SSB radios

[larry mace]

I am adding a SSB radio to the boat and need some advise as to what license is necessary. From what I understand for SSB frequencies you only need a standard VHF ship license and to use the Ham frequencies you need a Ham license. Is this correct? Are the SSB frequencies adequate for coastal crusing?
thanks,
Larry
cd33 dolce



lmace@gt.com

[Tom]

I am adding a SSB radio to the boat and need some advise as to what license is necessary. From what I understand for SSB frequencies you only need a standard VHF ship license and to use the Ham frequencies you need a Ham license. Is this correct? Are the SSB frequencies adequate for coastal crusing?
thanks,
Larry
cd33 dolce

The laws have just changed on this so I'll let someone who is ip on the latest provide that. From a user's standpoint the advantage of the ham frequencies is that we hams have established "nets" where we meet to talk. Here on the West Coast the Baja Net comes on every day at 8 AM. Boaters give the weather report that very minute up and down the coast. Therefore you can find out exactly what you are sailing into the next day, and what weather is approaching you. You can also get any emergency information. Since everybody is listening you can also reach friends that you don't have a schedule with just by putting their call sign out over the frequency. Once you have reached them you both change to another frequency to talk sort of like Ch 16. The ham frequencies are the hailing channels so to speak. If you get in an emergency situation everyone goes off frequency so you can get help and there are thousands of boaters standing by and listening to your problem and can almost always help you since boaters are scattered everywhere people sail.

On single sideband you have to have had a prearranged time and frequency set up with the person you want to talk with. You'll only be talking with that one person if the radio conditons permit. He can only give you a weather report where he is. Sunspots and other phenomena affect radio transmission so you can't always be heard. Hams who run the ham nets have huge antennas and powerful radios often on high hills so they can often be heard when little SSB radios on boats can't. SSB radios have the same range as ham radios so it isn't a matter of not being able to reach somewhere. If you just want to keep in contact with someone back home while you're away or you want to chat with friends while underway the SSB works fine and you can plug weatherfax into it to get your own weather reports. If you're looking for something that you can just pick up and call home on, cell phones are great and a lot cheaper than a ham or SSB rig. I read somewhere recently that even the Coast Guard is thinking of doing away with their emergency channels and going to cell phones. To speak on ham frequencies you do need a ham license and the "no code" frequencies are onces that have no range and thus are about as useful as VHF. If you're going the ham route you want to pass the code test so you can use the frequencies that have range. Hope this helps.

Tom
KC6PPG



TomCambria@mindspring.com

[D. Stump, Hanalei]

Larry,
Check the US Coast Guard web site at www.uscg.mil and look at "Services we provide". You will find a section on FCC radio licenses. One part "Radio License for Boaters" states "The telecommunications Act of 1996 permits recreational boaters to have and use a VHF marine radio, EPIRB, and marine radar without having an FCC ship station license. Boaters traveling on international voyages, having an HF single sideband radiotelephone must still carry an FCC ship station license". See the FCC Ship Radio Stations Fact Sheet for more. Hope this helps....

Dave Stump
Captain Commanding
s/v Hanalei CD-30

[Ken Coit]

Larry,

You might also want to look at some info on SSB installations. Here is a start:

http://www.hfradio.com/

Let us know how it works out.

Ken Coit
S/V Parfait
Raleigh, NC
ND7N



ken-shelley.coit@worldnet.att.net