Nasa Target HF3 Antenna

nickrj

nickrj

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www.bigoceans.com
Hi All,

Anyone got this particular SSB receiver working well with the supplied 'antenna' (a string of thin wire) ??

I get SFA reception - Do I need to fork out (steal) another 30quid for the 'active' antenna to get something decent?

nick
 
It should work with the long string aerial all in a line more or less horizontal.Suggest if you can earth the set to the ships ground and try again maybe more success will follow. If nothing at all is heard is the fuse gone? I presume SFA is not a station ident!! as you say you are receiving same!Many people use these receivers with a program called JV COMM 32 and a laptop to decode weather programs. Seriously, are there any signs of life in the set?
 
Oh, yes the set is alive and well. She gets all sorts of static - Especially if I turn the inverter on... No, it's definitely an antenna issue. I will try some better horizontal positioning...

(ducks for cover!)

nick
 
Nah, it's cool Joe - Let me give it a try with some more creative antenna positioning before we bring in the big guns /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif Really just wanted to know if it is actually possible to get a decent signal out of the supplied piece of wire.

P.S The crew from Sovereign (P.P.S if anyone see's that boat in the Canaries or St Lucia, I'd like to know that they're ok - Boat has a 'history' ...) took me out in your dinghy. Holy cow, that thing is insane! I want one! Next boat: Super fast RIB thingy.
 
Ben and the lads, and Arabella..., yes, a good bunch, known ben a few years.. they should hit the canaries with a slight bump in a week....

My rib is only slightly crazy.. the 18 is a tad underpowered for a 35 Kg ali rib lol... I also have a steering kit for it... next plan is sell the 18 and get a 35 on it.. only does 26 knots... too darn slow...
/forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

The kiwis know how to make a rib... I will take you out in it in a small chop, we can get the whole kit n Kaboodle out of the oggin, flying, seriously boat n prob completely airborn, good job the tohatsu has a rev limiter.. had her in a 2 foot long swell once crossing the ria, yee ha !.. yes, it is quite good fun... but not for the faint hearted.

Joe.
 
Did I tell you I lived next to the boat they were delivering last year? Small world!

I'm looking forward to future RIB thrill rides! Ooh, I can't wait.
 
Yep the wire works well, I had coax to the transom then wrapped around backstay. The coax may have kept some noise out from the electronics. But the key thing I found was that I never got a good reception in a harbour close to anything else, street lights, Mains voltage, generators etc...once 5-10 miles offshore the whole thing works ten times better, but you may have to turn off things like inverters/frigde compressors or other electronics if you have them.

I spent hours thinking it was hard to get a good signal in a marina, only to find it worked perfectly across the whole atlantic with huge range, listening to ssb nets and getting good weather faxes on the whole trip.
 
Re: have you got it earthed?

glad to hear you are experimenting with horizontal positioning Nickrj!!
indoors is no good anyway!
I did find using a clothes peg to the backstay worked wonders for my Sangean ATS 909, but only with the engine off! I agree completely with Tigawave, the reception is great once away from the shore.Met a guy once who worked for Nokia and could not get a GPRS or GSM signal off the coast of Portugal in really snotty weather.Showed him the JV comm setup and he was amazed (at le Havre by this stage).His laptop even decoded Northwood Isobaric chart by listening through its built in microphone to the audio output from the ships SSB. We did not have a spare 3.5mm audio lead at the time, and all were delighted to see the weathermap begin to appear.So well done to the inventor of this program, a cool dude for Germany I think! Happy Sailing to all!
 
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