SSB licence, does everyone have one?

Straightman21

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In considering installing an SSB transceiver set for offshore, I exchanged e mails and a call with an official 'Ham' chap listed as a regional contact. He was somewhat dour and informed me that it would take two or three years to acquire the relevant licence to use a transceiver at sea. Surely all the boats using SSB for offshore voyages have not studied and sat all the required exams, or is it a case of less said the better?
 

Roberto

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There are two main paths:
1. Maritime bands SSB: you will need an operator certificate, at the minumum LRC Long Range Certificate I reckon it's a week course + exam. You must use a maritime band radio (ICOM M802 as an example) which is quite costly, if you want to exchange email (usually the main purpose, get gribs, bulletins, write home etc etc) then get a Pactor modem (again, quite costly) and subscribe to a service like www.sailmail.com (IIRC 250usd/y)
2. Amateur bands. I took the examination >20years ago and besides circuitry/regulations it involved Morse code, now it's supposedly easier (details on RSGB or OfCom web site if UK based). You can use any HF amateur radio (a fraction of the cost of maritime radios, plenty to be found second hand), for email exchange no strict need for Pactor but just a Vara licence (50-60e), traffic is free but cannot be commercial; all details on www.winlink.org . A few hundred euro can give you an email capable station with no additional cost.
Should you go the Maritime/LRC route, it will not be accepted by amateur radio services, not that they are naughty but they could lose their licence if communicating with non-ham operators (except for emergencies of course).
Also, depending where you are heading to, the location of land stations might suggest one option rather than the other.
FWIW, I took the amateur licence before going into extended cruising, surely the most useful "certificate" I gotfor that purpose.
 

KompetentKrew

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Nobody really regards SSB as essential for offshore these days - now sat phones or Garmin Inreach or similar have taken that role.

I think some of the offshore races still require a Long Range Certificate and marine SSB installation; people choose amateur SSB because they're geeks.

Members of ham cubs and internet groups tend to take licensing and compliance with the regulations incredibly seriously - they will engage in long pedantic arguments about why this is important. I believe SSB remains somewhat popular with offshore yachties in the Caribbean, who are obviously much more relaxed - I think it's pretty common there to use a wide-banded ham rig to access both amateur and marine bands.

It's very easy to get the Foundation amateur license and then you'll be able to form an opinion for yourself. Amateur radio clubs are incredibly friendly and helpful as long as you don't admit to any interest in rule-breaking.
 

Daverw

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I have a HF and Vhf ham set on board to play with when I feel the need, as Ive a full ham licence this is not an issue, my HF set is opened up for marine frequencies if I ever needed to use them which is highly unlikely. I suggest that in today’s world you try and listen to existing marine SSB traffic, I think you would be very surprised how little is out there. Mos5
Inlet in the Caribbean or Australia but not much elsewhere. As said the Icom marine sets are ridiculously expensive and need careful installation.

You will find that without a proper issued ham call sign radio hams will not speak to you and probably report you so not really any use.
 

William_H

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Marine SSB here in Oz a government shore based system relies on a kind of DSC. You call DSC (your radio does) on one channel then move to a channel for communication. Where I think you can send radiograms and possibly telephone connection. Buty essentailly set up for distress type messages as an international obligation for shipping. The point is you must have a station licence for the DSC and an operator liceence. The operator licence being relatively easy to get as a variation on VHF operators licence. I don't know if or how it is used for contacting other boats.
Ham radio has been used for many years by world sailors. It however had it's origins in radio experimentation. A Ham would build his own radios and the talking was just a bonus to talk to like minded people and prove gear works. Hence the origins of the technical exam and morse code skill requirements. Ham radio with SSB and commercially made radios did morph into some people who just like to talk to as many people as possible in other countries. Both CW (morse) and SSB.
It seems to me however that with internet email etc Ham radio is not very popular these days. Was a time when it was difficult to find a frequency within the legal band that was not in use. Now I hear very little on ham bands.
As said you can't get a Ham station licence and call sign unless you have an operators certificate.
Many long distance sailors have taken the challenge and done the study and passed the exams to get a station licence for their boat. Made easier now with no morse requirement (at least in Oz) and various levels of beginner licenses and easier knowledge exams. I believe there is some community of long distance sailors who use ham radio to talk to one another and get messages back home.
But in the end satellite communication in all it's forms is more reliable and probably cheaper to install. But does not have the chat type use. ol'will
My knowledge of actual conditions these days may be out of date.
 

MontyMariner

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Define Offshore voyages, certainly not required for crossing Biscay.
My feeling is that these days for Ocean passages having SSB is akin to saying you should have a sextant, good for filling in time if you get bored and SSB certification is quite time consuming and expensive, as said by KK in #3 sat phones or Garmin Inreach or similar have taken that role.
 

Neeves

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We had an SSB on 'JoXephine of HK' as it was required for the China Sea RORC races, about 550/600nm from HK to the Phillipines. There was no licence requirement (or the requirement was forgotten). Once the race was over I removed the radio and aerial tuner until the next race needing the equipment. JoXephine was written off, 'T' boned on the start line (we were on starboard) and the insurance claim part funded Josepheline when we moved to Oz. We took the SSB with us and I installed it on the catamaran

Installation needs an earth plate and, commonly, a stay based insulated aerial (usually the back stay but on Josepheline we had no back stay and used a side stay) .

Wiring was not complicated.

For Oz I gained an operators licence, not significantly different to a VHF licence and also needed a 'station' licence which gives you a call sign. The operators licence was for life there was an annual fee for the station licence.

Parts of Australia are, still, outside mobile phone coverage and because no-one, or few people, live in these isolated areas there is no VHF. Before sat phones SSB was the only technology available and it was also used by isolated farming communities (schooling for the children and calling the Royal Flying Doctor Service). Australia thus grew up with SSB being commonplace.

The Bureau of Meteorology broadcasts, or more accurately a private operator subcontracted by the Bureau makes, coastal and blue water forecast 4 times a day (and these same broadcasts are transmitted where there is VHF coverage). The commercial operator, I think called Kordia, also conducts the same service, but more extended, in NZ. Oz has international marine safety responsibilities stretching into the Indian, Southern and Pacific Oceans and is required to monitor the safety frequencies 24/7 - through this has largely been replaced by EPIRBs. Kordia will voluntarily offer a radio service where you agree a call time schedule and you can speak to an operator of your progress which they will forward by email to an individual of your choosing.

If you sail from Oz to NZ there is this a seamless radio coverage.

There used to be, might still exist, a SSB radio net covering the Phillipines for blue water cruisers 'Rowleys net'? and a similar service operated for the Tasmnanian fishing fleets, to which blue water cruisers could join. These nets are useful in that you know which vessels are near you etc.

The. SSB equipment is not cheap but once you have it the equipment is free to use, and we used ours for effectively 30 years. The exam was really simple and the wiring equally simple. SSB, like VHF, is public and if you desperately need help vessels near you will possibly hear your distress message quickly - unlike EPIRB which, in our case, goes to Canberra, needs checking for authenticity, needs to find a vessel close by (during which you may have sunk). All very unlikely - but its the downside of EPIRB and a sat phone.

Our SSB was pre DSC but when I did the VHF licence DSC was part of the exam. SSB sets are now DSC enabled.

Jonathan
 

Skylark

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Not wanting to teach granny how to suck eggs but maybe worth defining the difference between amateur radio and marine high frequency, in this context.

SSB is a mode of transmission. Just like FM, frequency modulation, SSB is an AM, amplitude modulation signal. SSB is a single sideband, with suppressed carrier, of an AM generated signal.

The high frequency spectrum is typically defined from, say, 1.5 to 30 MHz. Signals within these frequencies like to bounce around the ionosphere and, subject to atmospheric conditions and the 11-year sunspot cycle, can travel very long distances.

By Internarional Convention, the above frequency spectrum is divided into usage bands.

Amateur and marine have access to different frequencies within the spectrum and separate licenses are required to operate within either
 

jdc

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Like Roberto, I have both a marine LRC and an amateur licence. And I've done many miles of ocean sailing since the ICOM 802 set was installed 2007. In all that time, I have _never_ used marine bands for any purpose. Frankly, there is no traffic, the air-waves are silent. Even 'Herb' retired and so the Atlantic net is no more.

I have used amateur bands, because when we were in the Arctic (cruising around Svalbard) the only way we could get Ice maps was for a friend in England to download and print off the files (~800 KBytes so way too big to get on Iridium, and apparently no compressed versions exist) and send the print-out by fax over SSB, for which we had a Pactor type modem. It worked, after a fashion. But two faxes in 17 years is not exactly heavy use.

The rest of the amateur band traffic is mindless blather, usually from 'Dxers' with vary high power amplifiers, and is really, really boring. And their radio discipline and procedures are pants. By contrast, I use the sextant lots - it's so much better as a pastime if slightly bored when far off-shore!

I'd go for an Iridium modem every time, and use a service such as mailasail.
 

finestgreen

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2. Amateur bands. I took the examination >20years ago and besides circuitry/regulations it involved Morse code, now it's supposedly easier (details on RSGB or OfCom web site if UK based).
Worth adding you need the "full" amateur radio license which is a fairly in-depth syllabus covering the details of building radio equipment and will need substantial study if you're not already an electronics engineer
 

Bilgediver

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In considering installing an SSB transceiver set for offshore, I exchanged e mails and a call with an official 'Ham' chap listed as a regional contact. He was somewhat dour and informed me that it would take two or three years to acquire the relevant licence to use a transceiver at sea. Surely all the boats using SSB for offshore voyages have not studied and sat all the required exams, or is it a case of less said the better?
What flag state Is your yacht registered as the answer varies from country to country ?
 
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