Year: 2014

I’ve had such a big response to my “Minimalist marine electronics” series of blogs I feel I need to expand.

I will be compiling all of the “Minimalist marine electronics” blogs into a video, and incorporating with another series of blogs and video I’m working on, “The marine SSB”. I’m forging the two together because the marine SSB is so much more than just a a radio. It will need to be integrated into my onboard 12v ships computer, not to mention being part of my NMEA network, hence it’s all part of the same system.

The marine SSB radio is not only used for keeping up with friends, participating in informative cruising nets, receiving crucial weather information, and emergency voice communications. It is also used to send and receive email, and can even be used to call standard telephone numbers.

The marine SSB radio is low, old, stable, and proven technology which is not only affordable to use (free), but is here to stay.

I’ve been using an old SEA 225 SSB and tuner for voice communications and weatherfax for years. When I crossed the Pacific back in 2007 I had an Iridium satellite phone which I used for email and blog updates which worked great. However the big downside was having to buy more minutes all the time (very expensive for me), not to mention the initial expense of getting into the phone, data kits, antennas, and forever emerging technologies.

Once you have your marine SSB properly installed and add a Pactor modem to the mix HF email can be free, however most sailors choose sailmail which only costs $250.00 a year for email and weather services, and seems to be the most viable option.

Carla is coming back from the states in a week with my new Icom M802 and AT-140 antenna tuner, I’m excited to get it installed. I’ll certainly be blogging during the installation, as the instillation is very important to the quality of radio signal one receives and transmits. 

The Icom M-802 represents the latest in marine SSB technology and is a tool I will be using multiple times a day, especially during our 2015 Pacific crossing.

For those of you just starting to voyage past the convenience of VHF weather service, cell phone signals, and internet, there is a very affordable option to get weather information.

I used a $120 Grundig HF receiver which you can find at radio shack. I bought an audio cable that plugged into the headphone out of the radio and into the mic in of my laptop. If you search there are a ton of windows, mac, and Linux weatherfax programs out there. You can also plug into your iPhone or android device and download the black cat HF fax app and get weaterfax anywhere in the world regardless of cell phone coverage which is pretty damn cool in my book!

I’ve been trying to get my HAM license for years and finally found a guy in Panama who can license me. It’s on my short list of things to do before Carla and I venture into the sea.

My charter (Pete) left a few days ago and I really had a great time. Pete is also a director/producer type and we were able to talk a lot of shop. He is planning to go cruising soon so we had a lot to talk about.

Hope everyone had a great weekend.

Jim, thanks for everything

Peace

Sail far and live slowly.

– alex