BrendanChandler
Member
<font color="blue"> I have decided to buy an SSB. Any advice as to where to buy it, especially if based on wxperience, would be very welcome </font>
Where to buy an SSB for price and service?
- Thread starter BrendanChandler
- Start date
Talbot
Active member
depends what you are after. If you are after second hand equipment - ebay is a good source.
A
Anonymous
Guest
Transmit and receive, or receive only? Amateur bands? GMDSS?
edited: did read "transmit only" /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
edited: did read "transmit only" /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
PaulJ
Member
Don't know where you are based but if it is Amateur Radio you are after, have a look at Nevada in Portsmouth..... http://www.nevada.co.uk/
AndrewB
Well-known member
[ QUOTE ]
Don't know where you are based but if it is Amateur Radio you are after, have a look at Nevada in Portsmouth
[/ QUOTE ]
Contacted them recently about buying an ATU for my SSB, following advice on this forum. "Your setup is quite adequate, it won't give you a worthwhile improvement. Save yourself the money.", they said.
My kind of shop!
Don't know where you are based but if it is Amateur Radio you are after, have a look at Nevada in Portsmouth
[/ QUOTE ]
Contacted them recently about buying an ATU for my SSB, following advice on this forum. "Your setup is quite adequate, it won't give you a worthwhile improvement. Save yourself the money.", they said.
My kind of shop!
BigART
Member
Interesting. They also thought wire was perfectly adequate when I asked about foil for my earth (see twin discussion on Liveabord). This is contrary to all other advice I have received. I drew my own conclusions about the individuals I was talking to.
BrendanChandler
Member
Re:Transmit and Receive
We want to be able to transmit and receive. I have looked for secondhand on EBay etc without luck.
I will probably buy an Icom, new.
Thanks
Brendan
We want to be able to transmit and receive. I have looked for secondhand on EBay etc without luck.
I will probably buy an Icom, new.
Thanks
Brendan
A
Anonymous
Guest
Re:Transmit and Receive
You still haven't said whether you want amateur and/or marine. If you are going further afield (which I presume you are if you want SSB) I've heard reports that you can get a good deal in Gibraltar. You might get an Icom M710 there, and they are highly rated.
You still haven't said whether you want amateur and/or marine. If you are going further afield (which I presume you are if you want SSB) I've heard reports that you can get a good deal in Gibraltar. You might get an Icom M710 there, and they are highly rated.
Sea Devil
Well-known member
The cheapest source of SSB and antenna tuner (Icom and others)is the USA - West Marine for example but there are cheaper. Just email or call them and order for delivery in Gibraltar where you can bring it in hassel free.
The regulations in the UK are out of touch with reality so the simplest solution is to wait till you get to Gibraltar then order from there. (No VAT - no import duty and dollars for pounds)
Tell Shepards what you are spending and they may try to match the price and you will find Icom UK will also supply snipped non UK standard sets to Gib as well but the USA is nearly always cheaper - half the price (I have done this twice) Shepards Marina is a good place to fit out in with most things that you will need available. You will be stretched to find a use for an SSB until the Western Med so why pay more here?
The regulations in the UK are out of touch with reality so the simplest solution is to wait till you get to Gibraltar then order from there. (No VAT - no import duty and dollars for pounds)
Tell Shepards what you are spending and they may try to match the price and you will find Icom UK will also supply snipped non UK standard sets to Gib as well but the USA is nearly always cheaper - half the price (I have done this twice) Shepards Marina is a good place to fit out in with most things that you will need available. You will be stretched to find a use for an SSB until the Western Med so why pay more here?
William_H
Well-known member
Have a look at www.barrettcommunications.com.au its a manufacturer down the road from me. In a past life I did some QA assessment on them for aviation use and can recommend them for technical quality and I reckon you will find a good price due to oz dollar exchange rate (41p to the $ ) regards will
Benbow
New member
[ QUOTE ]
Contacted them recently about buying an ATU for my SSB, following advice on this forum. "Your setup is quite adequate, it won't give you a worthwhile improvement. Save yourself the money.", they said.
[/ QUOTE ]
Could you expand on this? My understanding is that if you are transmitting on a random wire aerial wthout an ATU, you will not only get very poor performance, but you also risk damaging your set.
Contacted them recently about buying an ATU for my SSB, following advice on this forum. "Your setup is quite adequate, it won't give you a worthwhile improvement. Save yourself the money.", they said.
[/ QUOTE ]
Could you expand on this? My understanding is that if you are transmitting on a random wire aerial wthout an ATU, you will not only get very poor performance, but you also risk damaging your set.
trouville
N/A
you can try hear http://www.thiecom.de/shop1/index.html
Its a German site but they ship to anyone the kenwood FT857D is 759euros, and the icom 718 is 649euros an automatic 100w atu is about 220euros
for the boat the icoms the best as you can get your ear against the speaker to hear the WX
best place to buy otherwise is either cypres or Gib. If your in a third world contry ruled by dictators such as the UK you can buy in Europe
Unless you have freinds to make contact with even in the med you wont use it very often, as very few have ssb and those that have dont use it often,
I keep contact as we head for our winter places but as a rule by mid december we just loose3 contact.
There are nets but oh dear boring and snobs- i listened this morning as i just woke up at 9.00am as the net starts the same two were there saysing the same thing they say every morning "oh! nice to hear you cold hear, regards to marrei catch you tommorow"---peww
Its a German site but they ship to anyone the kenwood FT857D is 759euros, and the icom 718 is 649euros an automatic 100w atu is about 220euros
for the boat the icoms the best as you can get your ear against the speaker to hear the WX
best place to buy otherwise is either cypres or Gib. If your in a third world contry ruled by dictators such as the UK you can buy in Europe
Unless you have freinds to make contact with even in the med you wont use it very often, as very few have ssb and those that have dont use it often,
I keep contact as we head for our winter places but as a rule by mid december we just loose3 contact.
There are nets but oh dear boring and snobs- i listened this morning as i just woke up at 9.00am as the net starts the same two were there saysing the same thing they say every morning "oh! nice to hear you cold hear, regards to marrei catch you tommorow"---peww
trouville
N/A
you will need an atu other wise the retern current will kill your output transistor! If you dont have a tunner you choose a frequency say 14280 then take a coax cable from your rig to deck and attach a wire from the sheeld and a second one to the core wire then use line to attach one wire to the back stay the other to the forstay and you have a diapole, you can also tie it to the backstay and toping lift, each wire element should be about 12feet??? that will at least give you a working swr---for the exact size ill have to mesure mine or find my anntena book!!
good luck and better buy an atu
good luck and better buy an atu
A
Anonymous
Guest
While I agree with the essence of what you are saying, if he had a manual tuner and an swr meter then he could tune each channel manually - as we did before the days of ATUs. However, seems doubtful that he either has that equipment or knows how to use it (or he wouldn't be asking the question) so I, like you and many others here, am very puzzled by Nevada's 'advice' to him. Sometimes hams get very sniffy and unhelpful with people who clearly are not hams themselves - maybe that's the problem and if so, a sharp, hard slap on the wrist, Mr Nevada. At the very least an explanation is called for.
trouville
N/A
Ive clicked the link to get emails when someone posts hear(otherwise it becomes hard to find the link) but it dosent work?? whats wrong with this new forum now?? what can i do??
When i said "atu" i mean antenna tuner unit, not an automatic atu! I have a mau^^nual one but i paid about £60 now the same MFJ is £98!! but befor an auto atu cost around£500!!! now there down to £200 still a lot but would mean the backstay could be loaded,
For crusing ive taped the two pvc coated wire "elements to my backstay and take the coax up to the mid point, this gives 1/4wave on 20meters and 1/8 wave on 40m
My "earth" are my safty railings!! and it works wonderfully no more fear of my keel falling off or rivits turning to powder, my swr on 14260 is almost 1:1 and on 3700 2.5:1 as a rule i put out around 70w which gets 5/8-9s below 50w i get 4/4-5 if im copied at all and with 100w 5/9+20s!!! sea waters good for the signal
Still its a lot to spend to just waste time talking about how good propergation is for a few seconds with a stranger wondering if his annteners working! SSBs not what it was
When i said "atu" i mean antenna tuner unit, not an automatic atu! I have a mau^^nual one but i paid about £60 now the same MFJ is £98!! but befor an auto atu cost around£500!!! now there down to £200 still a lot but would mean the backstay could be loaded,
For crusing ive taped the two pvc coated wire "elements to my backstay and take the coax up to the mid point, this gives 1/4wave on 20meters and 1/8 wave on 40m
My "earth" are my safty railings!! and it works wonderfully no more fear of my keel falling off or rivits turning to powder, my swr on 14260 is almost 1:1 and on 3700 2.5:1 as a rule i put out around 70w which gets 5/8-9s below 50w i get 4/4-5 if im copied at all and with 100w 5/9+20s!!! sea waters good for the signal
Still its a lot to spend to just waste time talking about how good propergation is for a few seconds with a stranger wondering if his annteners working! SSBs not what it was
