Portable SSB receiver

[Steve Laume]

Does anyone have any knowledge of portable SSB receivers?

An installation with transmitting capabilities seems to be beyond my means. I am only interested in being able to receive transmissions. Offshore weather and shipping?

I looked into this a bit a couple of years ago but thought I would put it up here.

Thanks, Steve.

[bottomscraper]

Listed more or less from the most expensive and most capabilites
to the least:


You could buy something like a Yaesu FT-817 (or discontinued
ICOM IC-703) QRP ham radio. It has wide band receive and should
you ever decide to get a your ham ticket it has low power transmit
(on ham bands not marine ssb). It can operate from it's internal
battery or a 12V adapter.

There are hand held wide band receivers with SSB, like the ICOM R20


Portables like:
Grundig Satellit 750
Sangean ATS-909
Grundig G4000 (I believe this replaced the old Yacht Boy)
Grundig G3
Grundig G6

All would benefit from some external antenna, it need not be permanent, just something you haul up with a flag halyard.

[Russell]

I have met many people with the Grundigs who have been very happy with them.

[Klem]

Have you tried looking at ham equipment? There are many different options for receivers that tend to be a bit less pricey than marine specific ones. I have actually never owned a marine SSB, I have always used ones for ham since they will cover the marine bands. It used to be that aesham.com always had good prices if you were looking to buy new but I haven't followed stuff in about 5 years.

[Como No Cruising]

Try Radio Shack. I had one of their all band portables that was the same as the Sangean. It worked fine for SSB and ham receive. Was expensive tho, at about $150.

[Ralph H]

http://www.dxing.com/rx/icfsw760.htm

I have used the Sony model ICF-SW7600GS for a number of years. The link above gives a good description (2nd item). They are only available used now, but I've seen them on Ebay. I have used it for everything from entertainment (AM/FM/SSB) to recording weather charts through laptop.
http://www.dxsoft.com/en/products/seatty/

Great radio if you just need a receiver and don't mind having one that's "out of print".

I also have SSB and as expected, with the backstay antenna it does give better reception and clearer weather chart renderings than the ICF-SW7600GS under the same conditions.

[mike ritenour]

I have had the above radio, onboard for years.

It was a bit pricey, but worth every penny, because once your out of VHF range, in any language, you have nothing without SSB or Satphone.

The High Seas weather forecasts, roll calls, nets all require the ability to monitor SSB Frequencies. This radio does it, with excellent results.

On a voyage to the Bahamas from Lake Ontario the radio was invaluable.

In prep for the voyage, I obtained a reduced sized grid chart of the North Atlantic and Caribbean, covered it with a waterproof plastic laminate.

With a grease pencil in hand, I listened to Southbound Herb every day to get weather and info on nets and roll calls.

I'd plot the info from the folks who were sending and receiving their weather information from Herb over SSB, then plot my position in reference to theirs, balance what weather I had on hand and make my weather decisions.

BTW, Make sure you obtain a radio with an antenna extension. My Sangean ATS-909 came with a 25' roll up antenna which I run up the flag halyard for the best reception.

Since that early Bahamas voyage, I've installed an ICOM-802 SSB onboard, but still carry my Sangean ATS-909, both as a backup and entertainment radio.

Rit

[mike ritenour]

I forgot to mention the handiness of a small handheld digital audio recorder coupled to our radios.

Ours is a little Sony ICD-ST10 and is old compared to today's digital recorders. But still has a USB port for importing the digital sound tracks into a PC.

We've found that recording and analyzing our weather forecasts, roll calls and High seas forecasts much simpler, especially when the boat is pounding to weather and everything is roaring.

We also like the ability to capture some of the broadcasts for our logs.

Rit

[Boyd]

This guy has a lot of good stuff on his site. The article on SSB antenna tricks mentions his experience with portable SSB receivers.

http://www.atomvoyages.com/projects/dipole.htm

Boyd
s/v Tern
CD30 MkII
Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

[Kevin Kaldenbach]

Ok, I am lost here. If I buy a Grundig G3 receiver can I get weather off shore on my lap top? If so would it be a weather map? This high tech stuff baffles me sometimes. How would I hook the radio to my laptop?

[Boyd]

Here is a discussion that outlines the basic system. SSB users have been downloading Weatherfax transmissions for years. The systems have gotten easier.


http://www.sailnet.com/forums/cruising- ... tware.html



Boyd
s/v Tern
CD30 MkII
Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

[Cathy Monaghan]

Not all shortwave radios work in SSB mode, so be careful when selecting a radio by reading the specs.

Marine bands and weather transmissions are usually USB (upper sideband), some ham bands are LSB (lower sideband), and broadcast radio stations are usually AM.

Most marine SSB nets take place on the 40xx and 81xx frequencies which are legal for marine use but shared with other radio services. The legal frequencies are every 3 kHz from 4000 through 4060 (i.e., 4000, 4003, 4006, etc.) and every 3 kHz from 8101 through 8191, all in upper sideband mode (USB).

Here's a link to an online SSB Guide which you may find useful:
http://windom.cybox.com/ssb.html

You may want to add the following receivers to your list of radios to research:

• WiNRADiO WR-G33EM
  
  Icom IC-R75-22
  
  Grundig G4000A
  Grundig Aviator G6
  Grundig Globe Traveller G3
  Grundig Satellit 750
  Grundig G5
  
  Eton E1
  
  Sony FM Stereo World Band Receiver Radio Model ICF-SW7600GR
  
  Kaito KA1103

The following MFJ Enterprises portable SW/SSB transceivers (none will break the bank but they use NiCADs):

• MFJ-9402
  MFJ-9402X
  MFJ-9406X
  MFJ-9410
  MFJ-9410X
  MFJ-9420
  MFJ-9420X
  MFJ-9440
  MFJ-9440X
  MFJ-9475
  MFJ-9475X

These are relatively inexpensive 12V receivers:

• SI-TEX NAVFAX 200 Shortwave / Weather Fax / SSB Receiver
  
  Clipper Target Nav-Fax HF3/W

Hope this helps,
Cathy
CD32 Realization, #3