OK, I am HF certified... now what?

[GILow]

I'm sending you my therapist's bill.

[Wotname]

If you end up going down the 802 with DSC avenue, you will need 2 HF antennas. The 802 uses a second antenna for the receive aspects of DSC.

Depending on the style of this antenna, it can serve as an emergency HF primary antenna.

[GILow]

Originally Posted by Wotname

If you end up going down the 802 with DSC avenue, you will need 2 HF antennas. The 802 uses a second antenna for the receive aspects of DSC.

Depending on the style of this antenna, it can serve as an emergency HF primary antenna.

I was very surprised when I read about this, but I can see how it makes sense to be able to receive DSC alerts even while you are transmitting. Perhaps I could hook the receive up to the wip?

I am curious about the practicality of the wip. The original owner swore by it, it was part of the dual MTUs and SWR meters on the original radio setup. But it was looking pretty ragged by the time we bought the boat, I think it had been sandwiched between a few jetty pylons and dock lines over the years.

More reading and learning to do, and I am currently chasing Foundation HAM certification, another thing to learn.

[carstenb]

Originally Posted by GILow

I'm sending you my therapist's bill.

So you're cured?

No more anxieties about cruising?

No more fear of mast coming down r anchors dragging or getting caught on a lee shore in a gale?

WOW! Must be some therapist

[Wotname]

Whips work...

[El Pinguino]

Originally Posted by GILow

I'm sending you my therapist's bill.

Good luck with that

I've also lost a couple of whips..... Moonrakers out of Hobart

Well...one Moonraker really...

My one is in two halves.... one morning some years ago it was observed that the top half had gone walkabout... the AT-130 was still quite happy tuning the stump ... maybe 3 metres long... for sailmail traffic.

Replaced the top half...

5 or so years ago it failed ( fatigue) at the taffrail level.... so its now 18 inches shorter than what it was before...

Squid poles make good emergency whips - or even budget whips - but in a blow they bend quite a bit and can get shredded by the fan on your wind gen........

[GILow]

Originally Posted by carstenb

So you're cured?

No, I decided to double all the dock lines and leave the boat in the pen.

This has the double advantage of being much safer AND making me just like 95% of the boats around me.

[GILow]

Originally Posted by Wotname

Whips work...

Good to know.

[GILow]

Originally Posted by El Pinguino

Good luck with that

I've also lost a couple of whips..... Moonrakers out of Hobart

Well...one Moonraker really...

My one is in two halves.... one morning some years ago it was observed that the top half had gone walkabout... the AT-130 was still quite happy tuning the stump ... maybe 3 metres long... for sailmail traffic.

Replaced the top half...

5 or so years ago it failed ( fatigue) at the taffrail level.... so its now 18 inches shorter than what it was before...

Squid poles make good emergency whips - or even budget whips - but in a blow they bend quite a bit and can get shredded by the fan on your wind gen........

Well, a couple of points of interest here. Moonraker is one of the brands I am considering, not for any particularly scientific reason, they just appear to be readily available and I am a bit parochial. Sounds like a robust enough bit of kit anyway.

Second, the AT-130 clearly works well.

Third, I must check the distance from the original mounting point to the wind gen, looking at some handy boat photos it seems adequate... but better safe than sorry. And some of the damage I was putting down to jetty pylons might have actually been the wind generator.

[GILow]

P.S. Sorry about the repeated misspelling of Whip, spend too much time around accountants where wip is a common term.

[El Pinguino]

Yes , whips work.... when I had to trim my $$$$$$ Moonraker I found that it was essentially just an alloy stick under a 'rubber' skin... nothing fancy there. Make your own... an alloy pole that just needs insulated 'stand offs' to keep it from the taffrail and a hose clamp to secure the feed to it.... nada mas.

[GILow]

Originally Posted by El Pinguino

Yes , whips work.... when I had to trim my $$$$$$ Moonraker I found that it was essentially just an alloy stick under a 'rubber' skin... nothing fancy there. Make your own... an alloy pole that just needs insulated 'stand offs' to keep it from the taffrail and a hose clamp to secure the feed to it.... nada mas.

That's interesting... I assumed there would be some pretty sophisticated windings of copper wire or something underneath the coating?

[Wotname]

Moonraker knows just exactly how much Al tube to use

Seriously Moonraker make good stuff but it isn't rocket science, just good and consistent manufacturing.

And some of the whip is merely supportive, not actively radiating.

[GILow]

I guess it would be hard sourcing good quality Aluminium with the right temper and flexibility, then getting the right amount of it to be tuned to the frequency range required.


They are a bit pricey, but I will trust them to do the homework.


Never resented paying for someone's good ideas and hard work.

[Snowpetrel]

I got a very nice telescoping aluminium HF whip from an old handcrank lifeboat radio. Ping, you'll remember the type I'm sure. Never had to use it!

But I like the idea of something stashed below, if things go real pear shaped, that fancy whip on your stern is probably gone as well. But then that's the appeal of a satphone in a drybag...

It's so easy to get paranoid, my first proper offshore trip (nz to Tonga) all we had was an old 121 epirb, and a VHF. This was before the cospas sarsat system was around. If we got into trouble, the chances of an aircraft picking up our epirb before it went flat was remote. And one in a million chance of getting any medical aid in time to make a real difference to the outcome. Didn't seem to bother me back then.

How times have changed. Now the thought of not having any coms seems terrifying!

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