Shortwave

[Hankthelank]

Hi folks,

I'm interested in putting shortwave radio on my boat and is weighing out the pros and cons. Anybody out there have any experience or suggestions that they would like to share?

Cheers,

Hank

[btrayfors]

Hank,

There's TONS of info on this on this Board and others.

Tell us a little more so we can help you:

- your boat
- your plans
- what you intend to do with the "shortwave radio"
- your limitations, if any (budget, location, other)

We'll try to help.

Bill

[Vasco]

If you want just to receive I can recommend the Sony ICF SW7600GR. An excellent little receiver that's also got SSB. Gets you all the cruisers' nets and weather plus whatever SW you want to listen to.

[Hankthelank]

Well...i have an 8.7m columbia. My plan is at some point within the next year to pull anchor and go. Right now I am located in Seabrook, Tx. I would eventually like to make the sail over to Europe, but for now my goal is to sail through the Caribbean for half a year or so. I may end up single handing so it would be nice to be able to communicate with people as well as receive weather reports. Size is the biggest limitation. I don't have a lot of space so I am looking to keep things simple. As far as my budget goes, not a lot of spare change, however if something is worthwhile I wouldn't have a problem putting a few pennies towards it.

[s/v 'Faith']

I have been very hapy with my Kaito 1103. The ham guys comments have been very positive (many favoring it to radios costing more).

I posted more comments and expereince with it here.

You can find them on Ebay, also listed as the Degen 1103. There is also an 1102 model, but I don't think it has the ssb (USB/LSB) decoder.

[btrayfors]

The Kaito is a receiver only! Hank has indicated that he wants to communicate with others...that means a transmitter as well as a receiver, or a modern transceiver.

Hank, there are several ways to go. If you have the inclination, I'd strongly suggest that you obtain a ham license, since it is cheap and relatively easy to get these days (there is no more code requirement....just a written test).

A ham license will allow you to communicate with other hams -- there are over a million of them worldwide -- and with other sailors with ham rigs. There are lots of maritime mobile nets as well, which are run expressly to serve the needs of cruising sailors. These provide weather information, contacts, safety and security info, etc.

There are dozens of ham radios available as well, many of them very compact and very versatile. One of the most popular radios of all time is the Icom 706MKIIG, currently selling for about $700-800 used and in like new condition. There are others which are less expensive which could work for you as well. The Kenwood TS-50 is a tiny rig with big-rig capability, and sells for about $400-500 used. Other small rigs include the Yaesu FT-100, the FT-857, etc., etc. I have a spreadsheet which lists several of the available ham and marine SSB radios, which I'd be happy to send you if you shoot an email to me: bill at wdsg dot com

If you choose not to go the ham license route, you could still install a marine SSB. Some of the smaller ones include the wonderful little Yaesu System 600 and the Kenwood TKM-707. These are rare, but occasionally show up on the used market...eBay and others.

You might also want to check out my post on inexpensive ham radio setups which is on the SSCA Board: SSCA Discussion Board :: View topic - SERIOUS HAM SSB SETUP ON THE CHEAP

Hope this helps a bit.

Bill