What bothers me about the M802 is its openness. The case is open.
The cooling fan is INSIDE pulling the boat's salt-soaked, humid air
into the case where ALL the boards, those cheap little white
connectors they use on the antenna tuner and control cable connection
are all over the boards INSIDE the case. Nothing is sealed, nada.

One wonders if this is actually a catch-all radio used in many
services with simply a different "programmer" front panel to change
the access EEPROM from, say, marine to commercial to ham to whatever.
It's, obviously, NOT a "marine radio", like its SEALED companion M602
sitting right next to it in our panel. I told IcomAmerica they should
have made them the same way, with an external, replaceable fan, if
needed. There isn't any place inside a BOAT that won't make it
corrode......as any sailor knows.



Larry W4CSC

3600 planes with transponders are burning 8-10 million
gallons of kerosene per hour over the USA. R-12 car air
conditioners are responsible for the ozone hole, right?

It's a 170W VHF linear amp . . .

Aren't those a bit pricey?

Midland: 71-3400T 100 Watt VHF Power Amplifier $2,379.00

"Larry W4CSC" wrote in message
...
What bothers me about the M802 is its openness. The case is open.
The cooling fan is INSIDE pulling the boat's salt-soaked, humid air
into the case where ALL the boards, those cheap little white
connectors they use on the antenna tuner and control cable connection
are all over the boards INSIDE the case. Nothing is sealed, nada.

I was working on a 96 ft yacht, some weeks ago. I was also wondering about
this. Many units from expensive equipment were open: power supply units from
the Sailor VHF's and even the black boxes from all (3) satellite systems.

OTOH, I recently received one of my multiplexers back after a year of
cruising: no oxidation whatsoever. And these are also open to salt air.

Meindert

Not the ham radio ones.....
http://www.mirageamp.com/mirageamp/p...rodid=B-2518-G
$329 but the street prices are lower at dealers.

http://radcomm.bizland.com/rad-comm/id10.html
$299

I'd like to STRESS the use of these amplifiers IS illegal UNLESS your
life is threatened. They must be left OFF or disconnected until there
is a real emergency. But, international radio laws all go out the
window when lives are in danger. Then, you can blast 'em if you're
able....ON ANY FREQUENCY YOU CAN GET ON, including the ham bands on HF
in an emergency. Many boaters I meet do not understand that. There
sits their HF SSB radios and they don't know how to get it
transmitting on the ham bands for those dire emergencies. That's a
shame.....

I meant what I said about reducing marinas to 1 watt at 20 ft. That
would clear a lot of interference on 16, not to mention 68, 69, 71,
72...some of which are ship-to-ship frequencies THEY are not supposed
to be using.



On 7 Oct 2003 21:16:23 -0700, (Mark) wrote:

It's a 170W VHF linear amp . . .

Aren't those a bit pricey?

Midland: 71-3400T 100 Watt VHF Power Amplifier $2,379.00


Larry W4CSC

3600 planes with transponders are burning 8-10 million
gallons of kerosene per hour over the USA. R-12 car air
conditioners are responsible for the ozone hole, right?

Is your multiplexer open to the air or is it potted, like Noland's,
where only the rust-proofed terminals are exposed? In the Icom the
whole thing is exposed.

The chinzy board connector failed before we ever got it to sea last
weekend. This is the connector that connects the antenna tuner
control cable to the main radio cabinet. The owner had bumped it
sideways while installing a red/white light into the nav station,
bending the cheap, flimsy contacts inside the cable connector. You
can hardly crimp them on the cable without distorting them and Icom
gives you NO SPARES in case you destroy one installing it. How
stupid. It needs a REAL connector. A twist-lock connector like goes
on the M602 would be nice. There's plenty of room inside the air
plenum for it where it is currently mounted.

Why does pleasure boat electronics have to be so damned cheap?



On Wed, 8 Oct 2003 06:54:03 +0200, "Meindert Sprang"
wrote:

"Larry W4CSC" wrote in message
...
What bothers me about the M802 is its openness. The case is open.
The cooling fan is INSIDE pulling the boat's salt-soaked, humid air
into the case where ALL the boards, those cheap little white
connectors they use on the antenna tuner and control cable connection
are all over the boards INSIDE the case. Nothing is sealed, nada.

I was working on a 96 ft yacht, some weeks ago. I was also wondering about
this. Many units from expensive equipment were open: power supply units from
the Sailor VHF's and even the black boxes from all (3) satellite systems.

OTOH, I recently received one of my multiplexers back after a year of
cruising: no oxidation whatsoever. And these are also open to salt air.

Meindert




Larry W4CSC

3600 planes with transponders are burning 8-10 million
gallons of kerosene per hour over the USA. R-12 car air
conditioners are responsible for the ozone hole, right?

"Larry W4CSC" wrote in message
...
Is your multiplexer open to the air or is it potted, like Noland's,
where only the rust-proofed terminals are exposed? In the Icom the
whole thing is exposed.

My multiplexers are not potted. That would prevent any opportunity to repair
it or upgrade the software. I have given this a lot of thought and I have
looked at other equipment that is not meant to be used outside the cabin.
Many profesional equipment is also open to the air and the computers that
people will connect the multiplexers to, are open too.

The chinzy board connector failed before we ever got it to sea last
weekend. This is the connector that connects the antenna tuner
control cable to the main radio cabinet. The owner had bumped it
sideways while installing a red/white light into the nav station,
bending the cheap, flimsy contacts inside the cable connector. You
can hardly crimp them on the cable without distorting them and Icom
gives you NO SPARES in case you destroy one installing it. How
stupid. It needs a REAL connector. A twist-lock connector like goes
on the M602 would be nice. There's plenty of room inside the air
plenum for it where it is currently mounted.

I chose screw terminals. They are rigid and in many cases where people
install equipment, the first thing they'll do is cut off fixed connectors
because the cable has to go through a hole or gland.

Why does pleasure boat electronics have to be so damned cheap?

Because the consumers want it to be :-)

Meindert

On Wed, 8 Oct 2003 15:26:45 +0200, "Meindert Sprang"
wrote:


I chose screw terminals. They are rigid and in many cases where people
install equipment, the first thing they'll do is cut off fixed connectors
because the cable has to go through a hole or gland.

I just wish you'd all consider SHIELDING and CONFORMANCE to the NMEA
standard of a BALANCED system....not just you, all of them. It would
sure make listening to HF SSB, NAVTEX, WEFAX and VHF marine bands much
more enjoyable. All this unbalanced, unshielded BS is tearing up the
radios.

FCC simply needs to step in and FORCE compliance with all the various
classes of computer interference regulations already on the books. No
type acceptance and conformance to the standard.....no selling it in
the USA.....just like your notebook from Japan.....

Noone is enforcing the radiation restrictions on NMEA manufacturers,
obviously. It's way past time to start.



Larry W4CSC

3600 planes with transponders are burning 8-10 million
gallons of kerosene per hour over the USA. R-12 car air
conditioners are responsible for the ozone hole, right?

"Larry W4CSC" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 8 Oct 2003 15:26:45 +0200, "Meindert Sprang"
wrote:


I chose screw terminals. They are rigid and in many cases where people
install equipment, the first thing they'll do is cut off fixed connectors
because the cable has to go through a hole or gland.

I just wish you'd all consider SHIELDING and CONFORMANCE to the NMEA
standard of a BALANCED system....not just you, all of them. It would
sure make listening to HF SSB, NAVTEX, WEFAX and VHF marine bands much
more enjoyable. All this unbalanced, unshielded BS is tearing up the
radios.

Well, first of all, the NMEA standard does not specify to use shielding. It
says in paragraph 3.1 that "interconnection MAY be by means of a
two-conductor, shielded, twisted-pair wire". So, it is not mandatory. And in
my opinion not nesseccary. Think about UTP on 100Mb networks. They can be
quiet with the occasional ferrite ring core at 100Mb. So to be quiet at 4800
bps wouldn't be a problem at all.

Using a balanced system is indeed the best way to go. And with the mandatory
galvanic isolation on the inputs, NMEA-0183 would be a perfect system. If
everybody just made it how it was dictated by the NMEA.....

If you look at our multiplexers, you see there is a GND connection at the
balanced NMEA outputs, to accomodate the connection of the shields, as per
NMEA standard.
And with sufficient internal decoupling and slew rate-control on the
signals, these screw terminals serve their purpose and the whole setup does
not radiate, nor is it susceptible to radiation, all within the FCC/IEC
limits. We tested up to 10V/m.

FCC simply needs to step in and FORCE compliance with all the various
classes of computer interference regulations already on the books. No
type acceptance and conformance to the standard.....no selling it in
the USA.....just like your notebook from Japan.....

I always believed this was already the case. If I ship to the USA, I have to
fill in a form from Fedex, stating that the goods comply with the FCC
regulations. So as far as I know, it already IS illegal to sell goods
without compliance with FCC rules in the USA. It is the same as here in
Europe, where a CE marking is required, indicating that the equipment
complies with the corresponding EC directives, in this case IEC61000-6-1 and
IEC61000-6-3, which is very similar to FCC Title 47 CFR, Part 15 Class B.

The 'funny' thing is, Noland has no FCC compliance..... ;-)

Meindert

In article ,
(Larry W4CSC) wrote:

They must be left OFF or disconnected until there
is a real emergency.

Actually the above should read:

They must be left OFF AND disconnected until there
is a real emergency.

In the USA, and for US Flagged Vessels, the FCC is the governing body,
and they have a policy, that any NONLICENSED Radio equipment, that is
connected to Power, and antenna, even if it is "Turned Off" is to be
considered "Operating as Unlicensed" when Commission Agents find them.

Bruce in alaska who used to be an FCC Resident Agent
--
add a 2 before @

Bruce in Alaska wrote:

They must be left OFF AND disconnected until there
is a real emergency.


The law only limits the power measured to the antenna, so unless the
silly amp is used no laws will be broken. This is a voluntary ship
station, it isn't CB so it is not illegal equipment to own or have
installed. It's only illegal to use other than in an emergency.

The real issue is what kind of idiot thinks transmitting in the blind on
VHF is better than an EPIRB to begin with. Nothing quite like saturating
the ether with panic stricken calls from some idiot who can't hear a
reply anyway. Would be better off letting the EPIRB do its thing and use
the time to deal with the emergency.

Sounds like a dilettante spending his sugar daddy's money by pretending
to be some kind of expert.

Rick