On 29 Dec 2003 19:32:58 -0800, (John) wrote:



How well does the 706 work for sending e-mail and receiving weather
fax information? Other then a laptop, what other equipment would you
need.

Software works great, these days, with the soundcard plugged into mic
and earphone jacks.

Thanks, I am just starting on my Ham license and plan on doing some
extended cruising with my family next year. I am looking at the 706 as
a means of keeping in touch with the nets, safety communication, and a
way to receive weather fax. E-mail is low in the priority list. It
just seems like the entire 810 set up is pretty expensive for a
technology that may soon (within 5 years) be replaced by am
inexpensive satellite network.
(Hope it's OK to pop a question in the middle like this, its my
first group question (yes I'm over 40))

Welcome to ham radio, John! I've been a ham since 1957. I was 11.
It's been a helluva ride....(c;

Be sure the boat has a 50 watt, 2 meter FM rig to chat on the local
repeaters with local hams when you get there. A dual-band 144-440 Mhz
rig is an even better idea, if you have the money. In ham equipment,
noone beats Yaesu. I've had 'em all...(c; The local hams on VHF or
UHF can be a treasure trove of local information and help most any
port you'll come to. Be informed of the foreign regulations for ham
radio in any countries you visit out of country, however. Most
require you have a "reciprocal license" to operate within their
borders, INCLUDING from your boat inside their territorial limits,
unlike your ship license on the marine bands. Some countries have
them, others do not. If you do not have a local license, DO NOT
TRANSMIT from the boat. That's asking for equipment confiscation.
Ham radio doesn't come under maritime law protections.

By the way, the BEST digital HF mode ever invented was invented by
hams. It's called PSK31. Phase shift keying, 31 Hz bandwidth.
Listen to USB on 14.070 Mhz and you'll hear lots of tiny warbling
signals of it. In one SSB receiver bandwidth, centered on 14.070 by
gentlemen's agreement of the PSK users, there can be as many as 30 or
40 QSOs going on at once! You can copy them now by downloading a
program like WinWarbler from:
http://www.qsl.net/winwarbler/
Winwarbler will copy and QSO with three stations you choose on its
waterfall spectrum display SIMULTANEOUSLY! Way cool communications
the commercials haven't discovered, yet. Far superior to
Pactor/Amtor/RTTY/Sitor. PSK31 or PSK63 will print perfectly when the
signal is so weak you can hardly see its trail on the spectrum display
and you can't even hear it in the receiver's noise. Simply amazing.
Anyone with an HF SSB receiver and a Windoze computer can listen in on
the fun. Don't let any hardware dealers sell you a piece of equipment
for it, either. It's all just audio in and out of your soundcard.
There is a little interface box the computer uses to key the
transmitter automatically. Read all about it from the website....

73, DE Larry W4CSC (Charleston, SC)