What's the state of SSB

[Tom and Maje]

I wouldn’t cross an Ocean or be seriously off shore without an SSB. None of the other options are as stable or reliable.

Maje

[Tupaia]

Originally Posted by Tom and Maje

I wouldn’t cross an Ocean or be seriously off shore without an SSB. None of the other options are as stable or reliable.

Maje

Ditto

[Happ]

I have friends who live aboard. They often cruise the east coast and down to the islands. I spent 3 weeks with them onboard and the purpose They used the SSB was for the morning check in on a cruisers network.

[sailorboy1]

Originally Posted by goeasy123

Before I invest time and money in SSB is it still relevant with other means of comms coming along?

The what? :-)

In the last 6.5 years cruising I have met anyone under 70 using SSB

I am sure there are some, but .......

[Horus]

Kiss: Out of the reach of Internet, receiving ssb only you can have safety- and weather information. In this case you can use a "Winradio G33EM". Use the Winradio as a black box with your boardcomputer and store the safety-/weather information in files to see at any time you like.

[Cthoops]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

The what? :-)

In the last 6.5 years cruising I have met anyone under 70 using SSB

I am sure there are some, but .......

Actually, there are quite a few of us under 70 that use it.

I don’t think an SSB is necessary given the other options out there, but as others have said, if you like to participate in cruisers nets, are a Ham hobbyist, planning to cruise remotely, etc. then go for it.

[teneicm]

We were faced with this decision a decade ago and opted NOT to get an SSB radio. Never regretted not having one during our circumnav. These days I would think the decision is even more clear, unless you want a new hobby and have the money to spend.


It's been interesting to watch the change in comms: when we first started out, every anchorage was alive with VHF chatter between the boats. Nowadays it's much more quiet as What'sApp and messenger have taken its place.

[Cynara]

Just a note. We seldom used 100 wars with our ham radio. Even talking from the Panama canal to southern California we used about 30i

[Cpt Mark]

Originally Posted by Pizzazz

Having done all of this, and if you get the bug, then you can invest in the transmit capability (antenna, isolators, tuner, ground, transceiver... $4-5,000).

.

While I have no doubt you can spend that kind of money it's like any other hobby. You can spend all the bucks for the very best or you can buy used, serviceable, not the very best for a lot less. Or buy new but not the the very best. You see stuff for sale on this forum periodically and as mentioned elsewhere, ham clubs and fests are great places to buy cheaper used equipment.

[Mike Burch]

Originally Posted by MicHughV

Your typical Ham radio will be a 100 watt model. what this means, every time you key the mike, it will slurp down 8 amps out of your battery. If you are prone to chit-chat, you'll quickly have a dead battery.

No, it will draw anything up to 20 amps, but only on speech peaks. The final amplifier is only around 50% efficient, so 100 watts out means that that stage of the transmitter alone draws about 200 watts (that's 16+ amps at 12 volts). Add in the currents drawn by all the other parts of the radio, and the hammering suffered by the battery is much greater than just 8 amps. But this only happens when you talk.

On receive the draw is much less—perhaps a couple of amps. So the secret to happy batteries is get inoculated against microphone fever, i.e., learn to shut up. In real life, sensible use of ham radio or SSB will not make much difference to battery performance if the boat has a sensible battery set-up in the first place.

[Jim Cate]

^^^^ And further, even if your rig CAN operate at 100 W, this is not needed most of the time. I typically run around 30-40 watts max, and as Mike says above, that is only on voice peaks so the average draw, even when talking, is even less. Power consumption is not a significant factor IMO.

Jim N9GFT/VK4GFT/mm

[RaymondR]

I have one for listening to weather reports and occasionally set up skeds for friends who are going to places without phone or data comms. The government agency which provides the weather reports occasionally contemplate shutting it down however there are enough folks still using it who complain and so far they have been convinced otherwise.

[jipcho]

I stopped cruising (circumnavigation over a 15 year period) in 2018. But, unless there have been some major breakthoughs, I don't think that satelite phones are an adequate replacement for SSB, and especially HAM radios.

Satelite phones and plans are expensive, but can be handy in an emergency. Once, while stuck in a nasty low packing winds of 60 knits and more in the Coral Sea, I was concerned, and called Australia Maritime on my Iridium to give my position and get a weather update. The satelite phone automatically relays the GPS position of the caller, which is a nice benefit.

That said, the benefits of an SSB and HAM radio for a blue water sailor, are many. Weather faxes, grib files, email communication, are all free once a "pactor" modem is installed. The intitial outlay for the radio and pactor is a bit more than for a satphone, but after that, unlike a satelite phone service, usage is free of charge (for HAM operators), and cheap for SSB users. Also, as mentioned, there are many cruisers on SSB "nets" sharing information and advice while crossing the oceans. Being a HAM operator was especially beneficial to me when sailing the "Wild Coast" of South Africa from Richards Bay to Cape Town. The "mobile maritime net" for HAM operators there gave me local weather updates on a daily basis, which was absolutely essential for literal survival on that passage. For those seeking the instant gratification of weather updates at any moments notice, maybe an SSB isn't for you. But, if instant gratification is so important, maybe cruising on a sailboat isn't for you, either.

[svRaison d Etre]

Originally Posted by jipcho

Being a HAM operator was especially beneficial to me when sailing the "Wild Coast" of South Africa from Richards Bay to Cape Town. The "mobile maritime net" for HAM operators there gave me local weather updates on a daily basis, which was absolutely essential for literal survival on that passage. For those seeking the instant gratification of weather updates at any moments notice, maybe an SSB isn't for you. But, if instant gratification is so important, maybe cruising on a sailboat isn't for you, either.

We did that passage in 2016 without the ham net and with Iridium Go "sans probleme". We remove our isolators on the backstay last week. So to us the SSB is not worth the effort and we still plan to cross the N Atlantic in the next year.

[wingssail]

Originally Posted by smac999

I consider SSB to be a hobby. if you have hours a day to play around and learn how to use it. and enjoy it. then great. enjoy your hobby.

if you need a weather report, want it asap, and don't want to spend a year learning how to to it. or a day or 2 to get the correct ssb coms. get a sat phone or GO

I consider SSB (or HAM) to be a valuable communication tool, simple, reliable, flexible and cheap to use. I am not a radio hobbyist.

And during our circumnavigation years, we felt SSB was more than valuable, it was essential. We checked into the nets on a daily basis to hear from other voyagers about their weather and conditions. We pulled down daily weatherfax surface analysis forecasts and grib files, and sent and received email and downloaded limited web pages (text). We probably spent 45 minutes to an hour a day on the radio completing these communications tasks. (today I spend more time than that on the Internet, SSB use does not have to be excessively time consuming).

Grib file downloads and email were probably the critical usages, particularly mid ocean but inter boat communication was also informative and reassuring.

Now that we are not crossing oceans SSB still has a place. In our yearly cruises we normally depend on cell phone and wifi for Internet and comms but when we move to a remote location where neither is available we switch on the SSB. It still works when nothing else does.

I am not a radio hobbyist.