SSB installation

[Koeketiene]

I recently bought a SSB radio (Icom 710). Have been going over installation requirements etc... . Not as simple as I tought / hoped.
After talking to several SSB owners I decided against installing it myself. There seem to be so many things that can go wrong.

Would look to have it installed by 'professionals'.

Q: anyone know of a UK firm (south east) that would take on / are up to this job? It would help if you have first hand experience of their work.

Many thanks

 

[snowleopard]

i had mine installed by the local marine electrician. in retrospect i could have easily done it myself (i did all the other wiring on the boat myself). the most important factor is the copper tape from ATU to earth. it's also a good idea to run the coax from the set to the ATU well away from any sensitive equipment - mine ran 6" from a CO alarm and killed it.

 

[davidbains]

Try YachtCom

 

[dragonsong]

If you are reasonably capable with wiring etc you should be able to install an ssb. The most important bits to get right are the power supply which must be adequate, preferably without joints and wired in sufficient size wire to avoid power loss, the aerial which is usually an insulated backstay on a yacht or a whip aerial on a motorboat, and the ground which needs to be a copper plate or foil or a steel hull or a proprietory metal unit. The ground should be connected to the aerial tuning unit with copper foil. If you have all that weighed off you are up and running. One thing to watch if you haven ICOM M802 which is the bees knees of a radio but it flattens your batteries when left, not switched on. Its got a state of the art bit inside which is connected all the time to heat up some bit or other and will drain your battery and make calling seastart very difficult. The bit in the manual about it didnt translate from japanese very well so they didnt make too much of a fuss about it. It was a surprise to the dealer who sold me a set.

Good luck dont forget the licence for the ship station and your LRC