SSB -what to do?

Close hauled

Close hauled

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Thanks to everyone who responded to my previous post regarding SSB.

I don't want to go down the ham radio route and so have got a real problem with SSB. At the Boat Show I spoke to ICOM and OfCOM and what they told me might be of interest to fellow Scuttlebutters:

1. The ICOM 802 is not and will never get EU type approval. There are plans on the drawing board but the market for yacht SSB's is so small they are in no great rush.

2. It is illegal to fit an 802 to a UK registered boat. If OfCOM discover you with one they can confiscate it and the power supply ie the boat.

3. They have right of entry without warrant and are planning a campaign of enforcement starting soon.

Bottom line is that you cannot (at any reasonable !! price) buy an SSB for a UK registered yacht. Bit of a problem isn't it? /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif
 
I believed (probably mistakenly) that SSB is part of the GMDSS system. If it really is and your report is correct then the situation is a nonsense - ie British yachts cannot purchase GMDSS equipment without going up to the 'ship' equipment.
 
why not go down the ham radio route?

The full licence costs £15 per year, takes a bit of studying but you can then use both amateur radio frequencies and the marine bands, navtex reception, weatherfax's etc.

the amateur gear is type approved and a 100W transiever can be bought for £600 and a manual tuner for £50 or an automatic one for £300.
 
You are correct about the 802. Your other premise is wrong, there is nothing wrong with buying an older model that is EU OK - like the 700(UK) or 710. Match this with an AT-130 ATU and you are legal. These sometimes appear (for a very short time) on Ebay.

If interested I have a 800(UK) and brand new AT-130 that I have promised to CCScott, but he is not answering his mail at the moment. If he is no longer interested?
 
Gawd Save Us from the "obey the letter of the law" folks who are not a tiny minority on this forum it would seem. What do you intend to use your SSB for? Mine is solely reserved for communication with fellow passage makers on pre-arranged frequencies at specific times and Southbound 2. The only way I would ever come to the attention of the "authorities" would be if I ever had to use 2182 for a distress call, then, who gives a S**t if it saves your life?
 
Did you actually read the article?


Use the set as and when you like, I don't care whether you are licensed or not.

It would seem you don't have a license though, as any one that did, would be able to read the article, and have enough knowledge about how radios work, to understand the issue? So you've shot yourself in the foot here
 
Jimbow and Brendan speak very sensibly - nobody actually monitors, in the police sense,SSB TX and I have used mine on several 'serious' occaisions over the years and nobody ever asked if I had an operators license or even if the set was licensed. Back in the days of Portishead radio for years I spoke with them twice a week!!!
It is all such total nonsense and petty officialdom by the somewhat self serving Offcom lot. You will only use the set for chatting to other yachts.. bit of weather fax and possibly in a real emergency - Just go ahead like almost everyone else does....... Once out of UK waters nobody gives a damn
 
I think I'd better post the article, rather than rely on people reading the link, as everyone seems to be posting on issues other than what I'm talking about

---------------
LONDON (Reuters) - Plans to send Internet broadband signals down mains electricity cables rather than telephone lines could hit the radio hams whose transmissions were so vital in the aftermath of the Asian tsunami, New Scientist magazine reported on Wednesday.
The technology is being pushed by power companies keen to compete with traditional broadband suppliers and get a slice of the profits from the demand for fast Internet connection.

"The downside is that packets of Internet data pulsing down unshielded mains cables makes the cables behave like aerials that send short-wave interference beaming out over a wide area," the magazine reports.

Amateur radio operators believe this could threaten reliable communications on short-wave frequencies, which are invaluable to global broadcasting and emergency communications when all other options fail.

"A few extra decibels of interference from future networks and I would not have been able to hear the news from amateurs in Sri Lanka, India and the Andaman Islands," Hilary Claytonsmith of the International Amateur Radio Union's UK branch told the magazine.

The U.S. government approved the power line technology in October, while the European Commission is set to approve its version soon.

The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has ruled service providers must use filters on their household equipment, to avoid the problem. The EC is trying to set similar rules.
 
Re: SSB -what to do?

you begin your post with" as a complete aside" my response was to Pedro, why would I be tempted to read yours?
By the way,I have not come across many power cables above water 200 miles offshore so what relevance does your post have to Pedro's quandry?
 
Wimp

Why not buy an SSB and fit it and use it ?

Since you need an SSB you will be outside the UK sailing away over the horizon.

What is the problem ?

Or do you need permission to breathe ?
 
Re: Wimp

The answer, of course, is not to fit an SSB in the UK! So plan A is to forget all contact with the world until I arrive in some country without such seemingly ridiculous rules. Meantime I'll use a sat phone as a backup.

Anyone fancy being a test case for OfCOM?
 
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