Hi, I'd try without the external
antenna first. You can add that later. Maybe someone else can comment more specific on that.
If you go to the thread Seamanship/ OpenCPN/Weatherfax and post a specific question I'm pretty sure you get an answer.
In post #1263 of that thread I describe which works best for me as procedure.
The Tecsun PL-880 is my pick, it works well with the procedure described.
The advantage of SSB is that apart from the initial moderate
equipment cost the
service is free any you can receive in general even if there is no cell coverage.
Surely out on the open ocean, but it helps also if you are anchored in a cove without cell or
vhf reception. Sometimes high cliffs on shore can prevent this.
The only maybe by some perceived "disadvantage" is you need to be able to understand the weatherchart.
Gribs are maybe more convenient because one can "step" through them, but one is reliant on someone else's interpretation of the data then.
Still gribs require a working data connection to receive them. Which, for some of us is to costly.