I suppose if I ever get my Ham license I will have a better understanding of
these things. So please bare with me and my dumb questions.

That said, I'm looking through the freq. listings for my HF SSB and note
that in each group of channels the majority will be Duplex and at the very
end of the listing there are about ~5 or so that are Simplex.

My rig is an ICOM 706 Mark II G (ham) which I want to also use on Marine SSB
(in an emergency).

I need to program in some marine channels and am limit to about 100 memory
locations. Programming in the split, duplex is just a bit more complicated.
I was wondering if there is a good reason to stick with duplex or simplex???

Also, as I tune through the bands, I seldom hear any traffic on the marine
channels (assigned freq). Mostly it is just the USCG regional weather, etc.
If I find anything in the way of ship traffic, it is foreign.

I have had the SSB installed for about 8 months now and don't have the
faintest idea of where and how to do a radio check.. (about ready to
schedule something with "Bruce In Alaska".)

Just how do I gain proficiency on marine SSB while observing proper
protocol.

Also, which channels would be the most likely choices to program in. The
USCGs would be logical, but where is most of the marine traffic and general
marine communications?? I am most interested in medium range (since I my rig
is only 100 watts) and I'm going to be interested in boats and marine
conditions in the Pac. NW and SE Alaska.

Thanks, any constructive suggestion welcome.

Steve
s/v Good Intentions



OM 706 ICOM 706 ICOM 706 ICOM 706 ICOM 706

"Steve" wrote in
:

I suppose if I ever get my Ham license I will have a better
understanding of these things. So please bare with me and my dumb
questions.

Ham license is now really easy. FCC hands you all the test questions, you
memorize them, then take the bogus test(s). The best way to memorize them
is to keep taking the free tests from qrz.com on:
http://www.qrz.com/p/testing.pl
Pick Technician and when you get it passable go take the test from your
local volunteer ham examiner. Then start in on the General and repeat.

You'll need a code practice generator program for your next cruise from:
http://www.qrz.com/download/morse/index.html
They're all really simple programs, so download 'em all that say code
practice and try 'em to see what you like best. Most generate random
letters and numbers. Try to study code at 13 wpm letters with spacing to
make it slower. Copying true 5wpm is painful. To increase your speed
later, all you do is put the 13wpm letters closer together...(c;

Rich boaters are fed buying Gordon West's expensive course. I've just
given you your ham license study course for free. MEMORIZE the test and
don't worry about becoming a crack electronics technician. This isn't
about education, it's about passing a truly stupid test they hand out. One
of the questions on my Extra Class test a few years ago was something like:

"How many days before you launch your low earth orbit satellite (I suppose
from the cow pasture out back..(c are you required to notify the FCC you
are putting up a satellite?"
How stupid can it get? Why does a ham have to memorize stupid numbers,
dates, times he would LOOK UP if he were going to fire his Titan Rocket
from the cow pasture out back?!! Idiots....


That said, I'm looking through the freq. listings for my HF SSB and
note that in each group of channels the majority will be Duplex and at
the very end of the listing there are about ~5 or so that are Simplex.

Two words "Ma Bell"! The American Telephone and Telegraph Monopoly
Corporation setup itself as the marine communication monopoly in the days
when they had the government bureaucrats under their control. To keep you
from using the marine HF channels WITHOUT PAYING THEM, most channels were
setup for "marine operator" use to charge shipping for HF use. Only a very
few channels were not included so you could call the CG (or whatever
government bureaucrats controlled the waterway you were in) and ship-to-
ship comms. Having a rule change leadtime measured in decades at the ITU
and FCC, these idiotic duplex channels persist, even though most of the
shore stations they connected you to (WOM, WCC, etc.) have long since been
abandoned, their stations dead.

Shore stations still use duplex, including the CG. This lets them keep
monitoring a ship frequency while transmitting on the shore frequency from
a remotely-sited transmitter far enough away so it doesn't kill their
receivers.

The channels for USCG on all HF bands and the channel designations are on:
http://www.navcen.uscg.gov/marcomms/...cy/default.htm
Open each band from here and you'll see what all the channels are used for.
Don't forget to store the WEFAX channels in your Icom's memory, either. If
you plug your headphone jack into your computer's line in jack, there are
many WEFAX programs that will let you look at and print out the weather fax
charts, at amazingly slow 1939 speeds, on your laptop or printer.
You can get free WEFAX programs from:
http://www.qrz.com/download/sstv/index.html
or you can do what boaters do and pay $600 for them from some commercial
company....(c;



My rig is an ICOM 706 Mark II G (ham) which I want to also use on
Marine SSB (in an emergency).
706 modifications so it will transmit anywhere is on:
http://www.qrz.com/download/mods-i-k/ic706mii.txt
It requires you to remove surface-mounted diodes so you'll need a tiny iron
or you'll be sorrrriiiiieeee....(c;

Lots more radio modification instructions are available from:
http://www.qrz.com/download/main/mods.html


I need to program in some marine channels and am limit to about 100
memory locations. Programming in the split, duplex is just a bit more
complicated. I was wondering if there is a good reason to stick with
duplex or simplex???

The channels for USCG on all HF bands and the channel designations are on:
http://www.navcen.uscg.gov/marcomms/...cy/default.htm


Also, as I tune through the bands, I seldom hear any traffic on the
marine channels (assigned freq). Mostly it is just the USCG regional
weather, etc. If I find anything in the way of ship traffic, it is
foreign.

This is 2005, not 1948. Sane shipping companies use MARISAT or some other
satellite service for comms, now. No noise, totally digital and private,
no $78,000/year "radio officer" on each ship, the master uses a simple
fill-in-the-blanks program like email on his cabin computer terminal and
presses the SEND button. Problem solved....IN ANY WEATHER, I might add.


I have had the SSB installed for about 8 months now and don't have the
faintest idea of where and how to do a radio check.. (about ready to
schedule something with "Bruce In Alaska".)

The uscg instructions are on:
http://www.navcen.uscg.gov/marcomms/boater.htm
Protocols are pretty much like talking to the CG on VHF. You do need to
learn a little about propagation to pick a band for the path distance to
the station you are trying to contact. One good way of finding out what
the best path is from you to CG is to listen when they are reading the wx
broadcast. Switch between frequency bands on the CG broadcast frequency on
each one to see which one has the loudest signal. That's the best band to
talk back to him on when you need him.


Just how do I gain proficiency on marine SSB while observing proper
protocol.

Also, which channels would be the most likely choices to program in.
The USCGs would be logical, but where is most of the marine traffic
and general marine communications?? I am most interested in medium
range (since I my rig is only 100 watts) and I'm going to be
interested in boats and marine conditions in the Pac. NW and SE
Alaska.

Straight from the USCG website on boater:
"Radio checks with the Coast Guard Communications Stations on DSC and HF
radiotelephone are allowed."
Call 'em on the HF radio on various bands on their calling frequency. Be
prepared to move to their working frequency as they won't talk to you on
the guard channel. Tell them you're new to HF and you'd like a radio check
and ask them questions...right there on HF....you'd like their opinion on.

I've never had one bite my arm off. CG ops are really not bad guys and are
very helpful IF THEY ARE NOT TERRIBLY BUSY....which on HF they're not these
days. Hell, the ships just call 'em on the phone!!


Steve
s/v Good Intentions


Sorry you can't learn the code the way I did when I was a kid....listening
to WCC or WOM and the ships passing traffic into the night on my borrowed
Hallicrafters Sky Buddy hooked to the 800' longwire behind the house. I
didn't get much sleep many nights when something was going on on the CW
marine bands....

Thanks Larry,

The written test has never been a problem for me.. (I'm not all that
knowledgeable, just a good test taker).. I agree, the prep for the test
looks pretty easy.. In fact I took the General back in the '50s, but
couldn't pass the code, even a 5 wpm for novice..

I have several programs for exam prep and code practice.. And 50 years
later, I still can't copy 5 wpm..

I'm just waiting for all the "ole timers", who have influenced the FCC for
year, to die off and allow the code requirement to be dropped. Good typing
skills would be more appropriate today.

I QSL some on the ham bands and I'm still amazed that these "ole timers" are
still yakking about their tower, the crab grass, what 'Ma' cooked for Sunday
Dinner. I shouldn't complain, they have preserved the ham band for almost
100 years.

I'm not interested in running contest, just exchanging boating info and
maybe comments on how I rigged my longwire and ground plane.. Much the same
as we discuss on these rec.boat news groups.

I have already "open" my rig up can now transmit on the marine bands. I have
also installed a Pactor IIb and will have it upgraded the next time I'm down
in The Bay Area. However my cruising season is too short to invest in the
SeaMail annual fee. I'll use my cell phone or internet cafes for this
summers trip.


Call 'em on the HF radio on various bands on their calling frequency. Be
prepared to move to their working frequency as they won't talk to you on
the guard channel.

Then how do I know what "working channel" they might ask me to shift to?? If
we are assuming Duplex, it takes me a minute or so to program these freq.
into both VFOs. While in Simplex it's just a matter of tunning up or down
the dial.. The USCG assumes I would punch in a channel number.. What I'm
asking, is some recommended working channel that I can have preprogramed for
each band.

thanks for those links to the various channels/freq. They are in a better
format than what I was using.


Steve
s/v Good Intentions

On Sun, 3 Apr 2005 22:21:51 -0700, "Steve" wrote:
Then how do I know what "working channel" they might ask me to shift to?? If
we are assuming Duplex, it takes me a minute or so to program these freq.
into both VFOs. While in Simplex it's just a matter of tunning up or down
the dial.. The USCG assumes I would punch in a channel number.

================================================== ===

I'd suggest listening for a while on the simplex calling frequencies
to see what working channels are being requested.

"Steve" wrote in
:

Then how do I know what "working channel" they might ask me to shift
to?? If


CG only has a couple of working channels in each band. You have enough
memories to program in all their working channels.

CG only has a couple of working channels in each band. You have enough
memories to program in all their working channels.


In the list of Marine SSB channels I see some designated as "USCG Calling"
and some as "callng; distress & safety working ..) and some as just
"Calling".

So which would you say is a "working" channel and which would be a channel
that would be monitored.

So should I assume that the guard channel is "USCG calling" and the working
would be "Calling; distress & safety working"??

I see from a separatist list, that, says, channel 421 is guarded by some 24
hrs while other stations are monitoring it 2300-1100Z, etc. Similar for
other channels.

Sorry, just musing!

Steve
s/v Good Intentions

In article ,
"Steve" wrote:

Thanks Larry,

The written test has never been a problem for me.. (I'm not all that
knowledgeable, just a good test taker).. I agree, the prep for the test
looks pretty easy.. In fact I took the General back in the '50s, but
couldn't pass the code, even a 5 wpm for novice..

I have several programs for exam prep and code practice.. And 50 years
later, I still can't copy 5 wpm..

I'm just waiting for all the "ole timers", who have influenced the FCC for
year, to die off and allow the code requirement to be dropped. Good typing
skills would be more appropriate today.

I QSL some on the ham bands and I'm still amazed that these "ole timers" are
still yakking about their tower, the crab grass, what 'Ma' cooked for Sunday
Dinner. I shouldn't complain, they have preserved the ham band for almost
100 years.

I'm not interested in running contest, just exchanging boating info and
maybe comments on how I rigged my longwire and ground plane.. Much the same
as we discuss on these rec.boat news groups.

I have already "open" my rig up can now transmit on the marine bands. I have
also installed a Pactor IIb and will have it upgraded the next time I'm down
in The Bay Area. However my cruising season is too short to invest in the
SeaMail annual fee. I'll use my cell phone or internet cafes for this
summers trip.


Call 'em on the HF radio on various bands on their calling frequency. Be
prepared to move to their working frequency as they won't talk to you on
the guard channel.

Then how do I know what "working channel" they might ask me to shift to?? If
we are assuming Duplex, it takes me a minute or so to program these freq.
into both VFOs. While in Simplex it's just a matter of tunning up or down
the dial.. The USCG assumes I would punch in a channel number.. What I'm
asking, is some recommended working channel that I can have preprogramed for
each band.

thanks for those links to the various channels/freq. They are in a better
format than what I was using.


Steve
s/v Good Intentions



Hi Steve,
Well yur going to want to use 4125.0Khz for sure, (that is where 90%
of the HF Traffic in the North Pacific is..) and it is a Simplex
Frequency. USCG Kodiak is a 24/7 Monitor on 4125.0Khz and they also
use that for a working channel as well. Your also going to want to put
the CanadianCG Station at Comox BC in there as well. Those are the two
main CG Stations for the North Pacific. For MF 2182.0Khz will be good
while your in Canadian Waters, as Comox BC has some of the best coverage
on the West Coast of North America. Once you get to alaska, forget about
2182.0Khz as our own USCG Stations couldn't hear you if you had a MultiKw
Transmitter 50 yards away from thier antenna sites. We have very good
VHF HighSite coverage up here but MF is the pits. Most of the traffic
on MF is on Alaska Private Fixed Frequencies like 3261Khz or 2512Khz,
and HF happens on one of about 10 frequencies around 4366Khz. These are
all mostly commercial and fishing frequencies, but noncommercial traffic
happens here as well. The standard 4, 6, 8, 12, 16, 22, and 25Mhz
simplex HF Frequencies are available but much of that traffic is fishing
and commercial. The Yacthet guys preety much stay on the hambands for
chit/chat, although I worked a bunch of them over the years from WDT-59
a 1Kw HF Private Coast Station, and KWO-70 a 150 watt MF/HF Alaska
Public Fixed Station that uses a massive Antenna Farm, for Fleet
Communications to the fishing fleet in and around Alaska. Wx Traffic is
handeled on 4125.0Khz by the USWS Stations at Yakatat, Kodiak, and Cold
Bay, Alaska... twice a day from each station. They accept local Wx Data
from vessels 30 minutes prior to each schedualed Wx Broadcast, and they
give all coastal Wx information and forcasts on each broadcast, with
repeats at the end of each brodcast.
There are NO Public Coast Stations left on MF/HF in alaska, and very few
Public Fixed Stations in the interior. Mostly everything has gone to
Cellular, with Highsites colocated with the Alascomm Microwave Common
Carrier sites. Cellular should get yu up thru Canada, and Southeastern
Alaska, preety well, but there are very few PCS sites outside the MAJOR
Towns and even then they have spotty coverage, so plan on using either
analog, or digital 800Mhz cellular. Best coverage is had by using an
external celular antenna and a 3watt Brick amplifier. I understand that
AlasComn has requested permission from the FCC to shutdown ALL of the VHF
Public Coast Stations, and this may have already happened, so don't
plan on using them in alaska this summer.


Bruce in alaska
--
add a 2 before @

"Steve" wrote in
:

So should I assume that the guard channel is "USCG calling" and the
working would be "Calling; distress & safety working"??


Channel 816 is the USCG calling channel in the 8 Mhz band....

Channel 821 is the calling channel for other shore stations, those that are
left.

Coasties monitor Channel 601....Shore stations 606, but they also use the
ship transmit frequency simplex....

The reason CG swaps monitoring the 4 Mhz band at night for the 16 Mhz band
in the daytime is propagation. 4 Mhz is virtually dead all day because it
penetrates the sunny side ionosphere. 16 Mhz is dead at night because its
reflective layer in the ionosphere is only on the day side of the planet.

No sense listening to a band that's dead.....

Your CG calling freq list is on:
http://www.navcen.uscg.gov/marcomms/cgcomms/call.htm

The coastie working channels are in a list at the bottom:

HF Radiotelphone (single sideband) - Working Channels

These channels are available at all Coast Guard Long Range Communication
Facilities for traffic handling purposes after initial contact is
established on the HF Radiotelephone (Single Sideband) - Distress and
Initial Contact frequencies.

ITU CHANNEL
KHz SHIP STATION
KHz COAST STATION

424
4134
4426

601
6200
6501

816
8240
8764

1205
12242
13089

1625
16432
17314

On Mon, 04 Apr 2005 19:11:48 GMT, Bruce in Alaska
wrote:

Best coverage is had by using an
external celular antenna and a 3watt Brick amplifier.

==========================================

Any recommendations on type or vendor?

I recently saw a 3 watt cell repeater advertised that requires no
physical connection to the cell phone but I've seen no discussion on
how effective it is.

Wayne.B wrote in
:

Any recommendations on type or vendor?



http://www.cellantenna.com/

I have the DA4000 dual band (800-1900 Mhz) bi-directional amp and an 11-
element DB Products 800 Mhz paging system beam a friend in paging gave me.

http://www.cellantenna.com/Boosters/da4000.htm

I wouldn't try to use a beam in marine applications. I use mine from atop
a long telescoping pool cleaning handle up 30' out in the country from
fixed locations. Cell antenna has high gain, omni-directional antennas,
like:
http://www.cellantenna.com/Antennas/...cellular_9.htm
They also have the patch cords to connect your toyphones to the amps:
(pick your phones in the click panel under the amp pages).

Cell Antenna has made a wireless repeater model of my amp:
http://www.cellantenna.com/Boosters/da4kmr.htm
But, please take note that there MUST be good separation between the
antennas and there MUST BE A ROOF/WALL/BULKHEAD STRUCTURE BETWEEN INSIDE
AND OUTSIDE ANTENNAS. This would be fine if you have the patch antenna
inside the cabin and the outside link antenna up the mast fed with a high
quality, low loss, foil shielded 50 ohm cable for the 800 or 1900 Mhz.

Not sure how the wireless repeater would work. The DA4000 does what it
says it will do.....

Now for the negative part.................................

Cellphone companies have reduced cell antenna heights from 500' to 100' and
have gone from long-range systems on AMPS (analog) to various digital
schemes running tiny 150mw-300mw phones only capable of 2 mile ranges.
This is to increase their available channels per square mile (what they
tell the customers) and to increase their revenue-per-square-mile (what
they tell the board of directors and the stockholders). Antennas once
pointed outward to achieve horizon line-of-sight range to 3W AMPS carphones
hooked to decent high-gain car antennas have been dropped to low levels and
POINTED DOWN towards very localized toyphones incapable of going far, so
the minicells don't hear cellular phones at any range, like we are looking
for. They keep lowering the toyphone power levels so your toyphone only
hits one, or at max, two towers (actually sectors as each tower has three
120 degree systems on them). (Notice each cellphone tower you see has
three sets of antennas around them....each independently operated.)

This money decision results in the 3W stations having no such range as they
used to have under the old AMPS (analog) systems that would go 10 miles to
a bagphone and 50 miles to a nicely installed, high gain antenna running 3W
of power. It's simply not going to happen any more, especially around
populated areas where the new tiny toyphone systems are built out....no
matter what you put up. Systems in the "country" are still, until they
need to upgrade to the new toyphone digital systems, up at high altitudes.
If your adjacent landfall is one of the old systems, yes, you'll get AMPS
range out of a 3W amp and decent high gain antenna on the mast......

So, is it worth it? Depends on where you cruise. Florida....nope.
Alaska...probably a great idea. California...nope. Rural
states....probably great.