SSB/SW radios

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NickiCrutchfield

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I have a very small boat, and hence little space and electrical power, but I want to be able to get decent weather whilst offshore, often many hundreds of miles out. I have no knowledge of what is available to achieve this, but I have the, quite possibly incorrect, understanding that it is possible to achieve this with a small, good quality battery powered radio such as the Grundig Yacht Boy or similar. My question, therefore, is twofold:1, am I correct in thinking this and 2, if so, what do I need to learn about radio receiving? Also any thoughts on make/model would be very greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance.
Nicki
 
If you intend to use SSB radio, you will need a laptop or some sort of dedicated receiver to capture the synoptic charts or forecasts.
Much depends on where you intend to wander - our experience in the Med is to forget the synoptics and the barometer, but for Atlantic cruising, and probably further afield, they will be useful.
Talbot has the best solution for a small, actively cruising yacht. Incidentally, the BBC has dropped it's short wave World Service coverage to Europe - never very good for weather but great if you're a Man Utd fan (as he is...!)
 
Thanks Jenny. It's for Atlantic crossing. Trying to avoid a PC, so Talbots' suggestion looks good. Also I've come across the NASA HF3 which looks interesting also. Would I be able to keep up with the Archers on it?
Nicki
 
Seem to have cocked up storing your phone number, either that or your good lady hasn't put it down for ages /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
Pop over to the Bluemoment forums and ask Webcraft for more info, he's less likely to miss your post.
 
I used a nasa HF3 and a really cheap old Win98 laptop, a small printer, so I could save power and study a few charts.

HF3 is great mainly becuase of the ease of tuning and its very stable ( frequency doesn't wander) the small portable ssb receivers can be used but they can be very fiddley to tune, and loosing the signal halfway through the picture can be annoying.

For the atlantic at least on the way back seeing the charts is very useful, and for the trip down and across to the canaries it comes in handy.

You often don't get a good signal/picture when in harbour, it gets much better when 10-20 miles off shore, ssb is very sensitive to electrical interference.

I'd say the laptop and ssb were one of the most valuable bits of kit I had, along with the towed generator. More use than radar or plotter.
 
Also look at the McMurdo Nav7. Its a commercial Navtex 3 chanel reciever that includes the offshore MF band and recieves the deep sea weather services, have a look at the BBC coast and sea, deep sea, to see what areas are covered from UK, should also pick up the American stations fron the other side but don't know how good they are. Low power automatic reception so no tuning etc and simple instalation. Not sure if it covers the entire route but certainly more than the 518Khz broadcast. Disadvantage over SSB is that its text only.
 
Nicki, I too do not have much in the way of electronics/battery power but my HF3/ was picking up Caribbean weather stations a few days out from Martinique, last March. I also had a Roberts transistor radio, a 981? I think it was, which was also capable of picking up stations, but was all this pre-set, magic push button trickery stuff which completely lost me. I remember a short wave guide booklet came with it. Radio was about £200 I recall (traded it for a spear gun in Dominica /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
Thanks Neil. That's very useful. I'm tending this way as it does seem important to have an idea about the weather. I'm always very nervous about things getting too complicated, especially on a 24' boat, but this does look feasible.
Cheers,
Nicki
 
Text only is quite interesting as it removes the need for a printer. No charts, but the general idea is all I really need. Something along the lines of "Oh they (hurricanes) have started, bugger this I'm turning round."
Thanks very much I'll investigate the McMurdo.
Nicki
 
It sounds like the HF3 is something to give serious consideration to. Too bad about the simple battery options. Kinda seemed too good to be true.
Thanks very much for the info.
Cheers,
Nicki
 
To get good weather reports on the HF3 don't you need to also have a computer to decode weather fax. Don't know many broadcast spoken weather reports that cover high seas? mostly only coastal/offshore
 
My laptop doesnt have a 9 pin or paralell port interface. Does anyone know if the hf3 can be plugged into a laptop via usb, like using a 9 pin to usb connector? Im thinking this might be a good investment(as long as it works with my laptop)
/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
It is usual to connect the SSB receiver to the Line in connection on the laptop which puts the audio into the sound card. No need for USB or serial or parallel.

The software is designed to use the sound card to digitise the sound which it then resloves.
 
bugger this i'm turning round won't work! not into that swell you'll just stop or go backwards, especially with a 1/2 to 1 knot of atlantic current.

turning away from the storm on a beam reach might -

Watch the sky and watch the change in the swell/cross waves and get a sat phone/laptop to donload grib files

it;s a big ocean


Ian
 
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