Ham / SSB Hell !

[goboatingnow]

1. Operator's license is personal and issued by "your" country, ie. Canada for Derrick.
2. Station license is issued by the country that the boat is registered in, ie. US for Derrick.

Note re 1. Most countries will issue an operators certificate to anyone that sits their exams.

Many countries require that the ships license applicant has an operators cert from that country. Any operators cert can be used to operate the radio , but not apply for the ships license.

[RickD]

I like this thread. It's chocked full of good information.

I didn't read all the thread yet, still working on it, but, if I recall there are several rigs.. (RADIOS not sail-holder-uppers) that can be used on BOTH marine and amateur radio frequencies. At the moment, I don't recall which, but they are FCC type accepted and are rather expensive if I remember rightly.

Not sure if this was covered either - but a US Operator (Amateur) in foreign waters needs to CHECK before they operate a ham rig in those foreign waters. Why? Because most of those countries require you obtain a temporary station license for their country - otherwise, you might be legally operating under a US callsign, but NOT in their waters where you must operate using a US call with a local (foreign) suffix.

For instance I was in Jamaica... last year I think it was. I could operate my radios ONLY after obtaining a Jamaican license. My US call is N0NJY, while there my call was N0NJY/6Y5. And for the record it took three months for my wife and I each to obtain our calls, at the cost of about 40 bucks per license. We had to send copies of our US licensing to the Jamaica Spectrum Management Authority.

[RickD]

Originally Posted by btrayfors

Read all about it here (84 reviews): ICOM IC-735 Product Reviews

Bill

The very rig I took to Jamaica in fact.

[RickD]

Originally Posted by s/v Jedi

True HAM's tinker their radio's and call CQ's on calculated times and frequencies, hoping to make DX contacts and log every one of them. They also talk to the radio, not just through it. That's the difference ;-)

Shhhh don't tell people we "talk to our radios" - they will think we are nerds or something... oh, wait, nevermind.

[denverd0n]

Originally Posted by RickD

I could operate my radios ONLY after obtaining a Jamaican license.

Do you know how long that Jamaican license is good for?

[RickD]

Originally Posted by denverd0n

Do you know how long that Jamaican license is good for?

They are only good for 6 months.

[Mambo]

Hi -

I am yet another neophyte reading the SSB threads and enjoying tons of new information the vast majority of which is entirely useless. Still, I feel like I am beginning to identify certain pieces of the puzzle. So, thanks to all of you who know this stuff well enough to explain.

My question: The ICOM M700PRO seems like a good modern rig capable of handling all tasks including HF email (with the pactor); is the older M-700 similarly capable or does it have have significant limitations. If so, what are they?

I had planned on buyinmg new perhaps 6 months or a year from now but am considering buying used and the older M-700's are comparatively cheap.

Thanks
-M

[btrayfors]

The M700Pro (current model) is an excellent choice for both marine and ham use. It also works very well with Pactor modems for HF email, and connection kits are readily available. Together with a suitable tuner, modem, and connecting cables, the new cost is about $2750, plus installation costs. Two other current models, the M710 and the M802 cost several hundred dollars more, i.e., well over $3,000 for a complete setup, counting equipment costs alone.

The older Icom M700 is a terrific radio for marine SSB and, with some caveats, for ham use. It can be made to work with Pactor modems as well, but requires some modification. The following is from the SailMail website:

Quote
Icom M700This is Icom's original HF marine radio. This radio has a number of disadvantages for use with digital communications.
There is no accessory jack with the necessary AF input, AF output, and PTT signals. The addition of an accessory jack will require you to have a radio technician modify the radio. Most radio technicians will (sensibly) refuse to do this modification because they feel that it is pointless to work on such an old radio. If you do decide to get the modifications done be sure to get the price quoted in advance, and then reconsider just replacing the radio.
Once modified, the M700 still is not ideal. It is only capable of about 50 watts continuous output. Unquote


The Icom M600 is a terrific little radio also for marine use and for ham use with the same caveats as the M700 (mainly, there is no VFO). It, too, can be made to work with Pactor modems with a little modification. See Sailmail Website, Application Notes.


Bill
WA6CCA

[Mambo]

Thanks Bill!

Other than ebay, do you know of any good sources of second-hand rigs?

Is the later addition of a pactor modem a significant change (to the rigs which are set up for it: the 700PRO, 710 or 802)? Is it realistic to buy the radio and plan to add the modem later?

-M

[btrayfors]

Yep, send me a PM with your email address and maybe I can help you.

Re: is it realistic, the answer is yes, most definitely. The addition of a Pactor modem to a M700Pro, M710, or M802 is trivial (except, of course, for the expense).

Adding that capability to M700, M600, TKM-707, and other rigs not already set up for it takes a bit of engineering by someone familiar with board-level modifications and repairs. Do-able, but it does take some time.

Bill

[highseas]

O.K. corrected the GPS problem,turns out the cable to antenna was faulty,possibly antenna also,replaced both.Now back to the SSB/A.P. interference problem.

[highseas]

I put ferrites on wires at autopilot head,ssb power lead at battery,autopilot cable at corepack,coax at tuner,no change.My coax is the heavy RG213.The autopilot power cable does run near coax for about a foot,because thats where all the wires run through to batteries and switch panel.I think it is related to the grounding issue.Can I somehow isolate autopilot ground from rest of system?I have ferrites on control cable at tuner and at transmitter.I tried radio at medium power,no change.

[SoonerSailor]

Be sure your ferrites are of the mix that works best at HF. There are different "mixes" available, and at least the ones from Radio Shack are better at VHF frequencies.

One other thing is to try a ferrite large enough that you can make more than one wrap through the ferrite, the more the better. Each wrap needs to be in the same direction, but each wrap adds impedance to RF frequencies. Try doing this on the AP cable, one at the control head and the other at the main unit.

Of course, an improved grounding scheme may make the ferrites unnecessary.

[s/v Jedi]

@highseas: did you tell us about your SSB ground already? Tell me what the ground lug of the tuner is connected to (everything!)

cheers,
Nick.

[SoonerSailor]

Just to elaborate a bit on the ferrites - take a look at www.fair-rite.com and their line of ferrites. To keep RF from your SSB out of your insturments, you would want to use a ferrite made of material 73 or material 31. Again, you would ideally use a ferrite large enough to get several wraps of your cable around, and its usually easiest to use "split" or snap-on type ferrites if you can't get the free end to the cable to make your wraps.