HF SSB your thoughts please.

[MYTraveler]

Sorry if this has been pointed out, but you can receive weather faxes without transmitting, and that makes the installation less complicated and less expensive. The easiest may be to add a peripheral device to your electronics package. If you have furuno NavNet, you can add their weather fax for something like $500 -- it will automatically receive whatever faxes you like.

That said, an 802 with a Pactor modem adds lots of capability.

[ErikFinn]

Originally Posted by El Pinguino

Just deal with these people then.... new 718 .. $599
Icom IC-718, Icom 718 Amateur Transceiver

Is the Icom IC-718 a ham radio or a "proper" marine-frequency one?
600 bucks sounds so cheap.. What's the catch? (Sorry I'm a noob with SSBs.. )

[El Pinguino]

Originally Posted by ErikFinn

Is the Icom IC-718 a ham radio or a "proper" marine-frequency one?
600 bucks sounds so cheap.. What's the catch? (Sorry I'm a noob with SSBs.. )

Ham radio.... Marine SSB are dearer..... Buy Furuno FS-1575 Marine SSB Radiotelephone with DSC 150w 24VDC online at Marine-Deals.co.nz

[ErikFinn]

Originally Posted by El Pinguino

Ham radio.... Marine SSB are dearer..... Buy Furuno FS-1575 Marine SSB Radiotelephone with DSC 150w 24VDC online at Marine-Deals.co.nz

Hahaha.. Although that price is in Kiwi dollars only I think I'll skip this time.. But thanks for your reply Pinguino..

[GILow]

Regarding the OP's original question, whichever HF radio you choose be aware that there are free or very cheap apps for smartphones that will decipher the weather fax transmissions. I use HF Fax by Black Cat Systems and get very good fax reproductions. Of course I am still learning to read the faxed charts but that's a separate issue.


Sent from my iPhone using Cruisers Sailing Forum

[skipmac]

Originally Posted by El Pinguino

Back to the OP... cheapest way to just get wx is a Tecsun 880 or similar.

I have a Tecsun (don't recall which model) set up next to my ICOM M700P and it compares pretty well in pulling in HF stations. Not quite as sensitive and audio quality not quite as good but pretty darn close and I think good enough even to receive weatherfax transmissions.

[skipmac]

One very big consideration with installing a HF radio (Ham or marine SSB) is DSC. The world is moving more and more to DSC on all radio communications, VHF and HF bands. For routine communications like participating in cruiser nets, calling friends on other boats with HF this may not be an issue but if the stuff ever hits the fan and you need to send out a mayday the DSC feature will get you immediate attention from any ship within range.

Without DSC your options are much more limited. 2182 is no longer routinely monitored around the world for emergency communications so you have to send mayday on one of the ham bands or one of the channels monitored by the USCG if you are in range or figure out what the nearest country will be monitoring. All of these may be workable but if I was on a boat sinking in the middle of the ocean I know which option I would prefer.

[Rick Nordby]

I would add to all this that the KISS ground plane is much easier to install than the traditional copper and worked very well for me. I had stations asking if I had a steel boat (it's fiberglass) since my signal was so strong.

[trifan]

Originally Posted by mario f

Greetings to all,
Thinking of installing a radio to get weather reports thru the west carib.
Looking at the Xiegu X108 Transceiver. My interest is mainly to receive but nice to transmit in emergency.
Not interested in mega bucks installation of mega hf system.
Just looking for economical reliable way to receive weather info.

HF on the cheap?
Your thoughts and opinions please.

tkiethlu's offer of an opened Icom for $300 is your best deal. Get that and an antenna tuner (~$100 or so) and you are good to go. I have run my HF rig on boat battery (read that as deep cycle battery for little fishing boat) and solar panel and it always worked well for me. No loss of power, etc. Worked worldwide, local, whatever with 100 watts. OK, you want the deal about running an "opened" amateur radio on marine freqs. Well, the theory gets a bit complicated so suffice it to say that you may not get full power out on marine freqs, the radio is not "type accepted" and isn't legal inside national boundaries and hams won't talk to you if you don't use an amateur call (license). In an emergency, it is a wonderful choice. For receive, it is a wonderful choice. For $300, it is a wonderful choice. IMHO, of course.

[mario f]

Thank you for all your input....

Seems most practical would be the Tecsun pl880 - quick, cheap, and dirty

tkiethlu's offer also sounds interesting. Wish this was plug and play.

Again thank you all for the good information.

Mario

[roland stockham]

$1000+ for a transmitter, Under $200 for receive only. There are lots of options for Shortwave radio receivers either built in or portable. Look up the coast guard site for transmission frequencies for your area and just make sure the set your looking at covers it. Any long wire is fine for reception, I find hooking up to the guard wires works well. Hook the earth to a metal underwater fitting NOT connected to the engine and you should get at least trans-Atlantic reception from a decent set. If you want to use W/Fax make sure the set has a line out socket to plug into your sound card. This gets you proper certified forecasts intended for the US navy, way better than grib files. On a tight budget I would probably go for Spot or similar for satellite based text messaging (one up from an EPIRB as you can let people know what the problem is) rather than either SSB or sat phone. I will still rely on the EPIRB as the main distress alert as it transmits a much higher power signal making it almost guaranteed to get through whatever the atmospherics.

[DMCantor]

We love our Icom-802 HF, and are glad we have it on board. That said, it was pricey to install and is a bit finicky to use. If your main concern is downloading weather forecasts, I think you'd be far happier with an Iridium phone. These can be had used at a reasonable price, and the data plans aren't too bad if all you need is a weather report every couple of days. Plus, in an emergency, you have a voice connection available.

[Celestialsailor]

I am a ham and have a Yaesu FT-840 which I like very much. I am currently looking at a used FT-890 with built in antenna tuner for a home base that my wife can use to listen to the nets and have a QSO with me occasionally. Used rigs are $330-$400. Used external antenna tuners for a boat are $100-$250. I have a KISS ground plane which is $150, new. So the used rig will be $580-$800. I never have ham radios with a lot of bells and whistles. I would stay away from any Chinese product on a boat...but that's just me.
P.S. the website, QTH is an excellent place to find rigs that are reasonably cheap.

[Celestialsailor]

Originally Posted by CarstenWL

Sorry - this is total bs ....

Carsten

Agreed...Most radios have split freq. capabilities. If a SSBer noticed a difference, it would be that the general coverage radio (ham), had a better sound due to all the filter options they have.

[S/V Illusion]

Originally Posted by Celestialsailor

Agreed...Most radios have split freq. capabilities. If a SSBer noticed a difference, it would be that the general coverage radio (ham), had a better sound due to all the filter options they have.

While the myth persists about ham transceivers being not as good, the reality of contemporary ham rigs is quite different. Many show purity of emissions far superior to any of the marine radios on the market. Even operated outside the ham bands, marine frequencies are close enough to not degrade emission performance.
It is really a moot point as the marine frequencies are far enough apart as to make any criticism about interference absurd.

We have both aboard, one a relic IC 735 and an Icom 802 as a backup and the older technology ham IC 735 has superior noise reduction and sensitivity. And it's current market value is probably an order of magnitude cheaper.