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

Hi Simon,
The M-710 is a fine SSB, almost bulletproof, but, of course, without the bells and whistles of modern technology, all of which, at my last review, I felt I could do without: hence, I still use my 710.
10 years is a long time, so a few hours spent checking and cleaning every connection and making sure of all continuity and ensuring no shorts will be well worth the effort. It takes very little to interfere with SSB operation.
How do you know you are not TXing? Were you trying it on the hard?
First, chk to see you should see if the 710 is set to TX on high power. If so, you should see a significant voltage drop when the PTT button is depressed on any reasonably sized cruising battery bank.
If not, the mic is likely still good and I would move next to the tuner cable. If you hear a click of the tuner (what tuner do you have) when you change frequencies (say 12 megs to an 8 meg channel) when you depress the PTT button, that is a good sign.
There is a start. I will think on more.
Good luck, Dick Stevenson, s/v Alchemy