knuckle down and study for the operators certificate. Because yes it is hugely different in historical intent from any other radio operators licence. I have over the years collected amateur, broadcast, aeronautical and marine radio operators licences but marine is the only one I use. olewill

 

[Skylark]

You'd really have to be some kind of cretin to imagine, as you have suggested that CB is either HF or in any way related to this subject. What on earth are you smoking?

Bejasus! Whatever will you come up with next?

Check the ITU definition of “high frequency”. It covers the spectrum from 3 to 30 MHz so, sure enough, CB is HF.

My point was that you’re looking for an HF operating license handed to you on a plate, marine or amateur. This simpleton approach is available but amateur in particular requires a bit of effort to obtain by virtue of the privileges granted by the license. I’ve held an A license since the early 1980s.

 

[G12]

It strikes me that 6-9 months to learn to use a radio that anyone can just switch on and use is a fairly epic business. VHF takes an afternoon and that's only because DSC is complex compared to a plain VHF set. I' d have thought that having to study that amount amount of esoteric knowledge for that long does make it look somewhat impenetrable, hence my perhaps overstated remark about being somewhat like a secret society.
It's an interesting comparison against the aviation RT licence which covers HF and as far as I recall I was never given any specific instruction in how to use it bar a wee bit of propagation theorey, skip and SSB which was all lumped in with VHF.
Aid agencies and UN personnel the world over use/d SSB in remote areas and for certain none of them ever had any training at all, let alone a licence. Why, then, need another user on the same part of the spectrum be required to study for half a year to use one?
Just curious.

The diference between the amateur licence and all the other licences is that as an amateur you are able to build and modify your own equipment and this requires you to understand about radio theory rather than merely being an operator. If you do not build or operate your equipment properly then you could easily end up with emissions that are out of band.
I have an LRC, the full GMDSS General Operators Certificate as well as a Full UK Amateur licence. The GOC and LRC teach you an amount of propagation theory, hammers home the procedures required, SAT C operation and gives you a good understanding of the GMDSS amongst many other things such as log keeping and testing your kit. You can then operate a marine MF/HF radio. These courses do not cover anything like the amount of detail required for the amateur licence and that information does take some time to acquire and digest. Once you have studied a bit for the exams then you'll know much more about EMC and how to minimise interference, radio theory, propagation, how different radios are built and operate, types of antennas, different modes of opearation (SSB is just one of many types of emission) etc etc - The syllabus is fairly comprehensive.
So, that (in short) is why you have to study to get your amateur licences.

There definitely isn't anything secret about it, my local club is incrediby friendly and welcoming although at 38 I am a youngster there! The other day I had a grest QSO (conversation) with a chap in Sweden who was operating mobile from his snowmobile using 50W and a home made antenna. There is a chap with a lovely yacht over wintering in Orkney, he's a serious operator, check out his station on his boat https://www.qrz.com/db/G8OFQ .

73.

 

[G12]

You'd really have to be some kind of cretin to imagine, as you have suggested that CB is either HF or in any way related to this subject. What on earth are you smoking?

Bejasus! Whatever will you come up with next?

CB is HF radio as it is at 27MHz. HF becomes VHF at 30MHz. There is the 10 metre amateur band at 28MHz for example and that most definitely is HF too.
As far as I know you're even allowed to operate SSB and AM on CB these days now and not just your legal 4 watts FM. So, quite relevant to the subject in that you do not need a licence to operate CB.

 

[langstonelayabout]

I think it's worth mentioning that if getting a marine SSB licence is thought a long and costly business then obtaining a Ham licence is an oddyssey of truly epic proportions - often taking years and unless things have changed radically in the Ham world recently was a process somewhat akin to joining and progressing through the ranks in some secret society.

Really? It only took me 9 months to become a Master Mason.

Maybe he needs to join a different lodge?

 

[KellysEye]

One thing I forgot to mention is the LRC has an optional satellite section which if you do it is added to your LRC. We did it because we wanted Inmarsat C for weather and short incoming emails are free. One problem is NOAA Atlantic forecasts start at 20 knots and we had a heavy displacement boat in light airs and were praying for squalls which we got. Inmarsat does show winds below 20 knots.

 

[brainstorm]

Can somebody help please? I have bought a boat with an Icom SSB radio and a Pacnor modem. I hope to do some ocean sailing in the next year or two and would like to be able to download Grib files. Can I download this data without getting a licence, and is there a station in the UK I could call just to check the system is working? The coastguard perhaps?

 

[Daverw]

Have you Marine SSB licence? You can receive without but not send to test, You could tune into one the weekly nets but unlikely to receive though. Very little if no usage in the UK and Europe.

HF SSB is long distance is not inter GB