I know there have been a few posts regarding this radio but I need some
real user experience with this radio. The good , the bad and the ugly!

Specifically ease of use, reliability and ease of use as an amateur
radio solution. Most commercial marine boxes seem to be a bit kludgey
for use as an amateur box. The M802 seems to answer the 'ham band'
solution well but I can't seem to get much info on that mode of use.

Thanks for any input.

John Proctor
VK3JP
S/V Chagall

--
John VK3JP

Excellent as a ham radio, but Icom has declined to document that mode as well as
it has done for its SSB and DSC features. I have collected some data on ham use
at http://members.dslextreme.com/users/sded/m802.htm
John Proctor wrote:

I know there have been a few posts regarding this radio but I need some
real user experience with this radio. The good , the bad and the ugly!

Specifically ease of use, reliability and ease of use as an amateur
radio solution. Most commercial marine boxes seem to be a bit kludgey
for use as an amateur box. The M802 seems to answer the 'ham band'
solution well but I can't seem to get much info on that mode of use.

Thanks for any input.

John Proctor
VK3JP
S/V Chagall

On Wed, 18 Feb 2004 11:12:41 GMT, John Proctor
wrote:

I know there have been a few posts regarding this radio but I need some
real user experience with this radio. The good , the bad and the ugly!

We have one on Lionheart with the AT-140 antenna tuner. Unscrew the
cover on the antenna tuner and remove before you install it. Unsolder
the STUPID control wire pigtail Icom left sticking out with that tiny
UNPROTECTED board connector on it from the soldering rings on the main
board inside the tuner. Mark the color code on the inside of the
cover with permanent marker so it'll be there forever. Take this
pigtail with you to your local electronics cable supplier and buy the
appropriate length of the same diameter FOIL SHIELDED cable so your
new control cable will fit properly into the weather stuffing tube in
the tuner that stupid pigtail came out of. After you get the tuner
and radio installed and the new control cable pulled between them,
feed the cable through the stuffing tube and solder the control cable
to the soldering rings the old wires came from, observing color code
of course. Leave the foil shield open on this end and taped off so it
doesn't touch anything. Dress the cable just like the original stupid
pigtail was dressed and put the box back together so it's watertight.
There, you've eliminated the WORST of the bad connectors. You'll find
a matching STUPID connector on the main radio chassis to connect the
other end of the control cable to. After it fails a few times and you
get fed up with wiggling the flimsy connector around to make it
control the tuner, have your techie replace it with a REAL connector
and plug.

Make sure you mount the main radio somewhere DRY where no salt has a
possibility of every getting near it. Ours is hidden behind a panel
at our nav station behind the remote control head. The idiots at Icom
used a ham radio for this main chassis. COOLING AIR IS SUCKED INTO
THE BOX TO COOL THE INTERNAL HEAT SINK on the final power amps. SO IS
SALT AIR/WATER and anything else that can get sucked into the box.
The box, obviously, was never made to go in a BOAT, like the box the
VHF radio M602 or 502 was which is SEALED with an EXTERNAL HEAT SINK.

Some stupid uses a BNC connector to connect NMEA data to the main
radio's NMEA input so the DSC will get position data. Of course, this
UNBALANCED input pretty much guarantees your NMEA network will be
trashed by the RF energy on the ground of the HF transmitter any time
you're on the air. Nothing like connecting NMEA B (-) directly to the
transmitter to insure interference, is there? The BNC connector is on
the OTHER end from the antenna, power and control cable, so make sure
you mount the radio where the speaker plug, BNC NMEA cable and main
control head cables will fit comfortably sticking out. Ours is
mounted SIDEWAYS behind the panel on a sheet of plywood.....(sigh)

Electronically, it's a great radio and a great design. The receiver
is HOT...amazingly sensitive...to every electronic noise source on the
boat. Like all Icom products, the noise blanker is USELESS. If you
set it way up, the noise is still there and the audio distorts. The
transmitter is rock solid, even on RTTY at 100% duty cycle. 150
watts, flat across the bands.

Operation is a learning curve, especially for the non-radio-operator.
HF operation isn't for the CB novice on any radio. ALL the ITU
channels are there and the channelized mode notes what channels are
what, basically, as much as you can. Of course, with most all the
coast stations now dark, like WCC, WOM, etc., public correspondence
channels are dead. What a shame just when the radios got better....


Specifically ease of use, reliability and ease of use as an amateur
radio solution. Most commercial marine boxes seem to be a bit kludgey
for use as an amateur box. The M802 seems to answer the 'ham band'
solution well but I can't seem to get much info on that mode of use.

In channelized mode where it displays the ITU channels, it's about as
easy as multi-band, multi-mode HF can get. For the amateur, press the
RX button to put the radio into band/frequency mode where the two big
knobs are much friendlier for ham radio use.

To convert it to ham radio, hold down MODE and TX buttons and press
number 2 button and it will transmit from 1.5-30 Mhz, continuously.
Unlike the old radios with clipping diodes, wires, and other ways
around the FCC type acceptance, you can SWITCH IT BACK, by doing the
same thing, when the ham leaves the boat, putting the radio back on HF
MARINE ONLY transmit to keep the unlicensed from getting off the ITU
channels and into trouble. My captain is not a ham so I must restrict
his transmits. This radio makes that very easy.....MODE + TX + 2
toggles the mode.

Once the radio is in the frequency mode, the left knob moves the
cursor across the frequency numbers and the right knob changes the
numbers under the cursor. Luckily, the numbers are COUPLED to the
number to the left of them, which makes the right knob right into a
VFO knob. Unfortunately, it's in 100 Hz steps, which is kinda clunky
for modern technology. There's gotta be some compromises. With all
those MEMORY CHANNELS, just assign yourself a block of 50 for ham
radio use. Make a memory in the middle of each SSB portion of each
ham band and use these memories as band switching, then move the big
knob at 1khz or 100hz rates to move around the bands. Use other
memories for your fav net freqs or sked freqs for direct access, even
in channelized mode. Works great, and MUCH easier than the older
radios.

No keylines for external linear amps on the ham bands....but the tuner
wouldn't take it anyways so we're QRP at 150W....dammit.

You need a SECOND receive antenna to connect to the SECOND antenna
connector so the DSC scanning receiver can continously monitor all the
DSC frequencies for digital selective calling and your MMSI calls.
I'm using the solid handrails around our Amel Sharki ketch, which
aren't grounded to anything. Any old ungrounded shroud you can get an
extra nut on its chainplate bolt will also work fine. It's just a
receive antenna and the longer the better.....

The AT-140 is a pleasure. We have a 55' long insulated backstay that
comes down into the center cockpit right next to the mizzenmast base.
The AT-140 is mounted on top of the aft cabin just aft of the
mizzenmast step on top of the aft cabin with a short wire to the
backstay. The former owner never changed out the METAL CABLE holding
up the main boom which shorted out his HF signal to the mainmast
unless the boom was way outboard, but we changed that to LINE and got
the metal cables away from the antenna. I'm S8 on 20 meters in Japan
from the marina slip. The signals on 40 meters, nearly the resonant
freq of the 55' long backstay are great! And this tuner will tune
this backstay all the way down to the BOTTOM of the 160 meter ham
band! Simply amazing....at full power. Signals on 160 are "fair"
with such a short antenna. I'm going to add more length with an
extension from the top insulator to just above the point where our
mizzen headsail connects, giving me another 15-18' of length to the
radiator horizontally from the top....(c;

Make a nice QSO from VK3 to W4 lands, boat 2 boat, eh?.....

73, Larry W4CSC
Charleston, SC, USA
be glad to swap info through
organs at myrealbox dot com
if you like.


Thanks for any input.

John Proctor
VK3JP
S/V Chagall

--
John VK3JP

Nice to see you, again, John. You'll love the TINY, FRAGILE connector
pins Icom gives you to connect your tuner control cable to the main
box with NO EXTRA PINS in case you break one. There are FOUR wires so
you only get FOUR pins in the 6-pin connector.....not 6. They must
cost $AU1 per thousand? Thank Icom like I did in my nasty email after
working with them. You get ONE SHOT to do it right. SOLDER the wires
as these pins are real SOFT and the crimp WON'T HOLD.

NNNN

AR




Larry W4CSC

No, no, Scotty! I said, "Beam me a wrench.", not a WENCH!
Kirk Out.....

On Wed, 18 Feb 2004 05:25:03 -0800, sded wrote:

Excellent as a ham radio, but Icom has declined to document that mode as well as
it has done for its SSB and DSC features. I have collected some data on ham use
at http://members.dslextreme.com/users/sded/m802.htm

Wow....BIG type!...(c;

You might want to look back through my comments about modifying the
tuner to get rid of the stupid pigtail connector that's SURE to rot
off in a month at sea. (Check my reply to his message and look back
through the newsgroup archive on here and in rec.boats.cruising about
my experiences with this radio and its quirks.)

Consider anything I write about it public domain and reproduce it on
the webpage, but only as long as the webpage is open to all and free.
Thanks.

I'm not sure about the toggling the mode back and forth, either. I
think I made it work by holding down MODE and TX and pressing 2 while
it was still on. I'll check that again when I'm on the boat but I
know the POWER ON sequence called for in the tech bulletin works, so
he can use that.

I've ordered a service manual, too, but haven't gotten it yet. I hope
there's more to it than how to operate it and the schematics they left
off the owner's manual. It ain't cheap! Let's hope there's a whole
section on SOFTWARE CONTROLS in it......(c;

Keep me in mind at'
organs at myrealbox dot com
if you find anything more about it. You're right about the rotten
documentation. It stinks almost as bad as the tuner control cable
connections......



Larry W4CSC

No, no, Scotty! I said, "Beam me a wrench.", not a WENCH!
Kirk Out.....

(Larry W4CSC) wrote:

On Wed, 18 Feb 2004 05:25:03 -0800, sded wrote:

Excellent as a ham radio, but Icom has declined to document that mode as well as
it has done for its SSB and DSC features. I have collected some data on ham use
at http://members.dslextreme.com/users/sded/m802.htm

Wow....BIG type!...(c;

You might want to look back through my comments about modifying the
tuner to get rid of the stupid pigtail connector that's SURE to rot
off in a month at sea. (Check my reply to his message and look back
through the newsgroup archive on here and in rec.boats.cruising about
my experiences with this radio and its quirks.)

Consider anything I write about it public domain and reproduce it on
the webpage, but only as long as the webpage is open to all and free.
Thanks.

I'm not sure about the toggling the mode back and forth, either. I
think I made it work by holding down MODE and TX and pressing 2 while
it was still on. I'll check that again when I'm on the boat but I
know the POWER ON sequence called for in the tech bulletin works, so
he can use that.

I've ordered a service manual, too, but haven't gotten it yet. I hope
there's more to it than how to operate it and the schematics they left
off the owner's manual. It ain't cheap! Let's hope there's a whole
section on SOFTWARE CONTROLS in it......(c;

Keep me in mind at'
organs at myrealbox dot com
if you find anything more about it. You're right about the rotten
documentation. It stinks almost as bad as the tuner control cable
connections......



Larry W4CSC

Larry, I'm afraid you will be very disappointed in the service manual. I was.
The usual schematics, but nothing to help a user. I actually use my M802 with
an SGC SG-230 tuner that I already had. Works fine, you just need to coax it to
memorize settings sometimes because of the extreme foldback caution the M802 has
if you hit it at power with a high vswr. Usually retuning at L/M/H takes care
of it with no problem. The SG230 has lots of memories and excellent retention.
Yes, the cable sucks. I got the parts for the radio connector and tried to make
an end for my tuner cable a few times, finally gave up. Talked to Farallon
Electronics for ideas, and they said they had finally made a jig for the cables,
since even their techs couldn't install one per the instructions. I finally
bought one of the ICOM AT140 cables on sale, cut most of it off and spliced it
to my tuner power cable so I don't need a separate circuit for the SG230. So
far so good, but my installation doesn't let the cables move much. Still a
great radio for Marine hams, even if Icom is not forthcoming. As far as your
cable comments, email me a blurb and I will incorporate/attribute next time I do
a Website update. Regards; Ed, KO6CK.

so why not crack open the 802 brain and install an opto-isolator
inside? one could get a twinax connector with a BNC body that
oughta fit into the same hole that's there and then the NMEA-0183
link could float like it is supposed to do.

-mo

The point is ENGINEERING should have done this, not the end user.....

If it were me, it would be a Bluetooth or WiFi wireless interface
along with all the other instruments. It's time marine electronics
joined the 21st Century and dumped serial ports.....dammit.



On Thu, 19 Feb 2004 23:17:53 -0500, Michael O'Dell wrote:


so why not crack open the 802 brain and install an opto-isolator
inside? one could get a twinax connector with a BNC body that
oughta fit into the same hole that's there and then the NMEA-0183
link could float like it is supposed to do.

-mo


Larry W4CSC

No, no, Scotty! I said, "Beam me a wrench.", not a WENCH!
Kirk Out.....

In article ,
(Larry W4CSC) wrote:

The point is ENGINEERING should have done this, not the end user.....

If it were me, it would be a Bluetooth or WiFi wireless interface
along with all the other instruments. It's time marine electronics
joined the 21st Century and dumped serial ports.....dammit.



On Thu, 19 Feb 2004 23:17:53 -0500, Michael O'Dell wrote:


so why not crack open the 802 brain and install an opto-isolator
inside? one could get a twinax connector with a BNC body that
oughta fit into the same hole that's there and then the NMEA-0183
link could float like it is supposed to do.

-mo


Larry W4CSC

No, no, Scotty! I said, "Beam me a wrench.", not a WENCH!
Kirk Out.....


Trust me - if you think NMEA 0183 running unbalanced is truly flakey,
be *very* careful what you wish for in the wireless arena.
both bluetooth and wifi are *not* the stuff of life-critical apps.

if i'm counting on the radio's DSC to tell someone where to
come save my life, i want a WIRE connecting it to the GPS unit.

I agree completely that the interface on the 802 *should* be
done right, but one can also put the opto isolator in a tiny
metal box with a panel-mount BNC Male so that it just goes on
the back and then the 0183 runs isolated as per design. There
are nice balun enclosures made which would be splendid for
the job.

again, I agree completely that it shouldn't be broken,
but it is, so the question becomes

"What's the easiest way to make it better since establishing
blame is both trivial and pointless?"

-mo