HF SSB - Ocean Navigator

11 Jul

SSB whip antennas

Bill MorrisMarine Electronics Newslettercommunications, HF antenna, HF SSB, HF whip antennas, marine ba, radio communications, SSB, Whip antennas

by Bill Morris If you have chosen to install a single-sideband (SSB) transceiver with an automatic tuner on your vessel, you will also need to install an antenna system capable of transmitting and receiving from 0.5 to 30 MHz, come rain or shine anywhere on the world’s oceans. On sailing vessels less than roughly 50 feet LOA, the common practice is to install a backstay antenna. This requires removing the backstay, cutting out a long piece of the wire and reinstalling it with insulators to ensure transmitted power is kept safely above the heads and hands of crew. Another approach…

Marine multi-band Ham radios

Bill MorrisMarine Electronics NewsletterHam radio, HF SSB, radio communications

by Bill Morris With the growing array of communication options for offshore sailors, it is easy to be dazzled by the growing availability of satellite phones and even digital television. In reality, though, hardcore voyaging sailors by and large depend on the flexibility and independence afforded by amateur, or “ham,” radio, which allows you to speak with other radio operators on both land and sea anywhere in the world with no monthly or per-minute charge to worry about. As long as you have the requisite FCC license, at least General Class, you can rag-chew to your heart’s content from any…

High frequency marine SSB radio propagation

Ocean NavigatorVoyaging TipsHF SSB, radio communications

Even though satellite communications is taking an ever bigger slice of the voyaging communications pie, high frequency (HF) marine SSB is still used by voyagers. Here is a rundown of the basics of HF radio signal propagation to aid in using it effectively. HF radio energy traveling through the atmosphere or through space is subject to very little attenuation and the energy would arrive at the receiver as strong as it was radiated. Not all radio frequencies behave in the same way, however. Extremely high frequencies, higher than 10,000 MHz, can be attenuated by moisture and dust particles in the…