Ham Radio at Sea

[QUOTE=injunear;163556]Just curious. I checked on line for the marine VHF marine operator channels for my area and tried to contact them with no results. I tried all marine operator channels and still zilch. Are there any marine operator systems still in operation? Before I retired there were a few HF GMDSS digital stations that were used but SATCOM seemed to trump them.[/QUOTE]

WLO & KLB are the only HF public coast stations left. I think that cell phones and sat phones have killed off most, if not all, of the VHF marine operators. I don’t know of any left.

[QUOTE=Quimby;163421]Weather fax charts can also be downloaded via SSB if you have a laptop and the right software.[/QUOTE]

Presumably NAVTEX and SITOR are availble as well without specific equipment. The yachties have some kind of network for email. The Globe Wireless system was sending and receiving email by SSB until about a year ago. It was all automatic. It would search through the freqs till it found a good one. It was slow but it would chip away at the queue. Half a dozen short emails in 10 or 15 minutes. For large email or attachements had to use the SAT.

It used to leave lines on the wx fax, if you wanted a nice clean wx fax you could temporally disable it from the desktop.

Turns out mariners are not allowed to talk on certain SSB frequencies… Woops. Managed to raise a station about 4600 miles away in the 14mhz band but was promptly told by the other end that maritime stations are not permitted on those frequencies. Still, it was pretty cool listening to stations from all over the world even if I couldn’t talk. I heard north Africa, Croatia, New Zealand, just about every damn where. I wish it was more obvious what frequencies we’re allowed to talk on. The VHF only works on frequencies that are useable by us, the MF/HF works over a whole range regardless of whether we can talk on it or not. If only I had paid closer attention in GMDSS class!!!

[QUOTE=PaddyWest2012;163649]Turns out mariners are not allowed to talk on certain SSB frequencies… Woops. Managed to raise a station about 4600 miles away in the 14mhz band but was promptly told by the other end that maritime stations are not permitted on those frequencies. Still, it was pretty cool listening to stations from all over the world even if I couldn’t talk. I heard north Africa, Croatia, New Zealand, just about every damn where. I wish it was more obvious what frequencies we’re allowed to talk on. The VHF only works on frequencies that are useable by us, the MF/HF works over a whole range regardless of whether we can talk on it or not. If only I had paid closer attention in GMDSS class!!![/QUOTE]

http://www.navcen.uscg.gov/doc/rtchan.txt

Ham operators get a little upset about any encroachment into their earned frequencies.

What do you mean by earned?

[QUOTE=PaddyWest2012;163658]What do you mean by earned?[/QUOTE]

The Ham bands are divided by license class. The higher the class, the more frequencies and modes are available to operate. For years, the structure was Novice class(basic theory test and 5 WPM code test), Tech(5 WPM code and General class theory), General class(General class theory and 13 WPM code), Advanced class(13 WPM code and advanced theory test) and the highest was Extra class(20 WPM code and extra class exam). Now there are 3 grades of licenses, Tech, General and Extra. Code tests have been dropped years ago but theory subjects have expanded.

The exams, for years were administered at the FCC exam centers in various Federal buildings on certain dates. Now the tests are administered by certified volunteer examiners. Usually given by local radio clubs. It ain’t CB radio.

Interesting. I remember when SSB was the ONLY way to communicate on the tugs. Routinely talking with the Crowley San Juan station (Wiki Gull Wiki). . . . listening in to others and their calls home via the marine operators. . . (I bet Jodie monitored those, too). . . the Chief Mate on the very first ship that I sailed on in 78 was a ham radio operator and had his equipment onboard (the PRESIDENT EISENHOWER).

Something to add. Amateur radio in the United States combines operator and station licensing. You don’t need to use type accepted equipment as in other radio services. The amateur radio service is unique, in that operators can build their own radios. The FCC tests the operators to validate their ability to do this.

If you have an amateur radio license can you broadcast from a marine station or do you have to be on the beach?

[QUOTE=PaddyWest2012;163681]If you have an amateur radio license can you broadcast from a marine station or do you have to be on the beach?[/QUOTE]

I haven’t seen the reg in a long time but it was something like it was permitted if there was no interference or hindrance to safe navigation of the vessel. You use your ham call sign with the suffix /maritime mobile region 1, 2 or 3 depending on which ITU region you’re in. Region 2 takes in North and South America. If inside the demarcation line, you sign with call sign/marine mobile.

I generally had my ham gear with me the last 30 years I sailed until we got sat internet. The crew could get phone patches home most of the time. Around the turn of the century, we had an SEA 330 transceiver on board. It was 300 watts above 4 megs and keypad programmable for ham frequencies. We made 2 round trips from Philly to Santos Brazil. We were able to make patches through the Maritime Mobile Service net 14.3 megs anytime we tried.

My understanding is: yes, but you must get the Captain’s permission.

On the last ship I was on, for SW listening I had a Collins 75A2 receiver in my office, rigged a loop antenna which let me discover what a (electronic) noise generator that ship was.
On AM though it wasn’t as bad.
I managed to copy W1TNT, who is located in an adjoining town to my home in QSO with a Maryland station on 160M AM phone. We were just north of the equator at the time, Mombassa bound.
SSB is just a passing fad.

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For Ocean racing and yacht delivery, back in the day, there was a lot of overlap with SSB and HAM. As I understand it, it is against ITU and FCC rules to use SSB gear for HAM radio broadcasting. The chances of the FCC getting you aren’t good, but the HAM guys will admonish you, and the FCC did fine a friend of mine operating in Mexico way back.
How they know you’re on SSB improperly, I’m not sure of, but one must be the call sign used. Ham call signs are configured differently than vessel station licenses, and HAM licenses aren’t “lendable” as ship’s station licenses are.
There is nothing that prohibits listening to HAM broadcasts with SSB gear, and we used to listen to Herb and a bunch of other nets, like the Pacific Net for South Pacific voyagers, and the one for cruisers out of La Paz. A lot of good info, on those nets.
The HAM frequencies are mostly in the odd numbers of MHZ, while SSB are even, if I remember correctly.While the open communications channels on SSB are 4,6,8,12, etc, the HAM freqs were in between, I think.
Here’s some more freqs for your listening pleasure: For newbys, USB here means Upper Side Band.
http://www.callipygia600.com/callnugget/allcruising/nets.htm
If you have too much time on your hands, you could program a bunch of those into a scan function on your newer SSB’s.

After Hurricane Carla in '61, I was 8 years old. My uncle and his fellow local ham operators had a meeting about disaster traffic handling. They were all CW operators and most had broadcast quality AM transmitters. The general consensus was SSB was just a passing fad!

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