SSB receivers

[john churchill]

does anyone know much about ssb receivers and their installation? i understand that a transmitter is a big pain to install, with fancy grounds, antennae and such. west marine sells a receiver that does not transmit, is only $300 and is fairly small and not a power hog. the salesman couldn't tell me anything about the installation and they did not have one in stock for me to raid the instruction manual.

[Roald Horton]

does anyone know much about ssb receivers and their installation? i understand that a transmitter is a big pain to install, with fancy grounds, antennae and such. west marine sells a receiver that does not transmit, is only $300 and is fairly small and not a power hog. the salesman couldn't tell me anything about the installation and they did not have one in stock for me to raid the instruction manual.

John,
I use a Grundig Satellite 700 aboard SeaScape for weather, weatherfax, and general information ("copying the mail"). I highly recommend this radio over the Yacht Boy. It has an excellent front end on it. It is also available through West for about $500. I would order one from them and see what you think after you see and listen to it. It's always returnable.

There is no installation required for a receiver although you might want to rig a "long wire" antenna which can be mounted permanently or hoisted in the rigging as required. Even the grounding requirements of a recvr/xmtr are not that difficult. The only shielding needed is around all six sides of the antenna coupler (probably in your lazarette). You also have to establish a ground plane below the antenna (and coupler). This can be accomplished by running a piece of coax around the periphery (gunwhale) and tying its ground shield to the coupler ground. Not a big deal. In the CD36 this can be done by putting the coax inside the wiring raceways. You also need an insulated back stay. Be aware that the lead-in wire from the coupler is part of the antenna. It and the antenna part of the back stay are "hot" RF wise when transmitting. 150 watts of RF energy can deliver a pretty good jolt. You also need to take care that you have no parallel conductive wires (such as a topping lift) near the antenna. This includes the lead-in wire and any other wires.



roald@toad.net

[Newton Page]

Back stay antenna work well when properly installed. However, it
is possible to get good results from other types of antenna with much less effort. I have used the "Outbacker" marine antenna attached to the stern rail of my CD27 will excellent results. A good ground plane is required unfortunatly, for any HF transmitter to work.

Good luck.

does anyone know much about ssb receivers and their installation? i understand that a transmitter is a big pain to install, with fancy grounds, antennae and such. west marine sells a receiver that does not transmit, is only $300 and is fairly small and not a power hog. the salesman couldn't tell me anything about the installation and they did not have one in stock for me to raid the instruction manual.

[Bill]

A friend of mine had a Radio Shack DX 394 (maybe a 392) installed in his tri-hull> I really liked the size and simplicity of the unit. The review in Radio Netherlands (http://www.rnw.nl/realradio/rx_index.html) gave the unit a 4 star I believe? The also rate a number of other models, but they are receiver only models. The 394 also had the ability to receive wefax. It was a neat little radio. The bad news is that Radio Shack discontinued the model, and I have looked hi/lo for one including the only radio shack outlet store in the country (that I know of). Anyway, my 2 cents worht.

Happy Holidays

Bill

does anyone know much about ssb receivers and their installation? i understand that a transmitter is a big pain to install, with fancy grounds, antennae and such. west marine sells a receiver that does not transmit, is only $300 and is fairly small and not a power hog. the salesman couldn't tell me anything about the installation and they did not have one in stock for me to raid the instruction manual.

cd25d@clnk.com

[Bob Luby]

Look at the 1999 Passport to World Band Radio in your local bookstore.
In the front are reviews of most receivers on the market.

For simplicity and compactness along with synchronous detection, which improves reception noticeably, look at the Lowe HF-150. One of
the nice features of the Lowe is that it's about the size of a VHF.
It doesn't have FM. but you can get an AM-Fm radio for $25.00


Look at the Passport for more information.



Rluby@aol.com

[Marv Birdt]

I have a ham rig installed on my CD30B CRYSTAL Hull # 358. I use an SGC tuner and for a ground plane four standard quarter inch copper tubings bound together with one end attached to the ground of the tuner and the other end tied to the dynaplate. That gives me a lot of area and volume of copper and will not corrode as the thin copper strips have a tendency to evaporate. You need the tuner to transmit or a long wire simply to receive. But if you have a ssb for transmission you should have a lashup similar to mine. Buena suerte ....Marv

does anyone know much about ssb receivers and their installation? i understand that a transmitter is a big pain to install, with fancy grounds, antennae and such. west marine sells a receiver that does not transmit, is only $300 and is fairly small and not a power hog. the salesman couldn't tell me anything about the installation and they did not have one in stock for me to raid the instruction manual.

John,
I use a Grundig Satellite 700 aboard SeaScape for weather, weatherfax, and general information ("copying the mail"). I highly recommend this radio over the Yacht Boy. It has an excellent front end on it. It is also available through West for about $500. I would order one from them and see what you think after you see and listen to it. It's always returnable.

There is no installation required for a receiver although you might want to rig a "long wire" antenna which can be mounted permanently or hoisted in the rigging as required. Even the grounding requirements of a recvr/xmtr are not that difficult. The only shielding needed is around all six sides of the antenna coupler (probably in your lazarette). You also have to establish a ground plane below the antenna (and coupler). This can be accomplished by running a piece of coax around the periphery (gunwhale) and tying its ground shield to the coupler ground. Not a big deal. In the CD36 this can be done by putting the coax inside the wiring raceways. You also need an insulated back stay. Be aware that the lead-in wire from the coupler is part of the antenna. It and the antenna part of the back stay are "hot" RF wise when transmitting. 150 watts of RF energy can deliver a pretty good jolt. You also need to take care that you have no parallel conductive wires (such as a topping lift) near the antenna. This includes the lead-in wire and any other wires.

mbirdt@peganet.com