GHA
Well-Known Member
Not a chance!We could always use CW (by hand, not machine generated)
Luckily learning a new language wasn't part of the requirements when I did the exams
(Portugal)
SW HF and SSB Radio
- Thread starter Ship'sCat
- Start date
Luckily learning a new language wasn't part of the requirements when I did the exams
(Portugal)
ip485
Well-Known Member
I am going to be controversial, but as a ham operator the current licensing regulations in Europe are a total nonesense, the three levels and the time involved is utterly ridiculous. It should be far more orientated on the sets you are entitled to use, as some are no more complex these days than any modern piece of user friendly equipment.
Skylark
Well-Known Member
Not a chance!
Glad you said that
. I haven't used a key in many years.My A license was issued in around 1981/2. G4P##
GHA
Well-Known Member
Irrelevant to thread but hey ho, and disagree, the entire ham spectrum is left alone for education and is only left alone as the self policing works so well, the emphasis is on learning and building, if you just want to use without knowing then stick to marine ssb where the sets won't let you make a mess..... or PMR..... or email
Current syllabus teaches you what happens then with a good working knowledge you get to set up the radio properly.
Bilgediver
Well-Known Member
It is unusual to find a radio that not only tunes down to the Navtex frequencies but will resolve SSB USB Signals My Sony was one of the few and it was heavily used when at sea. But was an expensive luxury . I often take it away on holidays as it has excellent FM reception as well as all frequencies from about 450 KCS to 30 MHZ and allows switching between AM LSB and USB The IC 7600 may also give these facilities. I have heard many good reports over the years from other sailors regarding the IC 7600 and looking at Ebay shows how it is still selling at above its purchase price back in the 80's and 90's.
john_morris_uk
Well-Known Member
Same for me - but I'm not sure I'm allowed on the boat in the boat yard at the moment. (We've just had a new set of standing rigging and I haven't connected the auto-atu to the insulated backstay yet. There's an Icon 709 Mk2 on the boat that seems to work ok when the hash from the rest of the instruments and echo sounder isn't desensitising it too much...
I'm in a similar position but I'm slightly before you at G4BXS. (And yes I'm QTHR on QRZ.com) but I haven't been active for years. I used to be CW only but wasn't that good.Glad you said that
My A license was issued in around 1981/2. G4P##
I've got a Ten Ten OmniVI Plus in the workshop doing nothing so I might throw a bit of wire up and see if it'll tune up with the MFD autotuner I've got sitting there.
dolabriform
Well-Known Member
I've been playing around with a RTL-SDR Dongle, Cubic SDR and FLDGI on my mac to try and get weatherfax with pretty much no success
Although I'm in East London, I would have thought I would pickup northwood ok? I suspect it's down to the ariel supplied with the dongle, although it pickups up FM radio ok.
Has anyone had any success with this?
Although I'm in East London, I would have thought I would pickup northwood ok? I suspect it's down to the ariel supplied with the dongle, although it pickups up FM radio ok.
Has anyone had any success with this?
GHA
Well-Known Member
Not with the supplied little antenna, connect a longish length of wire and give that a go, 10.1Mhz is a handy one as it transmits all the time and usually has a good strong signal. It's rtty though, not fax.
dolabriform
Well-Known Member
Thanks.. I'll hook something up and have a play.
GHA
Well-Known Member
Jvcomm settings to decode DWD rtty weather text >
(Evernote is great at finding these sorts of things years later )
(Evernote is great at finding these sorts of things years later
)
Alicatt
Well-Known Member
So it looks like I'm going to have to get my FT897 unboxed again and the antenna stuck on the car. Licenced in 1980 as GM6JWF and legacy-ed in for HF
Currently in Belgium so will have an ON prefix.
Well it will give me something to do rather than trawl the for sale pages looking for a boat
Currently in Belgium so will have an ON prefix.
Well it will give me something to do rather than trawl the for sale pages looking for a boat
GHA
Well-Known Member
Might be of interest to some >
High Frequency (HF) Learning Center
High Frequency (HF) Learning Center
dolabriform
Well-Known Member
Thanks. I wish it was possible to do the LRC online.
I did the foundation course and got licensed during the last lockdown, but I don't think I'm going to have the spare time to go all the way to a full license in the next few years.
dunedin
Well-Known Member
The low cost solution is to climb to the top of Meal Acarseid - good reception up there.
And/or hoist phone to masthead using spinnaker halyard. Done that on quite a few occasions.
Also for Scotland worth bookmarking the “printable” version of the MetOffice Inshore Waters page. Inshore waters forecast and strong winds - Met Office
The main one is hopeless for use on low reception - lots of excess graphics and a two stage process to get the area you want.
Don’t think I have ever bothered to try VHF for the forecast, as if could get VHF could get basic mobile data before waiting for Coastguard to repeat a forecast.
ip485
Well-Known Member
Irrelevant to thread but hey ho, and disagree, the entire ham spectrum is left alone for education and is only left alone as the self policing works so well, the emphasis is on learning and building, if you just want to use without knowing then stick to marine ssb where the sets won't let you make a mess..... or PMR..... or email
Current syllabus teaches you what happens then with a good working knowledge you get to set up the radio properly.
I think this misses my point. There will be those that wish to build and learn and those that just wish to communicate. In short they arent techies, and have now wish to be. My point was that you can "safely" operate some of the sets without much technical knowledge and without issue. To spread the licence on range surely must be nonesense, and just a way of maintaining some sort of elitism, especially when this was never the way in the UK in the past. I think the examination system here has just become too complicated and involved especially for people on boats who wish to have a reliable means of communicating and wish to use the ham bands. It doenst matter to me as I am already licensed but that isnt the point.
On the boat I have an ICOM 710 and pc software that enable me to select any band and frequency at a mouse click, aerial on the back stay with an automatic icom tuner, once set up it is effectively a radio, nothing more, nothing less. Why make it so complicated fo folk who wish for nothing more? I agree in so far as the more complicated set ups we may have at home or elsewhere.
I dont think the entry requirements because of the licensing requirements, I think it is left alone because of the entry cost, the self policing (which wouldnt change) and lets me frank not that many people are really that interested unless that have a purpose.
Ship'sCat
Active Member
Can anyone please advise? - If I manage to get good clear weather fax results with my portable radio/mobile phone setup ashore does it mean that it will work just as well hundreds of miles out in the ocean? I am playing around with stuff as a sort of hobby during lockdown but am interested to know if the results with count for much out at sea.
GHA
Well-Known Member
Exactly.
The ham bands don't exist just for people to communicate., that's not why they came about in the first place nor is it why they exist now.
Dumb it done that much the many multinationals very keen to get their hands on those frequencies will have a much stronger starting point. What you're suggesting is completely changing the entire reason for ham's existence.
Which won't happen anyway, the ham community (which is very much alive and well, listen on a contest day the bands are buzzing) fight hard enough as it is to keep the frequencies , little chance they'll dumb it all down to just an expensive mobile phone.
GHA
Well-Known Member
Should be much better, yes.
Bilgediver
Well-Known Member
Just make sure you print out the Radio fax frequency page For Europe from NOAA as you might need s different frequency.
www.weather.gov/media/marine/rfax.pdf
www.weather.gov/media/marine/rfax.pdf
ip485
Well-Known Member
I have to say I dont think that is an accurate reflection of the history.
W2PA gives a good summary of the early (and more recent) history and of course WiKi is always worth a visit, both of which place the start on a desire for users to communicate, whilst I agree that other interests have spun off, including, logically, improving the equipment, but for the ovbvious reasons of making communincation better. If people didnt wish to communicate in all the forms then ham wouldnt exist. If ham operators didnt communicate with each other today ham would also not exist. I suspect ham will need to evolve and I think on this one the Americans have already a much better approach to licensing these bands that we have here.