On Fri, 29 Aug 2003 06:07:00 -0400, "JAD"
wrote:

Larry.....I meant IC-M710......not "702" ...but...you probably realized
that. Mine is the "open" version. Despite it's faults (below) ..is one of
the finest out-of the-box HF rigs I've played with.

I should add one of the commercial computer controls to it.....navigating
the bands without this is a real pain....but can be done.

The M802 is as simple to operate as a CB rig. If you are in
Group-Channel mode, its default mode, the first 50 channels are the
most popular HF simplex channels on all the marine bands. You flip
through them and it's just like operating CB....totally channelized.
The first 500 (I think) channels are all user programmable preset
programmed for the most common from the factory. All these channels
can be the start of a band cruise on frequency mode. All you do is
press the RX button and it switched from where the channel is into
frequency mode, without changing the channel programs unless you force
it to change. Whoever thought this up was really smart. It will
allow my captain to use it, once we get him accustomed to which
channels are the call and working channels and CG channels like he had
to with VHF channels. All the ITU channel assignments are easily
selected by switching the GROUP knob to the band then the CHANNEL knob
to the ITU channel which are totally separate in ROM from the user
channels. It won't write over the preset ITU channels, I don't
think...

NO CW TX on that 802!??? Rubbish, Icom!

No AM, either.....only SSB and maybe FSK. The CW filter in it is
about 300 Hz wide.....nice CW receiver. I was copying a ship-shore
QSO on 8 Mhz last night and the dock walkers heard it through the
hatch. They all came down to watch, so I started writing it down so
they could see what's going on. My Morse is rusty, but I can still go
about 16-18wpm pretty fair. The ship station had boiler problems and
needed to have a valve made special. They were still underway but on
reduced oil burners making a cool spot in the boiler which isn't good
for mileage.

I supposed if you DID want to operate CW you could always plug your
code oscillator into the mic jack on SSB. I'd want to make sure the
tone was quite pure, but after listening to the ships that STILL chirp
like birds with their WW2 equipment, I don't think anyone would
complain.....(c;


Yes, the HF spectrum has been in poor shape.....this too, will pass. The
digital stuff remains reliable, as do the various e-mail services, from
reports I've heard.

Take it easy! Joe

Marine radio really needs to ditch SITOR for PSK31. I'll have PSK31
on board as soon as the buildout is complete and I have time to play.
The nav computer is a new Dell P4 notebook as powerful as a mainframe.
Winwarbler will be installed...(c; Has a great soundcard. It'll be
playing MP3s through Winamp into the boat stereo at the low end of the
installation priority list. Silly computer has 256MB of memory and a
60GB hard drive. I have the Archos Studio 20 portable hard drive-MP3
player. It had a 20GB drive that would store 800 CDs in MP3 format at
128Kbps, but I found a deal on a 60GB Hitachi notebook drive for it so
swapped it out. We won't need CDs aboard. I'll just bring the music
from home in the Archos and either play it directly through the boat's
stereo amp or let the Dell USB port play the music stored on the
archos with Winamp through the USB ports. I also use the Archos to
transport large software to the notebook permanently mounted on a
swingout arm.

The dock neighborhood has DSL broadband in a dockbox close to the
boat. 802.11b wireless didn't work well, even with the amplifiers.
Must be all the masts causing lots of loss or reflections. We
switched it out for Netgear's RP614 router plugged into Netgears great
powerline RF interconnect XE-102. Netgear has a transceiver built
into a wall brick you plug into any outlet in any boat in the marina.
The brick has an Ethernet port on it. Every AC outlet in every boat
now has broadband DSL at full speed through the Powerline router
system. What's really crazy is on HF the powerline noise of the
marina blocks a lot of HF freqs really bad. But this doesn't seem to
bother the powerline router system at all.....operating right on the
powerlines with the same HF bands!....2 to 42 Mhz!

Sure is nice to logon and get all the WX charts, forecasts, tides,
etc. before you leave the dock.....



Larry W4CSC

Isn't it becoming more practical by the day to make
Iraq's desert the new World Nuclear Waste Disposal Site?