SSB and Weatherfax Issues

[elhix]

I am a child of the internet, I get my weather from the www. Outside of VHF the world of radio is a mystery. But, in the interests of redundancy and curiosity I've picked up a Degen 1103 and downloaded SeaTTY onto my nav-netbook with a view to getting weatherfax, navtex etc whilst offshore. So far, from the comfort of home, I've picked up one noisy and barely legible pressure chart on 2616khz. I just got a good signal on what sounded like a fax tone (at 5020khz) but it didn't appear to make sense as either an image or rtty.

I've been looking around for some info on the dark arts of radio and have come up with nothing to fill the gap between the very basics and arcane, blood of a racoon smeared on your antenna during a new moon kind of level. Can anyone point me in the direction of a 'weatherfax for halfwits' webpage?

One thing I'm particularly curious about is the button marked SSB on my de1103. When I press it most of the static disappears and around what I assume are transmitting stations a constant tone is received which I can vary the pitch of with the fine tuning knob... What's goingon there?

[scook1]

I have never heard of this racoon blood lore! Is that legal? Best of luck,
Spencer

[GordMay]

Your thread's title isn't likely to garner much interest from the SSB/weatherfax crowd.

[senormechanico]

It sounds to me like that control turns on the internal oscillator which causes the radio to enter the SSB receive mode.

When receiving a ssb transmission, you tune the fine tuning knob to make the voice intelligble. Too high or low, and you will hear people sounding like Donald Duck.

[richardhula]

BFO (beat frequency oscillator) comes to mind.

[LakeSuperior]

Get a sat-phone and you will be right at home. You will be able to get your weather from www and will find that it is much more reliable than SSB with 1/100 the learning curve. It is more expensive than a SSB however.

[smurphny]

Weatherfax depends on getting a clear signal, uncluttered by external RF interference. The interface program you're running on your computer should show the signal quality.

[Wotname]

Originally Posted by elhix

......
One thing I'm particularly curious about is the button marked SSB on my de1103. When I press it most of the static disappears and around what I assume are transmitting stations a constant tone is received which I can vary the pitch of with the fine tuning knob... What's goingon there?

Just a guess (somewhat educated one I hope): I would be thinking this switch takes your receiver from AM mode to SSB mode (probably USB) and the fine tuning knob is then acting as the clarifier.

If you are unaware of the technical aspects of the above terms, then we (CF) may be able to help but you could be on a steep learning curve! Of course no offense intended if you do know the technical aspects .

Here is a link for some basic information on your unit, I am sure google has many others.

http://www.scanningtasmania.org/degen.html

[kaimusailing]

On my 1102 the SSB is only active on one "page". If you hold it down it will be active on other pages. I loaded the weather fax frequencies in memory page 1, but those memorized freqs cannot have SSB turned on. I have to reload them on memory page 9. When on page 9 press enter then the freq numbers then enter again. You can activate the SSB button. Use the longwave antenna out of doors and you will probably hear the station. Tune 1.9 kHz below the listed frequency.