SSB Radios


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Stephen Foot
Stephen Foot
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We are in the early stages of planning a trip across the Pacific in 2019 and I think I ought to install an SSB radio in addition to the satellite phone we currently have on board. Our sailing tends to be very unsophisticated in terms of electronics: in many ways I would almost rather turn the whole lot off and get on with the real task in hand…

The boat is currently in Croatia and we are planning to winter this year in Sicily and I was going to get the yard to install it. If at all possible, I want to avoid putting any more holes in the hull. We currently have rod rigging (which is quite old) and a split backstay, but shows no sign of wear and so I am reluctant to replace it. We are just replacing the batteries on board and that will give us something like 500Ah and an alternator that throws out 130A – so that ought to be plenty of power.

I have heard all sorts of stories about what radio to buy (Is it true that ones bought in US have more channels?) and how to install. I wondered if someone might might be able to point me in the right direction – may be just about the ups and downs of SSB. and what I should and should not do!

I hope that there are members of the club who can help a raw novice in this field. many thanks

Stephen Foot
Water Music
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Bill Balme
Bill Balme
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Hi Stephen,

Installing an SSB isn 't difficult, but getting it to work well can be downright impossible at times! The installation itself is relatively straightforward - but you 'll need an antenna solution and a ground plane solution...
The most common antenna solution would be your backstay - so if you don 't have isolators at top and bottom of the backstay, you 'd need to have them installed. I 'm guessing this could be expensive and something that should be done by a rigging expert. An alternative would be a long whip antenna, but I 'm not sure how well these work for SSB...
Everything else is in my opinion best done by yourself - because it 's YOU that 's going to have to fine tune the details in order to get best reception and transmission. The good news is that it 's relatively simple - but best to follow the instructions!
The Ground plane (counterpoise) solution used to require a load of copper foil and copper mesh all over the boat - not easy - but these days there 's a good (not perfect) solution - a KISS counterpoise which is extremely easy to install.
Most new SSB 's are Icom 801/802 - as far as I know they are the same - but I guess it 's possible that the UK version may come with fewer pre-programmed stations - but you should be able to program them all...
Once installed, the difficulties start - trying to improve upon the reception. You need to identify and isolate all the electrical noise generators in the boat... this can take time and patience!
Good luck with the installation!
Bill

Bill Balme
s/v Toodle-oo!

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