Market for ICOM 802 Radios

[Palarran]

Originally Posted by funjohnson

I'll beat the shipping to Ohio offer and submit an offer to have someone pick it up in Michigan

Matt

Ok. You at least have a boat large enough to install it in and are located where you may actually go outside cell phone range. But please don't just take the stuff and re-sell it.

I'm off I-94 in Kalamazoo. Give me a days warning when your coming. Do you want a sextant also, because I feel the exact same way about that worthless piece of crap.

[GordMay]

Originally Posted by APKetcher

Okay! ... Why is it that I only get a a posting to a thread after there have been numerous replies. Is there is a group that gets first dibs on replies ...

Yes.
The original message was posted on 07-09-2015, @ 13:18.
You didn’t reply until 31 hours later (08-09-2015 @ 22:40).

[ka4wja]

holtjp,
Well, as you've read there are plenty of folks that will buy your radio...as well as plenty of reasons to keep it!!
But, hopefully I can add a few important facts to the equation to help you out, while you're mulling things over...

First off, please understand that the Icom M-802 is not just an "HF radio", as other radios before it have been....
It is a full MF/HF-DSC-SSB Radiotelephone...
(which incorporates a full MF/HF-DSC modem/controller, and 6-channel DSC scanning receiver...to allow you to make use of the GMDSS...)
Which allows easy, seamless contact with > 450 MF Coast Stations and > 80 HF Coast Stations worldwide 24/7, as well as the 1000's of merchant vessels plying the hi-seas everyday..
(Remember that the GMDSS was put into service in 1992, and no IMO / SOLAS ship, nor IMO / SOLAS signatory nation has been required to maintain any MF/HF SSB Voice radio watch since Jan 1999!!! And, except for the USCG, NZ Taupo Radio, and Aus AMSA, nobody does!!)


This maritime DSC system is similar to the HF -ALE systems (Automatic Link Establishment), used my the military....and a far cry from what used to be thought of as just "marine SSB"....see below for details...



And, as for some more specific...have a look below..

Originally Posted by holtjp

I purchased a sailboat that came with an ICOM 802 SSB system installed. This includes the AT-140 tuner as well. I have not used the system, but a marine electronics shop did a benchtop checkout of the system and all the components checked out fine. I am not sure I would ever use the SSB capabilities for my kind of coastal cruising. Is there much of a market if I wanted to sell the system?

Originally Posted by holtjp

All the components, minus the cabling and antenna, were accessible and easy to remove. I have them well packed and stowed while trying to decide what course to take.

Originally Posted by holtjp

Wow, never thought the post would generate this much useful discussion. I appreciate all the advice. I would probably sell tomorrow if I didn't have visions of sailing to Nova Scotia next summer. I have read many of the arguments of why SSB still trumps satellite-based systems. There are also numerous arguments for making the leap to the newer systems. Looks like I have a lot to mull over.

1) It's to bad that you didn't ask this question before you removed the radio and took to a marine electronics shop.....'cause we'd been able to not only tell you how to test the radio yourself, but also if you still desired to take it into the shop, to have them verify that the M-802's internal DSP-based "Speech Compressor" was turned On (and/or have the shop turn it On, with their software)....

Please note that any shop that didn't test this, and at least offer to turn it On for you (without you specifically asking them about this up front), is a seriously suspect shop in regards to HF-DSC-SSB radios (unfortunately, as are most marine electronics shops.)
And, also its doubtful that they tested everything on the bench....MUCH easier to test everything on-the-boat, especially the DSC system!!

For details, please have a look here:
Re: IC-M802 Compression



2) And, also to bad that you've got it all packed away, as I wanted you to verify your M-802's serial number....
As knowing the S/N will tell you (and everyone) whether it might need the factory "clipping mod" done (for FREE), o not...
S/N's above 0108261, have had this modification done at the factory, s/n's below that should have this mod done by the Icom Service Center (for FREE)...

For more details about this, have a look here:
Icom M-802 "Clipping Issue" - Revisited....

Please note here that many marine electronics shops are totally unaware of this "clipping issue", and few (none ?) are capable of doing the factory mod!


3) For a great reference / source of references, for all things "marine communications" related, especially HF radio, please have a look here:

http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...tc-133496.html

And, for some videos explaining things, especially the misunderstood HF-DSC system, have a look here:

"HF-DSC Communications"
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...ga2zYuPozhUXZX


"Icom M-802 Instruction Videos"
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...rC-8QKVyMb4tVr


"Offshore Weather"
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...zdjTJjHlChruyY


"Maritime HF Communications ("HF-SSB")"
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...ZDo_Jk3NB_Bt1y



And, for some info explaining the misunderstood HF-DSC system, have a look here:
http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...os-141406.html



I hope the above is helpful...
Fair winds...

John




"Offshore Sailing"
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLnN6ygtZ3h2nbwAGh5DKgTCj15iyl6qoY

[ka4wja]

AP,
I understand you're frustration....
But, just for clarification, I'm not one that sits in front of my computer all day, every day, with Cruiser's Forum in the browser, waiting to ponce on the next post!!!
So, I cannot tell you why others are seemingly able to always be the first to answer...
BUT...

Originally Posted by APKetcher

Okay! Time to ask the question. Am I a second class citizen on this forum? Why is it that I only get a a posting to a thread after there have been numerous replies. Is there is a group that gets first dibs on replies, particularly offers for equipment, or is this truly an open forum? I think not ! So who are the, "Good Old Boys", and how did you join the club? It seems the majority of replies come from the same closed group. Now I really wonder if this post will even make it to the forum.

But, I can tell you that when I see a post that I can answer clearly, or one that might require clarification, then I take the time to do so...

In this case, I just saw this thread.....about 49 hours after it was posted....'cause as I wrote above, I'm not sitting here waiting for the next Cruiser's Forum posting...

Others have answered the original question fairly well, but left out some pertinent information that I thought holtjp might need / want-to know....so, I replied....
(and even then, I'm not sure I should have....as he might already know all of this, and just didn't say so.....so, I come off looking like I'm "preaching", or worse like some know-it-all jerk....neither of which is true!)


So, that's what I do...
I cannot speak for others....I simply try to lead by example...
AP, I do hope this helps you out some...


Fair winds..

John

[hellosailor]

"Or, you can sell that 1970's technology and buy an Iridium sat phone "
Hmmm....The 802 is more like the same vintage two-thousand-ish technology as the satphone, actually. And a 1960's marine SSB radio will still work perfectly well for many things today, so let's consider an SSB with a fifty year working life, versus a satphone.
Oh, wait, Can you keep that satphone active for $200/year? times fifty years...Without having a provider close or turn off your service unbeknownst to you, similar to what went on with Rebel Heart's satphone being turned off very inconveniently?
HF SSB radio, whether it is ham or marine (and the 802 is one of the few radios certified as legal for both services) has some pros and cons. No real support infrastructure, no standard support, no global whatever. Which also means that when a satellite goes down, or someone takes an earth station offline, or someone severs an internet connection (and oh boy, the FBI is getting PO'd about how often that's been happening in the Pacific NW last year)...the radios still work just the same as ever.
Or ask the USAF how they feel about the three thousand fragments from one Chinese satellite killer test, that they're tracking now. And what one fragment could do to your satphone service.
My cell phone is a miracle, until Google Maps tells me "Continue south for six hundred feet, then make a U-turn" except, I'm already going north, steadily. Hmmm.


Like an obsolete hundred year old landline telephone, no one ever has to say "Can you hear me now?!" because the newfangled technology doesn't have the robustness that the old one had. No, you can't just "call" your friend and expect them to pick up their radio. Unless you've both got DSC and are using it.
But sometimes, hundred year old technology simply has had an extra hundred years to get past some of the problems.


Hey, weren't steam engines supposed to make sailing obsolete?!