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

I was introduced to a useful facility yesterday by Bob Smith of YachtCom for testing SSB sets. You need to have a Windows computer connected to the internet. It involves the use of SDR (software determined radio). There are dozens of SDR "listening" stations around the world which a user can tune to a particular frequency and mode from a laptop. You can select a station location, tune it to a suitable frequency, then tune your SSB to the same frequency and transmit a test message whilst at the same time listening to your transmission being received by the remote station on your laptop.

Procedure:
1. select www.sdr.hu and review the stations available. Each one will show the number of users allowed (usually 3 or 4) and the number currently using the station
2. select a station within the distance you expect to be able to transmit
3. in the panel on the right side of the screen, enter the frequency on which you want to transmit (example 6227.0 kHz) and select the mode (example USB)
4. Tune you SSB to the same transmit frequency and mode (example 6227.0, USB)
5. Transmit a test message on your SSB and listen for the message being received via the SDR station on your laptop.

Yesterday we tested Al Shaheen's SSB very successfully on 6 and 8 Mhz bands talking to SDR stations in Switzerland, Holland and Sweden and hearing good reception on the laptop.