SSB

[Ships_Cat]

Stop talking bollocks Bambola you are misleading people. That is fine if the consequences are benign, but you are openly encouraging people to break the law through feeding them misinformation.

It is a waste of time dismembering all of the mistruths in your thread as previous experience of you shows that you are oblivious to facts, but apart from your shallow dismissal of the knowledge of Mike and myself another simple example will also hopefully alert others to your follies.

You say, for example, Outside any countries (sic) territorial waters - at sea - then the law does not apply. You are in international waters. That is entirely incorrect, when in international waters you are subject to the law of the nation that your vessel is flagged in. If that were not true we could, for example, all conduct the perfect crimes in international waters by murdering or keelhauling misbehaving crew.

To others, if you want some idea of what Bambola is about, I suggest that you read the independant summary of one of his misadventures <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.gleefulextremist.com/2004/08/brit-turns-french.html>Here</A>.

John

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[ccscott49]

Dont think I'll be reading anymore of this chaps posts, you can benmd the rules a little and get away with it, but downright breaking the law, is going to get you into trouble eventually.

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[Sea Devil]

John thank you for the helpful post.

It is true I was attacked and boarded by 15 + pirates all armed with machine guns - AK47s, uzies?? Kalasnikovs. When they opened fire I put my hands up and heaved to and 'allowed' them to take my ssb, vhf, binoculars and $600 US.

It is true as well that I put out a mayday whilst they were shooting and a US Navy ship arrived - followed my directions to find the pirates - and then let them go and the same pirates attacked another 6 yachts one week later and another 3 boats two week later. I was not impressed by the reaction of US Navy in officers in Norfolk Virginia who gave the orders. If you are openly critical of the yanks they tend to react. Well some do...

If I had to do the same again I would still put my hands up and heave too.... Read the details in my web site if you are really interested.

The point I am trying to make is that sometimes the law is an ass and if you want to truly provide for your own safety then you have to be sensible.

Unless your SSB is snipped (as I posted) then you cannot communicate with the Ham nets - world - who will be the only people who can help you in some situations.

This is illegal -

I am happy to openly state that mine is snipped as were the previous 2 SSBs I have owned - except for some hams, I have never met a cruising boat that does not have it's ssb snipped - Have you?

There are many parts of the world (possibly most parts outside europe - USA - antipodes ) where if you set off your 406 epirb the only reaction will be a post on the navtext asking ships to keep a look out. That is a reality - the system does not work in countries that are too poor to have a decent search and rescue facility - even the Australians grumble about the cost.

You are right - I really do not know all the legislation like you do. I have spent some years cruising out of european waters - been there - done that - and all I can do is to advised people to look after themselves properly. Nobody else will and whilst blue water cruising is the most wonderful experience in the world - I think - It is not always 'safe' and you do have to be self reliant and take care - even when bureaucrats make that impossible if you follow the rules.

The problem for people like you is that the rules were made for people like you. The merchant fleet - they are in conflict with the safety of cruising yachts and what most cruising yachts do is to ignor them. When / if the law is an ass .....

Hope this is helpful? (and I did not say anything about arm chair sailors who read a lot!) - little smile - could not resist it...

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[Sea Devil]

Scott hi,

Would you go crusing without an unsnipped SSB? Think about it.

Would you spend thousands of pounds to satisfy an authority that has created rules in direct conflict with the rules of almost all the rest of the world?

Have a little courage to thumb your nose at authority when it is plainly daft as a brush!



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[ccscott49]

You dont know me, I have more than a little courage, and my nose has been thumbed a few times! believe me.

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[snowleopard]

thanks for the info about customs clearance in the french islands. if only i'd known...

there were no customs in the saintes and they were shut for a long weekend in pointe a pitre so we arrived in antigua with only a week old clearance from dominica. the normally stroppy customs guy in english harbour was in his element. he eventually accepted the dominica clearance but really enjoyed threatening to send us back to guadeloupe!

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[Sea Devil]

Yes a german friend told me about it - I think I was one of the last to know - Really hated clearing in and out - they made it such a hassel.

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[Sea Devil]

When were you there? I was around the windies in 1999 and 2000 - went to East Coast USA in between.

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[Sea Devil]

.

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[Gunfleet]

Me too Colin, but an AK47? I'm sorry. I surrender.

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[piscosour]

Interesting thread about six months ago regarding piracy. Chap who kept some eastern currency, forget which, high denomination/low value in a wallet for just such an occasion. Personally, if I had an AK47 and was facing someone else with a similar tool I would be dead every time. Some choose to arm themselves and some choose to help third world debt. I've never been attacked by sea-bourne pirates yet, touch wood, but maybe my attitude would change.
Please, to save me sifting through this mammouth thread, what is snipping? why is it illegal? and, shouldn't all the Rabbis be in prison for it?

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[Gunfleet]

Diode snipping. SSB radios are often constrained as to the wavelengths they will transmit (and sometimes receive) on. Snipping or crushing a diode will often remove the constraint. BUt you have to know which diode. Famously you can 'broadband' an Icom 706 using this technique, enabling it to broadcast on marine bands and therefore double up as a relatively cheap 'marine' ssb. But it's strictly against the rules (and then you have to read the rest of the thread). Or, you could just hand over £3000 plus vat for a regulation marine SSB. Hm... difficult choice, eh?

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[Close hauled]

Haven't looked in for a time. What a goldmine of info this forum is!

At the risk of being shouted at how about this idea?

Don't buy an SSB transceiver because of all the hassle and cost.

Do buy an SSB receiver ( for weather fax etc)and a satellite phone

What do you think?

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[Sea Devil]

Actually snipping on modern sets is just about programming the set.

If you have a 'snipped' ssb then you can talk/transmitt to both the marine world and to the ham world.

If a big part of the reason for having a SSB is safety - able to keep in contact in times of hardship - then the marine frequencies are no longer that useful - Merchant ships do not carry radio operators and are not required to monitor the distress frequencies.
Hams on the other hand run very useful 'ham maritime nets' and if you get in trouble will talk to you and help you.

The british legislation says you cannot use a 'snipped' set - you must buy two sets. A few hams do do this but 90% of all cruisers who are not 'hams' just have 'snipped' sets installed. If you buy outside the UK - Gibraltar for example Icom will send you a snipped set if you ask. They have sent me 2 in the past. West Marine will send you snipped sets as a matter of course - the last one I got was 18 months ago in Djbouti after the pirates nicked my previous set!

If you are buying a SSB you really need it snipped - also much much cheaper from USA ........

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[Anonymous]

>>If a big part of the reason for having a SSB is safety - able to keep in contact in times of hardship - then the marine frequencies are no longer that useful - Merchant ships do not carry radio operators and are not required to monitor the distress frequencies.<<

That is untrue. GMDSS is vastly safer than the old system of having listening watches and silence periods. Of course you do need to have a GMDSS set but if you do have, then a 'distress alert' on MF, HF or VHF will be picked up by all GMDSS equipped stations - i.e. all MRCC and all commercial and navy ships.


>>Hams on the other hand run very useful 'ham maritime nets' and if you get in trouble will talk to you and help you.<<

Which 'ham maritime net' is listening 24/24? All the ones I know of have fixed times such as 0800 and 2000. I have been listening on and sending CQs on 14.303 over the last few weeks and not heard a peep.

Surely it all depends on the type of help you want? If you are in *distress* or *urgency* then the marine band is the way to go. If you want some friendly advice about a cruising issue then the ham radio comes into its own?

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[Sea Devil]

Lemain hi,
I do not really agree with you because:-
Most SSBs carried in yachts are not GMDSS enabled - not sure why, but the Icom M710 which is possibly the most popular at the moment is not. Perhaps you know which yacht type SSB's are?
If you do not have GMDSS then the only way forward in an immediatly life threating situation is to let off the EPIRB but as I stated before it depends where you are in the world. Outside of Europe, USA, Antipodes there is a very strong chance that the local authority does not have the resoures or finance to mount a proper search and rescue (particulaly when - is it 90% - of all EPIRB alarms are false. Correct me on % please?)

Passing ships, in this very commercial world, (excluding UK flagged ones) do not alter course or add watchkeepers, in response to requests to keep a look out for EPIRB alerts off their track. You will find that many will not 'hear' the GMDSS alert even if you have it and if you are on a reef somewhere then you are in deep trouble.

You are correct no Ham nets keep a watch 24/7 that I know of but there are lots of them around day and night.

They are very helpful people. Who else is going to hear your shout? I have tried Pan Pan Medico off Columbia - zilch - Pan Pan off Cuba - zilch. In the Red sea with a dying man from another yacht - zilch. Once you leave the comforts of Europe or USA you are on your own - you must take care....

When friends of mine got washed up in their boat on an African beach the only people they could raise on the SSB (VHF usless range) was the UK maritime net. The net informed their family, arranged tugs to try to get them off, Informed the Morrocan search and rescue authorities, contacted their insurers - pretty helpful - If you have mecical problems and cannot raise anyone else (who?) then the Ham nets will swing into action and get you in touch with doctors and inform the Navy of your country or origin to see what help is available or appropriate. Who do you call on a marine band? Not ships - merchant captains want to keep to their scheduals and keep their jobs.

Would you want to be without the ham frequencies on your set when only the UK has this legislation?

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[snowleopard]

Icom 710

my icom, bought in the uk in 2000, is gmdss enabled. the bad news is that it needs an external dsc controller and they are an arm and a leg.

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[Anonymous]

>>If you do not have GMDSS then the only way forward in an immediatly life threating situation is to let off the EPIRB<<

I have a mini-M inmarsat phone and I have been recommended to keep Falmouth Coastguard pre-programmed into it and use that to make the distress or urgency alert wherever I happen to be in the world. Once Falmouth, as the controlling MRCC, have received the alert they can alert local services who will then, presumably, be listening for my distress/urgency traffic on the appropriate MF/HF frequency. Apparently this has worked well for others and it does mean that I don't need to buy a very large and very expensive DSC controller for the MF/HF set. The mini-M phone also serves for non-boaty emergency communications with family, finance, etc. I would add that at $1.85 per minute, I shan't be using it terribly often!!

I would rather phone my family and Falmouth coastguard than rely on the ham nets, to be frank because the former can ensure that finance is available and I have confidence in Falmouth as an MRCC.

I'd be glad of any opinions.

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[Stevie_T]

I dont intend to get involved with the SSB argument here, but hving read your link to Gleeful extremist it seems a little extreme to me!

I have read Briants website on another occasion and his Piracy attack report but the comments in Gleeful Extremist are virtually calling him a coward for not being armed and putting up a fight. Are you sugesting we should all arm ourselves now and atempt to defend ourselves? Do I need to remind you of what hapened to Sir Peter Blake?

And to be honest I dont think it that unreasonable, even if unlikely to expect an American warship to give chase to Pirates, after all if nobody is going to give chase then they have no insentive to give up their violent trade.

Other than that I have no opinion on Mr Briant

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[Ships_Cat]

Perhaps my link was selfish amusement and a little explanation might help wider appreciation.

Now it happens that I know more than the average person about radio and can therefore see that what Bambola states about radio is pretty silly stuff based on little knowledge and that if he follows his own advice then he also operates illegally. As some will know, radio operators that operate illegally are widely known as "pirates".

So here we have someone, who encourages everyone to become radio pirates by feeding them incorrect information based on, apparantly, his own pirate operations and crowing in an encouraging way that the authorities will not do anything about it.

But at the same time he has a page on his internet site sort of upset at another type of pirate, the type that apprehends one on on the high seas for the purposes of petty theft, and also complaining because the authorities (aka the USA navy) did not do enough about it. Seemed a little contradictory in stance to me - his piracy is fine and beyond criticism, but another's piracy is not.

Now I know nothing about the skull and crossbones type of pirates, not ever having associated with any, but when someone talks rubbish about something I do know something about (in this case radio), I am naturally sceptical when they start talking about other things that I know little about. The link I gave perhaps demonstrated a similar scepticism by another in the skull and crossbones piracy field in which I am not qualified to comment.

Now some might say that the two types of piracy (that is the radio type and the skull and crossbones type) are different in outcome. Well, perhaps so, but it could be a reasonable argument that one of the sort that gives very uninformed information on systems for protecting life at sea, whether that is to do with flares, EPIRB's, liferafts or, as in this case, radio, is just as bad as the other.

John

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