SSB - be honest, is it rubbish?

Just a thought. Are you all using 'ham' or marine band equipment? Its just that marine band trancievers has to be type approved which for a European registered boat almost doubles the cost of the Icom transciever. However, I do have the marine operator's licence but not the amateur licence. (Does it still require a morse test?)

Is there a cheap and chearful equipment option that works?
 
Twister Ken. Any of the Icom units made in the last 10-15 years will do the job very well. M802/801, M710 and M700pro. Add a pactor modem and you're in business. There'll be some jaywalking types who'll say that it's against the law to have some of these radios if you're a European boat but my advice is don't waste money on the EU approved M801 model.
I don't agree with opinion that SSB costs way more that Sat phone. Even buying used, an Iridium phone with external antenna, data cable etc will cost you about £1100-1300. You can get a full SSB set up for under £2,000 (with a new pactor modem as they're hard to get used). Bit more than the Iridium but then you're not paying per minute afterwards.
I've seen 2 M710's with tuner for sale in the canaries in the last 2 days. Both asking EUR1,000. I'm told that the going rate in the carib is $1,000.
We've used our SSB extensively in the Med this summer to send e-mails and receive forecasts (mostly email but voice as well). Have now met up with a bunch of boats along the way that we plan to chat with during our Atlantic crossing. Mostly for fun but weather info can be exchanged and there is a safety aspect.
If money was no object I would have an EPIRB, Iridium phone and SSB with pactor. As that is not the case on our boat, we've chosed to forego the sat phone. We're happy with our decision.
 
Re ham radio licenses, they dropped the requirement for morse in the UK a few years ago - I think that you now just have to sit / pass the radio theory and practice exam.
The course is well worth doing ( I did a winter evening class in Poole many moons ago).

I must admit that if I ever manage to go off around the world (or even around the North Atlantic) on our boat I would like to have a ham radio with a modem on board - hams can get an email address via Winlink - http://www.winlink.org/
Another source for email via marine SSB is www.sailmail.com

One advantage of ham radios over marine SSBs is that you can adjust the output power, whereas I think that on marine SSBs this is usually fixed (?).
Marine SSBs can be altered to work on the ham frequencies by a bit of surreptitious tweaking (involving I think cutting a few diodes?).

If you do not want to chat to lots of folk every day, or send / receive lots of emails while at sea, then perhaps a satphone will work ok - we had one on a trip up to Bermuda last year, and just used it to receive very basic wx forecasts (by text email) from home and send daily position reports, and this was fine.
It would have been nice to have had a full works ham radio, tuner, modem and antenna (or insulated backstay) but we didnt...... :(
 
Well I wouldn't go on a long passage without mine.
My Sat stopped working after a thunderstorm in March and cost a small mortgage to get repaired.

The SSB carried on working and is still working, what else can I say.

The ICOM801E is a good set and is easy to use, it can also be switched to work on HAM as well (only for those who have a licence, OK!). This set has a watertight casing and complies to EU spec.

The 802 is basically the same set, without the waterproof case and is only for use of the EU. It is quite a bit cheaper than the 801.

You can buy both sets legally in the UK/EU and fit them, but you shouldn't use the 802 in EU waters if you have an EU flagged boat. Now what happens if you bought and fitted the set to your boat outside of the EU ('cos they don't sell an Eu approved set in whereverland), I don't know - but a lot of EU boats use this set in EU waters.
 
Ours is a Icom M710. Solidly built, three power levels and works like a champ. The Pactor was practically plug 'n play with Sailmail. The user interface is a bit non-intuitive, you just have to learn it. Very pleased with it and they are available second hand.

Angus
 
As usual any talk about SSB falls into two groups.

- Of those who haven't sailed outside Europe most will say it's not worth it. They are correct.

- Of those who have sailed outside Europe most will say it is an absolute must have. They are correct.

Two different points of view both correct, interesting, doesn't happen often.
 
KellysEye said:
As usual any talk about SSB falls into two groups.

- Of those who haven't sailed outside Europe most will say it's not worth it. They are correct.

- Of those who have sailed outside Europe most will say it is an absolute must have. They are correct.

Two different points of view both correct, interesting, doesn't happen often.
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Outside Europe most people have got it, therefore it gets used.

Also there is a bit more to it than just putting a bit of wire up your backstay, those who know better than I will agree that the secret is a good antenae, it has to be pretty near the correct length for the predicted frequencies and you need a good ATU. (antenae tuner) To do the job properly you do need to be a bit of an anorack. But that doesnt make you bad!
 
>Outside Europe most people have got it, therefore it gets used.

I think what happens is most people who have SSB fit it if they intend to go ocean sailing. On their eventual return to Europe they don't use it because weather/safety/chat etc SSB nets don't exist and don't need to exist. Most European sailing is coastal hops and VHF/Navtex/mobiles is sufficient to get all the info required.

>that the secret is a good antenae, it has to be pretty near the correct length

There is a set length for the aerial and the ATU then 'tricks' the radio/aerial into thinking it is the correct length for any frequency. While the aerial is important it's the ground that makes the difference. A poorly grounded SSB will have little range. Obviously steel boats have the best ground, otherwise it's join up as much metal inside the boat as you can. We have seen a GRP catamaran that had copper foil glassed in the whole length of each hull. They had a fantastic signal.

From the installation point of view it's easy if you follow the instructions with one exception. You can just string up a wire but most people insulate the backstay which would involve a rigger if you are not happy fitting stalok insulators.
 
NO... ssb is great
Wouldn't be without a receiver, my travel bag has laptop and receiver to get weather data anywhere.
Next trip I will have a transciever as it was great listening to other but it would have been nice to join in.
 
I'm preparing for an Atlantic circuit in the future (I reckon about 3 years away!) and trying to learn as much as I can in the meantime, comms is something I'm trying to get as much info as i can about and SSB has been something that look pretty much essential (from what I gather)
There seems to be a bit of an air of mystery around it to me, can anyone point me in a direction for easy to understand explanations of it?

I understand about using the backstay for an a antenna not sure about a ground plate (what are they how much etc?)

Also what are the 'qualifications' you need for marine ssb?

Any help appreciated (this thread has taught me a lot!)
 
Mid ocean it's got the same rating as the 1st 2nd and 3rd spare GPS

"Southbound Southbound" - I can still hear Herb's voice. Pure magic. and then there's the printout that shows the ocean's sypnotic chart ... OK you could grib it, but that's another story.

My only gripe with SSB, and it was my fault, was that I put the backstay isolator too low .... One dark night I was peeing over the side holding onto the backstay as a crewmember below pressed the send button and my short and curlies got fried .....

........

....

...
 
my short and curlies got fried .....
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And there was me thinking there wouldn't have been much left of them after your discovery that the combination of naked chef and bananier flambée was hazardous.
 
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