Can I ditch my SSB radio for an Sat Phone type Iridium Go?

[KTP]

Not mentioned but probably valid is that lightning is likely to take out your SSB but leave your sat phone unharmed.

Our SSB is connected to our backstay with insulators. I can imagine it is a nice path for about 10,000 amps to go into the back of the radio.

[MicHughV]

...the lightning strike issue is a seriously intriguing one.

In the 35 odd years that I have been afloat, I can honestly tell you that I have been through countless thunder and lightning storms.....but I can recall only one time where I thought I took a direct hit....I say " thought" because there was a load bang with an instantaneous strike with enormous light ( this event occurred at night) and my head was ducked under my weather gear">foul weather gear

...for perhaps 15-30 minutes thereafter, I could not " touch" any piece of electronics due to getting shocked by " static" electricity. This was very unnerving because I had no idea what was going on.

Everything on my boat is grounded....the mast....all the rigging...etc....
Surprisingly, I suffered no damage to anything as I had switched all the electronics off...but I've heard stories about people having had thru-hulls blow right off the boat....true or not...I don't know..
The " ground" plate is actually two bronze dyno plates, wired together

Lightning apparently seeks the easiest ground, which would be the mast, but there are a number of theories on this....

Skipping over the whole SSB/Ham/sat phone issue, I also have an EPIRB. This is not wired into anything as it is self contained. The battery, I'm told is good for 7 days.
In " theory" anyway, this should send out a signal that can alert not only the authorities, but also shipping...aircraft, etc....
I've read some amazing stories about EPIRB rescues.

At the end of the day, I'm glad I have a variety of signaling devices on my boat, besides a sat phone, which, I believe, offer me the best possible options.

It is ironic that sailors put themselves into some pretty precarious situations, far from land, yet " expect" authorities to mount, often expensive search and rescue operations, to get yer arse out of a jam.

It behoves every sailor to employ, purchase, learn to use, every possible gadget, device, radio, etc, they can, to assure themselves they have a fighting chance when the doodoo hits the fan.

[Paul L]

I don't get the focus on emergencies in regard to this question. Both the Iridium and the SSB get used hundreds of times a year for mundane uses. The EPRIB is for emergencies.
If you are planning long distance cruising then access to the SSB nets is really nice. We just finished a 5day passage from Australia to Indonesia. We participated in an informal net of boats doing the same passage. This allowed us to change course to the west and avoid dozens of fishing boats and 3 mile long floating nets that boats ahead of us reported.

Sat connections can end up with fairly steep annual bills and certainly add up over the years.

[Discovery 15797]

Why not both?

There are pro's and con's to both as has been mentioned.

I do have the Iridium Go and it is a nice kit and also a bill of $150 / month for the satellite connection, and $250 / year for Predict wind. Connection speed is slow...it takes on average about 30 minutes to download each 8km GRIB file from PredictWind Offshore app. During the download the system may disconnect and will automatically restart. With the Iridium Go app, you can send SMS messages, vessel tracking & spot GPS positions sent to a list of email recipients, phone calls (150 minutes free), and posts to Twitter. The Iridium Web & Mail app is complete crap. Facebook changed its APIs last year so you can no longer post to FB. I couldn't get the Twitter posts to work using the Web&Mail app. The email functionality is a bit confusing but is usable. But, download speeds are slow. Also the web feature is virtually useless. I use the Iridium Go system to download GRIBs twice per day, send SMS messages, send track info every 12 hours to an email list, and have emergency numbers in my phone just in case.

I also have an SSB/HF ham rig aboard (and yes i am an avid ham operator). Marine SSB channels have limited usability; however, they are still monitored by USCG and other orgs. The ham bands are useful; especially the cruiser nets. GRIB files help plan....but if there is a ham net...you get real time info. Also, the ham nets give you a community of folks to chat with. The drawback to HF is you must learn...a lot. Many people fail at ham radios onboard because they are poorly installed, and they fail to learn the skills necessary to use the radio correctly. I use the ham for checkins (esp 14300), local nets, and making various contacts using both phone (voice) and cw (morse code) while sailing or in port.

If I only had to pick one...I'd probably go with the Iridium Go.

(oh...as a side note...I'd never waste money on just a sat phone. I carry a spare cell phone and spare iridium go battery in my rapid ditch bag...and the Iridium Go is easy to grab if I ever need to bail.)

But, I see value in both the Iridium Go and HF ham, so I have both.

The Iridium gives me the planning information I need and connection to family and friends. HF ham rig gives me information I want and connection to other sailors in the area or areas I am heading to, extends my community of new friends, and is a back up emergency comm system.

[roland stockham]

Ok what do I currently get from SSB.
Free professional weather reports including sea state 4x day
Free professional montoring of tropical storm activities when relevent
Ability to contact others. Crossing the atlantic I was delayed by bad weather. I talked to a boat i florida whe relayed messages both to the coastguard and shorebased family. He then acted as a contact point ans set up a daily radio shedual. I set up a relay with a boat off africa who could contact my weather router in canada (I could not get through). I was able the regularly chat to people which was a great moral boost. By the time we got to the caribbean we where 600 miles from are expected landing point and had no local charts. The guy in florida gave ne a list of approach waypoints. All this was provided compleatly voluntarily buy the sailing community.
Yes you can use a sat phone at great expense to get inferior gribb forecasts instead of the free professional naval one available via ssb. You can call people if you know there phone number. It is still part of solas that every commercial ship operating in sea area 2 or above has an SSB transever and monitors it just like the requirment to fit and monitor vhf 16.

This is a really good system but if we dont continue to use it and advocate for continuation of services it may well die out leaving no choice but to spent many $ on an inferior system. If we find vessels not complying with solas rules we should report it just like you would if you saw someone driving recklessly on yhe road. Sailing and seagoing generally has always been self relient and most asistance is given by other vessels but we need to be able to talk to others to do it.

Maybe I am nostagic, I use a sextant as well, but I would be very sorry to see SSB drop out.

[belizesailor]

Had an unusual use of SSB pop up on an Atlantic crossing recently. We knew there were a bunch of other boats on roughly the same route. Finally got close enough to see one and chatted with them on VHF...this initial contact gradually expanded into a daily SSB net of about half a dozen boats. We were able to share local observations which was handy as there were a lot of very localized variations in both wind and current.

[joehersey]

For those that still have SSB, the US Coast Guard still keeps watch on the channels and from the locations listed in this website: https://www.navcen.uscg.gov/?pageName=cgcommsCall. They no longer keep watch on 2182 kHz.

As someone noted earlier, your chances of getting through are eased considerably if your SSB has DSC capability.

[Bangorang]

Absolutely!
We recently completed 6yt So Pacific circuit with Iridium sat phone and no SSB. Sat phone handled all weather, email, texts and calls home from anywhere we went, no problemo. Had all the SAR numbers on speed dial. Never needed them thankfully and never missed the SSB.

[AA3JY]

Bermuda pre-planning recommendations:

PLANNING A VOYAGE TO BERMUDA
A voyage under sail to Bermuda can be a rewarding and relaxing experience—provided that you plan your voyage carefully and check and prepare your vessel adequately. It is especially important to keep in mind the vulnerability of electronic navigation equipment in the marine environment and for this reason have at least one crew member aboard who is capable of navigating using paper charts and have back-up GPS capability. Backup communication and navigation equipment, as well as contingency planning for an emergency, will all help to ensure a safe arrival in Bermuda.
PRE-ARRIVAL NOTIFICATION
Before sailing to Bermuda, you must complete the Rescue Coordination Centre Bermuda Radio (“RCC Bermuda Radio”) Pre-Arrival Form at marops.bm/of_visitingyacht.aspx with details of your planned voyage, vessel description, safety equipment and crew information. If you have questions, give them a call, t (441) 297-1010. Your vessel and crew data is captured in a database for easy retrieval in the event that you unexpectedly need help from Search and Rescue. If you have not pre-filed, RCC
Bermuda Radio will request this same information when you initially make contact on the VHF radio on Channel 16 as you approach Bermuda.
SAFETY EQUIPMENT
Contact the nearest Coast Guard or Coast Guard Auxiliary office early in the planning stage to obtain a full list of recommended safety equipment. All ocean-going yachts should have at least:
• A 406 MHz Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon (EPIRB);
• A Digital Selective Calling DSC VHF radio-telephone transceiver capable of 25 watts power output;
• A Single Side Band radio-telephone transceiver operating on medium and high frequencies
• A satellite telephone;
• An ocean-ready life raft designed to hold the total number of crew aboard your vessel and a survival or ‘panic’ bag containing
pre-packed rations and other essential items;
• A radar reflector;
• Parachute rockets, smoke flares and dye markers;
• Some form of auxiliary power;
• Sufficient battery power to keep navigation and communication systems operating for several days in the event of engine or
generator failure; • AIS Transponder.

[GrowleyMonster]

The biggest strength of HF (SSB) is that anyone in range can hear you and respond. And it isn't a one trick pony as many have pointed out. The HF rig has many uses besides calling for help. Hook it up and learn to use it. If nothing else it is good for time ticks for celestial navigation, or SW broadcast reception for information or entertainment. Satphone is great but I would say it is better to have both than just one or the other.

[sailoray531]

I used both on when I participated in the ARC+ Atlantic crossing last fall--SSB primarily for staying in touch with other boats, satellite for downloading weather files. If I were purchasing only one, I'd go the satphone route. SSB technology is on its way out. Fewer and fewer long distance cruisers use it, as the ARC organizers can testify. Still, if you can afford both, there are some nice cruising nets around that use SSB.

[Cchele]

Iridium HO is a piece of crap! Slow speed and dropped/garbled calls! Don’t waste your money.

[argonauta1]

When cruising offshore within reason one needs every tool available. If you prefer to cruise in splendid communication isolation, ditch the SSB. There is still only one means of multi party simultaneous communication available and that is radio: VHF or HF (SSB). Nets are part of most off shore passages and harbor communications as a vital bit of mutual support. Keep that SSB or get equipped with one. Sorry to learn of one writer's lack of success with the SSB. They can be tricky to set up and one does need to know a few things about propagation and frequencies but that is a small challenge. I wouldn't go offshore without SSB/Sailmail and a Satphone. In 1999 to 2008 during our circumnav we had Inmartsat C which was fine but now a Satphone is the way to go but do not throw out the SSB! Oh, HAM is nice but most nets as well as Sailmail are on Maritime Mobile frequencies. HAM stuff is more for the hobbyist

[merrydolphin]

Both give you the best options and some redundancy. Especially if you still have one on board. If you want SSB but don’t want to spent a lot of money. You can but used ham rigs cheap! I bough an ICOM 725 for $200 and an AT 130 tuner for $140. They work great. Install myself for about $25 worth of copper strapping to a coupe of thru-hulls. Done. Works great. I really like being able to get on the nets, find our where friends and acquaintances are safety announcements weather etc. Yep, I use them both.

[CassidyNZ]

Originally Posted by Paul L

Sat connections can end up with fairly steep annual bills and certainly add up over the years.

The flexibility of Iridium, whether Go or satellite telephone, is that you don't have to have long enduring contracts. I light up an account two weeks before leaving on a passage, get a new SIM in the mail in 3 days, activate it and away we go. On return I let them know we're returning to NZ by a given date and the first end-of-period after that date, they turn it off.

We pay a monthly fee which includes a range of free calls, all texts are free, weather downloads use up the phone call minutes (telephone on Go is probably the least user-friendly so we don't use it much). The fee can vary according to your requirements.

I guess if you're cruising full-time the bills can add up but for the fee we pay on an annual 5-month sojourn basis, the comms we get is certainly worth it.