What's the best off shore (solid but no-frills) short wave radio that
can receive marine broadcasts (weather,,,) and also be used to
communicate with hams on shore?

The ICOM 706 MKII is a very good SSB ham radio for the bucks. You can
find them on eBay for under $500. Not type accepted for transmitting on
marine freqs but it will receive them very well and is easy to unlock
for emergency communication. An older model is fine for marine work
because the only thing added on the newer models is more freqs above 30 Mhz.

I use one for receiving WEFAX, monitoring Southbound and amateur work.

Stan Sroga wrote:
What's the best off shore (solid but no-frills) short wave radio that
can receive marine broadcasts (weather,,,) and also be used to
communicate with hams on shore?


--
Glenn Ashmore

I'm building a 45' cutter in strip/composite. Watch my progress (or lack
there of) at: http://www.rutuonline.com
Shameless Commercial Division: http://www.spade-anchor-us.com

Glen, I was looking at the 706 MKII myself until Icom came out with the
802, any thoughts? I realize it is a lot more money but I plan on buying an
HF set only once.
Walt

"Glenn Ashmore" wrote in message
...
The ICOM 706 MKII is a very good SSB ham radio for the bucks. You can
find them on eBay for under $500. Not type accepted for transmitting on
marine freqs but it will receive them very well and is easy to unlock
for emergency communication. An older model is fine for marine work
because the only thing added on the newer models is more freqs above 30
Mhz.

I use one for receiving WEFAX, monitoring Southbound and amateur work.

Stan Sroga wrote:
What's the best off shore (solid but no-frills) short wave radio that
can receive marine broadcasts (weather,,,) and also be used to
communicate with hams on shore?


--
Glenn Ashmore

I'm building a 45' cutter in strip/composite. Watch my progress (or lack
there of) at: http://www.rutuonline.com
Shameless Commercial Division: http://www.spade-anchor-us.com

x-no-archive:yes "wkaz" wrote:

Glen, I was looking at the 706 MKII myself until Icom came out with the
802, any thoughts? I realize it is a lot more money but I plan on buying an
HF set only once.
Walt

I got the following email from someone who is not on the newsgroups

My electronics supplier in California, ran some tests using the 802 and the
and the 710 with power meters and using transcontinental 2ways. What they
found was that the 802 sounded better, when one made no measured comparison.
But when transmitted and received power levels were measured, they found the
802 was putting out less than 1/2 the power.

802 sounded better, just no power. So we reported the problem to ICOM for
evaluation, and have yet to hear or see any changes. So I am waiting on
moving from my 710 to the 802.

grandma Rosalie

Hi Rosalie, Thanks for the input - after I posted my message I read further
down the list and found the posting from Larry "DAMMIT ICOM WHY SO CHEAP?!!.
Kinda scary huh!

Walt

"Rosalie B." wrote in message
...
x-no-archive:yes "wkaz" wrote:

Glen, I was looking at the 706 MKII myself until Icom came out with the
802, any thoughts? I realize it is a lot more money but I plan on buying
an
HF set only once.
Walt

I got the following email from someone who is not on the newsgroups

My electronics supplier in California, ran some tests using the 802 and
the
and the 710 with power meters and using transcontinental 2ways. What they
found was that the 802 sounded better, when one made no measured
comparison.
But when transmitted and received power levels were measured, they found
the
802 was putting out less than 1/2 the power.

802 sounded better, just no power. So we reported the problem to ICOM for
evaluation, and have yet to hear or see any changes. So I am waiting on
moving from my 710 to the 802.

grandma Rosalie

wkaz wrote:
Glen, I was looking at the 706 MKII myself until Icom came out with
the 802, any thoughts? I realize it is a lot more money but I plan
on buying an HF set only once. Walt

Different animals all together. The 706 is a rugged medium price 100W
mobile ham rig. While not type certified for marine frequencies it can
be unlocked by removing a couple of smapp components. It is set up to
slide around the bands the way a ham likes to tune but with a little
hair pulling you can program it for marine channels. It also covers the
popular 2M and 440 Mhz ham bands which are of limited use for marine work.

The M-802 is an upper end (not highest end)150W marine radio with ham
capability. Built in DSP (an add in module on the 706), better frequency
stability (though not much) and better cooling. The tuning is optimized
for easy marine channel operation so it does not take much skill but it
is easier to use in ham mode than the older M-700 series marine
transceivers were. The TNC interface is a lot better and it has GPS
input.

From my examination of the 802 and Larry's comments, it looks like the
M-802 is designed to be installed and left in place while the 706 is
rugged enough to get yanked out of the car and set up elsewhere on a
regular basis.

My ultimate plan is to install the 802 and keep the 706 as a backup but
I have a lot of other stuff to pay for first. Until then the 706 will
serve for Winlink, Wefax and "emergency" marine communication. ;-)

--
Glenn Ashmore

I'm building a 45' cutter in strip/composite. Watch my progress (or lack
there of) at: http://www.rutuonline.com
Shameless Commercial Division: http://www.spade-anchor-us.com