SSB Receiver recommendations

[OndinePLC]

Can anyone recommend from their practical experience a good moderately priced portable SW SSB receiver able to pick up weak Marine and weather broadcasts while crossing the Atlantic?


I had one "highly recommended" by Buzz Aldrin, it might have been good on the moon but it didn't pick up ship at sea!

[ChrisJHC]

Tecsun gets good reviews.
Not sure if they’re available in your location.

[OndinePLC]

I see them on Amazon, they have a lot of models from cheap to expensive, hard to decide how high I need to go.

[El Pinguino]

Simply the very best and well worth the money is the Tecsun PL-880 especially if you want to receive wfax via HF.

Lots about it here on CF - do a search.

I have a Buzz Aldrin G6 - maybe the smallest SSB and a good radio but not the pick of the bunch.

[Brian.D]

Just as important as a good receiver is, the antenna is more so. The standard antenna on most SW radios are telescoping and lacking in the ability to receive weak signals. An external antenna is a must, I would think, on a boat in the middle of the ocean.

As mentioned, the Teksun PL-880 has SSB capabilities and most importantly, it has a jack for an external antenna. Any SW receive you look at should have an external antenna jack.

[OndinePLC]

Thankyou all for the info.
I intend to string a wire antenna up to the spreader, also turn off potentially (no pun intended) noisy electrical equipment, generators, invertors, motors , etc. while listening out.


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[davil]

Originally Posted by El Pinguino

Simply the very best and well worth the money is the Tecsun PL-880 especially if you want to receive wfax via HF.

Lots about it here on CF - do a search.

I have a Buzz Aldrin G6 - maybe the smallest SSB and a good radio but not the pick of the bunch.

=============================
posted a question re: Tecsun PL 880
have no answers

need instructions to tune Parker net, he uses 8.137 & 12.350 USB

what are the steps?

thanks

[RaymondR]

I think that if I was crossing an ocean I'd go the whole hog and buy a proper HF transceiver or get and use a sat phone.

[barcoMeCasa]

Originally Posted by RaymondR

I think that if I was crossing an ocean I'd go the whole hog and buy a proper HF transceiver or get and use a sat phone.

You're allowed more than one option....

SSB receivers can be handy as the power draw is very low & you can get lots of surface synoptics & 500mB charts free to see the big picture without having a transceiver fired up for hours or a big grib download. IMHO very high up the "really should have one onboard" for ocean passages.
If backed into a corner having to choose between wfax or gfs gribs offshore I'd go for wfax.

A Raspberry Pi can also be used to receive wfax using a cheap rtl dongle. Openplotter will install the software for you with the click of a mouse.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdKhxicZHGs

[Pizzazz]

If you really wanted to get GRIBs with an HF receiver, you need to have a friend who follows your position (either from satellite AIS or Iridium Inreach, which is good to have anyway), prepare the gribs in a suitable resolution and then send them via SITOR at a pre-defined frequency/time. Not impossible to do, especially if the sender uses a directional antenna from land.

[barcoMeCasa]

Originally Posted by Pizzazz

If you really wanted to get GRIBs with an HF receiver, you need to have a friend who follows your position (either from satellite AIS or Iridium Inreach, which is good to have anyway), prepare the gribs in a suitable resolution and then send them via SITOR at a pre-defined frequency/time. Not impossible to do, especially if the sender uses a directional antenna from land.

Though strictly speaking that won't really be a grib, that will be an image which just happens to be of a grib..
Satellite images direct from the satellites can be interesting as well, again raspberry pi territory for those of an inquisitive nature. Think I'll do that one day but the antenna would look a bit weird on the radar arch.
Real time satellite images could be a nice resource to have a few times a day though.

[El Pinguino]

Originally Posted by davil

=============================
posted a question re: Tecsun PL 880
have no answers

need instructions to tune Parker net, he uses 8.137 & 12.350 USB

what are the steps?

thanks

Here you go, only Q I would have is re USB or LSB.
Hope this helps.
Don't forget the fine tuning.

[davil]

Originally Posted by El Pinguino

Here you go, only Q I would have is re USB or LSB.
Hope this helps.
Don't forget the fine tuning.

================================

thank you Pinguino

believe that will work.

do not have the radio with me, lent it to my friend is in Exumas, I know the little one works well, and I didn't have any trouble receiving Parker net in North Carolina, no difference comparing with my "antique" Icom 703 I have on board.

take care

[RaymondR]

[QUOTE=barcoMeCasa;3882085]You're allowed more than one option....

SSB receivers can be handy as the power draw is very low & you can get lots of surface synoptics & 500mB charts free to see the big picture without having a transceiver fired up for hours or a big grib download. IMHO very high up the "really should have one onboard" for ocean passages.
If backed into a corner having to choose between wfax or gfs gribs offshore I'd go for wfax.

A Raspberry Pi can also be used to receive wfax using a cheap rtl dongle. Openplotter will install the software for you with the click of a mouse.

All true but being able to scream "HELP" to the ship over the horizon just out of VHF range would be nice.

[Pizzazz]

Thinking more about this. The most attractive part of a SSB receiver is that it is cheap and requires no installation. A full 150W SSB installation with a tuner could easily run around $5,000 and this probably would not be a good investment today.

Another way to go is to limit the cost/power to QRP (say 5W transceivers that are cheap and plentiful) and optimize the antenna for a particular frequency. If you use a good ground (flat copper connected to the keel) and optimize your vertical antenna length for a particular frequency, you can get some very good propagation. This would enable you to cry for help. I would choose the 4 MHz DSC and may be one HF net that you like to use and prepare exact 1/4 wave length antennas. The best way to do this is to start with a longer wire and then start cutting it until you minimize your return power. Then try some DX contacts and see if it works.