wrote in message
ups.com...
"Lloyd Bonafide" wrote:
Do you have an amateur radio license? If not, you can't transmit on the
ham
bands.


Yep
No morse code required any more. I know it's a shameful decline in
moral standards. We volunteered to learn morse code anyway.






Option 1- install a ham tranceiver and modify it to broadcast on
marine SSB channels. This has the benefit of being the cheapest option
but the downside is that it's illegal. Also ham gear is often finicky.

Do you have an FCC license to modify the rig? Today's ham gear is not
finicky at all if installed properly.


As I understand it, there is no such thing as a license to modify a
transmitter. If modified it is no longer under the type approval
issued to the manufacturer and thus is illegal.

Hams can build and operate their own rigs. FCC type approval is for selling
radios. Ham radio is a "loophole" in the FCC regs. You can modify the rig
but it cannot cause interference and must operate within the regulations.



I don't have much experience with ham radios yet, but from what I have
seen & heard a lot of people are actually proud of how difficult it is
to make & work contacts. More sporting that way, I guess. And I'm not
saying that's bad, just that we are interested in clear & easy
communication, not bragging rights.


If you work exotic propagation methods (moon bounce, meteor scatter
coldfronts, satellite, people's heads etc) it is fun.




The radio side is simple. It's the antenna/tuner you should be worrying
about. You are looking at covering a wide range of frequencies but
haven't
given any thought to the antenna and how you are going to get a signal
into
it.


What makes you think so?

You say below you are not settled on the ground/counterpoise. That is the
other half of an antenna. A counterpoise is a tuned "ground".

Actually I have read up a good deal on the
subject and have a few ideas on what should work best. I have also had
a good chance to look at a few marine installations that work well.



Basically I am going to copy them!


The fun just flew out the door!


Are you going to use 12 volts to power it?


Yes.

Have you looked at Rockwell/Collins for radios?


No but I will.


Look but don't buy. They cost more than your boat.


Look at a used Kenwood TS140 and have it modified for marine use. Get a
cheap marine VHF unit for the other band. Use 2 antenna. Use a sleeve
dipole
backstay on HF (no ground needed) and a tuner.


We are going to use a 23' whip, and definitely a tuner. One thing I am
not settled on yet is the ground/counterpoise.

Is it a commercial whip? Many of those multiband verticals required tuned
grounds. What tuner? Do you have a link for the whip?

Those radio direction finding loops make neat antennas. It will make your
boat look like a Soviet "trawler".

The sticky thing with most antennas is the feed point, especially if you are
running a single wire from a tuner and using a ground. My personal
preference is to use balanced antennas at these frequencies. You will have
much less noise induced in the receiver, the installation can be cleaner and
the tuner should have a much better defined range of impedances to match to.

Radio ground plates should be larger than and seperate from those other
ground plates. Dragging a wire behind the boat will make a good ground too,
but will not give and isotropic radiation pattern.

Take a gander at these antenna:

http://scitation.aip.org/getabs/serv...cvips&gifs=yes

http://www.n0lx.com/mm_ila.html

http://www.wireservices.com/n9zrt/ila/ila.html

http://www.n0lx.com/ila.html

http://www.n0lx.com/ila_ground.html

http://www.n0lx.com/ila_dipole.html




Thanks for the advice, it is especially valuable coming from a genuine
Korean War vet

Thank you, not many appreciate Korean War Veterans.


Regards
Doug King