SSB problem

[bigjimi]

I was thinking of installing SSB on my boat. What do I need by way of licensing? People have posted a lot about this on here but I find it VERY confusing. Also, I'm told I need to earth it. What does that mean? Run a wire back to the ground side of the battery? I've been told some people have a big sintered bronze plate which acts as the earth. I don't really see how that works but would it be the best arrangement?

 

[Becky]

I am sure you will get loads of replies on this one. But here is my simple offering. You will need aLong Range Cert., which annoyingly seems to cover the DSC VHF stuff again as well. It is about a week course, I have been lead to believe.
Regarding the earthing of your set. I do know this, as we have just done it. You fit a sintered bronze plate onto the outside of your hull, and connect the earth lead to one of the fixing bolts. That does it. HWMBO says, anyway.

 

[npf1]

I think Becky's reply succinctly summariizes what you need. The LRC course is a four day course, although some providers are now offering a 3 day option without the Inmarsat stuff. The course is about 325 plus 83 for the license and can be done as a Sat/Sun/Mon. Re the earthing, it's essential that there is a good earth that is connected by copper strip. The unit's manual usually describes what is required in detail, plus you are likely to need to put suppression ferrite on various other cables to minimize interference (eg when the fridge turns on etc)

 

[Stingo]

Look on the Liveaboard Forum, there are plenty of posts covering SSB grounding and installation

 

[beneteau_305_553]

I'm just getting started with SSB via the amateur radio route.

The training is free and the exam costs £15 and the licence is £15 per year. There are 3 levels and at the higher level I believe you can transmit on the marine bands as well as the amateur bands.

A Radio like the ICOM 718 costs £450 and is duplex so you can transmit on one frequency and recieve on another. You need an auto tuning unit which is another £300. and a connection to an insulated backstay.

You can recieve navtex , weatherfaxes and email if you connect to a lap top.

There is quite a good radio network of amateurs but they use usually amateur bands (7 to 7.1 MZ and 14 to 14.35 MZ etc) which I believe Marine transievers do not transmit at these frequencies unless they are hacked.

Look at the website of the RSGB. Perhaps talk to the foundation course tutors and they will give you as much help as you want.

I have found that a simple single core cable connected to a keel bolt is fine providing its not more than about 5 m from the Antenna tuning unit which should be as close to the backstay as possible.

 

[TonyD]

A good guide to the correct way to install your SSB, including recommended ways of providing a "couterpoise" or earth, is provided on the ICOM web site here

TonyD

 

[steverow]

Unfortunately, as things stand at the moment, The Amatuer Licence even a full licence does not allow you to transmit on marine frequencies.
Neither is it entirely legal to use a ham rig on marine band even if you have passed the marine Long range certificate or General Operators Certificate (MCA), although lots do.
It is also not koshe to modify a Marine SSB to operate on the ham bands.
This is because of the strict type approval of marine radios. We appear now with the imminent widthdrawal of the Icom 710, to be in the obscure position of not having any type approved MF/HF leisure radios at all..!
The law in this area is currently a complete mess or so it would appear, especially as other countries, notably the USA have a much more liberal attitude to it.
This ridiculous attitude only prevails in the EU.

There are however Marine Nets on Amateur bands, notably 14.303 and 14.313MHz.

The law becomes a bit hazy around distress messages, because it would appear
that anyone can transmit a bona fide mayday whether they hold the relevant certificate or not...unsupervised or not.
I'm sure if I were sinking in the atlantic, I wouldnt really care a fig whether I had the right certificate or whether I would lose my amateur licence for transmitting out of band.

The marine radio rules are seriously in need of streamlining IMHO.

Steve.

 

[Mike_Martin]

[ QUOTE ]
I'm just getting started with SSB via the amateur radio route.

The training is free and the exam costs £15 and the licence is £15 per year. There are 3 levels and at the higher level I believe you can transmit on the marine bands as well as the amateur bands.

A Radio like the ICOM 718 costs £450 and is duplex so you can transmit on one frequency and recieve on another. You need an auto tuning unit which is another £300. and a connection to an insulated backstay.

Snipped for brevity

[/ QUOTE ]

No No No. An Amateur licence and qualification ONLY allow you to access the Amateur Radio service. It is technically possible to make an Amateur radio transmit on Maritime frequencies but this is illegal!

To access the maritime service you must hold the relevant Operator's certificate, that being the Long Range Certificate and use approved equipment covered by a Ship Radio licence.

Mike

 

[jerryat]

You would be far better off grounding the ATU to your keel (ideally cast iron) than spending big money on a sintered plate, as this is generally recognised to provide a far superior counterpoise. 'course, if you ain't gotta keel ...........

 

[Benbow]

This is very confused!

As has been said, amateur frequencies are distinct from marine freqs.

If you have both licences, the only way to be legal is to have two sets on board. In practice it is true that most sets of both types can be 'opened up' to transmit on both groups of frequencies. However not only is this illegal, but there are substantial differences between the two types of sets and the way that amateur and marine radio works.

eg
Many coast radio stations use duplex which is is hard or impossible to set up on most amateur sets - granted becoming less of an issue every day!
Marine sets are entirely channelised, rather than going to one of an infinite number of freqs you go to a given channel - just like your VHF. In ccontrast amateurs work by scanning through particular frequency ranges. This is virtually impossible on a marine set.

So think carefully about what you want to do. If you only want to use marine HF radio plus 1 or 2 established amateur nets then it is easy enough to programme these into an opened-up marine radio. A ham rig would be far from ideal for this purpose.

If you want to become an amateur and work the bands (or leave a net for a chat elsewhere) then a marine radio is virtually useles.

Finally I personally am not particularly anal about the letter of the law, especially offshore, but the reason behind the law is that there is real potential for real disruption of safety and other services by inappropriate use of a powerful HF set. Amateurs take their responsibility seriously and you are likely to be challenged if you do not (at least) respect proedures on amateur frequencies.