SSB Antenna Question

[SoonerSailor]

Unfortunately its pretty hard to troubleshoot your problems remotely. If there is someone there with good radio credentials I would ask them to take a look. If you have no resources like that locally, you might consider shipping it off to Palstar for a checkup. Plenty seem to swear by them if properly aligned and tuned.

Can you take your radio ashore on batteries, away from any electrical devices and infrastructure, throw up a simple longwire antenna, and try to receive your desired scheduled broadcast? Perhaps be in communication via vhf with a boat that seems to have good reception to confirm that they are getting a good signal in case you aren't?

Chip

[Wotname]

Originally Posted by bcripps

...............
I had a quick look at ICOM transceivers and was left wondering where I could find the room to install one. Space is tight and was one of the things that attracted me to the Palstar... it's little. The other radio I looked at was the Drake. I could handle the modular configuration of ICOM's IC-M802 but not the price, what with its accompanying antenna tuner.
........

Originally Posted by bcripps

..............
Bottom line: if I ever get back to the US, I'll be buying an ICOM.
..............

The Icom receiver R2500 has a remote head and will receive more than an Icom transceiver (802 etc) and I expect, the Palstar.

The R20 is a handheld receiver and is therefore small and I think it would cover all the frequencies your Palstar does.

I haven't used either of these radios, just posting to let you know there are small alternatives to an 802 etc.

[bcripps]

Hey Chip...


Everything electronically, especially if it looks like a radio seems to disappear during the Customs Inspection. And if not, they access an inflated value, new or not, and charge import taxes that would equal the cost of a new radio.


I could take the radio ashore but I can't believe with everything shut down in the boat and the radio wired directly to the boat's batteries that there can be any electrical interference. There isn't even a boat anchored close by to blame. And the other boats here are receiving the marine reports with out issue... every morning, it seems. But then, I've tried everything else!!!!


Thanks,
Brayn

[bcripps]

Thanks Wotname...


I'm starting a “hit list” and will be doing some research on a new radio. I appreciate any and all ideas. It's a 34-foot boat and filling up fast!


All best,
Bryan

[Ex-Calif]

Originally Posted by bcripps

Hey Chip...

Everything electronically, especially if it looks like a radio seems to disappear during the Customs Inspection. And if not, they access an inflated value, new or not, and charge import taxes that would equal the cost of a new radio.

I could take the radio ashore but I can't believe with everything shut down in the boat and the radio wired directly to the boat's batteries that there can be any electrical interference. There isn't even a boat anchored close by to blame. And the other boats here are receiving the marine reports with out issue... every morning, it seems. But then, I've tried everything else!!!!

Thanks,
Brayn

Most countires will allow you to "bond" items for re-export. We often bring highly specialized equipment into countries to perform specific jobs. We pay a bond and get the bond back when we re-export the item.

Not agreeing you need to take this radio ashore, I am SSB clueless.

Just a point for all memberrs in case something does need to go ashore for repair or whatever in foreign ports.

[bcripps]

Thanks Excalif... not sure what the rules are here, maybe no one does. I admit that sometimes there is no problem bringing in items, but there have been to many horror stories. And they usually involve radios.

Bryan

[bcripps]

OK DON'T LAUGH...


Someone has suggested that with the steel hull, the stainless steel rigging and the aluminum mast all connected, that perhaps this umbrella over the boat is blanketing the radio signals. My antenna does run up to the masthead under all these rigging wires. I must admit that this had occurred to me years ago but I had dismissed it because folks much smarter than myself didn't put much stock in the idea.


Anyway I have tried everything else so I stood a 4-foot broomstick handle up in my dingy and ran a 33-foot wire from it to my radar arch and attached the end of the wire to my 10:1 un-un balum. Then I let the dingy drift out behind the sailboat. I tried unsuccessfully for NMN's weather broadcast at noon, trying all frequencies. I did get a readable signal on 13089, but it faded out.


The next morning I tried for Chris Parker on 8137 but that was unreadable. So scratch another one!


Bryan

[Sailcraft]

Dear Bryan,
As I am on a different boat every trip, I have devised a way to receive weather scheds and faxes with a Sony ICF SW7600 receiver using only the telescopic antenna on the set. Going back to basics was the secret. If you need or want more info, just ask and I will reply with more detail. That said I have finally found a 100% portable HF/VHF transceiver option with a self tuning antenna. Regards MB

[bill352]

Originally Posted by Sailcraft

Dear Bryan,
As I am on a different boat every trip, I have devised a way to receive weather scheds and faxes with a Sony ICF SW7600 receiver using only the telescopic antenna on the set. Going back to basics was the secret. If you need or want more info, just ask and I will reply with more detail. That said I have finally found a 100% portable HF/VHF transceiver option with a self tuning antenna. Regards MB

I'd like to hear more.

[bcripps]

Yeah, me too!
Bryan

[s/v Jedi]

Y'all should start with switching off the battery bank so that everything is off and then try the receiver using internal batteries. Also, find a boat with a SSB or HAM radio, take your receiver over there and compare with their kit.

Remember that the SSB / HAM will always outperform the receiver for many reasons but the auto-tuner on their antenna is reason #1

ciao!
Nick.

[Sailcraft]

Dear Bill and Bryan,
The issues I had with the Sony was trying many ways to improve the signal, all created more interference, especially with inverted power to the radio or audio cable to the laptop (neither being earthed). One calm day in the Carloine Sea the penny dropped and I went back to basics. Sat on the bow away from all things electrical and engine, with Sony on battery power I received the weather fax signal from VMC in Australia, recorded it with the voice recorder on a cell phone then transferred the sound file to the laptop.Then used the 3.5mm audio cable, one end into the headphone jack, other into the microphone jack and played the file to JV Comm using Windows media Player. The only other issue is the advertised frequency for Australian BOM faxes is 1.9 khz higher than you should receive. The Sony does not tune to such small increments. This problem is now solved by using my new portable transceiver with ATAS antenna and I am drawing perfect faxes (at last). Hope this helps. MB

[bill352]

MB - I'll buy getting away from the interference as going back to basics. The rest of it, in my untutored opinion, is just ingenious. Nice work, and thanks for taking the time to explain it.

What brand is your new rig?

[bcripps]

Re: SSB Antenna Question
Interesting development this morning. I tuned in NMN when I first got up and got a very light signal, he was there but not readable. At 7am local time I tuned in the WLO US Coastguard marine forecast from New Orleans. I got nothing for the first thirteen or fourteen minutes. Just static. In fact I was just about to tune in NGM at 7:15 when WLO suddenly came in. There was no audible click or pop... she was suddenly broadcasting right there in mid sentence. And it was readable copy. I listened for five minutes and the signal hung in there. I then tuned to NGM on 12788 and got a really strong, clear signal. I bounced back to NMN again momentarily and got a good signal there as well, (probably the Highseas Forecast). Light copy on Chris Parker on 8137 at 7:30 and fading in and out, alas. (This the station I really want to receive.) Then at 7:45 I picked up the Waterway Cruising Club on 7268LSB. I could pick up the net controller well enough but most of his conversations were one-sided. I did hear folks complaining about light copy.


So it was an interesting morning. Not completely satisfying but none the less...!


Anyone have an idea why WLO should suddenly pop up out of nowhere? I know a radio should warm up a bit but I regularly have my R30 up and running as I tune around for signals. Anyway looking forward to tomorrow it see if the R30 is self-recuperating or if I just got lucky this morning.


Oh I should mention... I have cut my 65-foot antenna back to 33 feet. But I did this several days ago and don't think it had any bearing on this morning's developments.


Cheers all,
Bryan

[btrayfors]

Originally Posted by bcripps

Re: SSB Antenna Question
Interesting development this morning. I tuned in NMN when I first got up and got a very light signal, he was there but not readable. At 7am local time I tuned in the WLO US Coastguard marine forecast from New Orleans. I got nothing for the first thirteen or fourteen minutes. Just static. In fact I was just about to tune in NGM at 7:15 when WLO suddenly came in. There was no audible click or pop... she was suddenly broadcasting right there in mid sentence. And it was readable copy. I listened for five minutes and the signal hung in there. I then tuned to NGM on 12788 and got a really strong, clear signal. I bounced back to NMN again momentarily and got a good signal there as well, (probably the Highseas Forecast). Light copy on Chris Parker on 8137 at 7:30 and fading in and out, alas. (This the station I really want to receive.) Then at 7:45 I picked up the Waterway Cruising Club on 7268LSB. I could pick up the net controller well enough but most of his conversations were one-sided. I did hear folks complaining about light copy.


So it was an interesting morning. Not completely satisfying but none the less...!


Anyone have an idea why WLO should suddenly pop up out of nowhere? I know a radio should warm up a bit but I regularly have my R30 up and running as I tune around for signals. Anyway looking forward to tomorrow it see if the R30 is self-recuperating or if I just got lucky this morning.


Oh I should mention... I have cut my 65-foot antenna back to 33 feet. But I did this several days ago and don't think it had any bearing on this morning's developments.


Cheers all,
Bryan

Well, Bryan, congratulations: what you just described is called propagation. And, normal propagation on the low bands at that time of morning.

BTW, I was net controller on the WaterWay Net this morning on 7268, as I am every Monday morning. What you described is exactly what happens almost each and every day. A station may be completely unreadable, or just barely audible one minute and, a second or two later, may pop up out of the noise with a very strong signal. That's very usual, not unusual.

It mostly occurs as the sun rises and skip becomes shorter. That is, you may hear distant stations quite clearly but not be able to hear closer-in stations until late in the Net, when they suddenly pop up. For me, located in the Washington DC area, "close-in" may vary from boats on the Chesapeake Bay to as far as Charleston SC.

Keep at it. You'll get the hang of it, and soon be able to recognize what is normal changing propagation and what may be another phenomenon affecting reception :-)

Bill
WA6CCA