• Ahoy and Welcome to the New SSS Forum!!

    As you can see, we have migrated our old forums to new software. All your old posts, threads, attachments, and messages should be here. If you see anything out of place or have any questions, please click Contact Us and leave a note with as much detail as possible.

    You should be able to login with your old credentials. If you have any issues, try resetting your password before clicking the Contact Us link.

    Cheers
    - SSS Technical Infrastructure

SSB Radio Check

A

AZ Sailor

New member
If present plans hold, on Monday, August 7, Morning Star will be anchored in Mission Bay, San Diego, CA, roughly 32[SUP]o[/SUP] 46.04’ N, 117[SUP]o[/SUP] 14.83’ W, where I will be trying ship-to-ship calls on SSB, hoping someone from this group can pick me up and respond. My thinking is to announce myself and wait for answers back on the following frequencies and times:

4A (4.146 MHz) at 1900
8A (8.294 MHz) at 1905
6A (6.224 MHz) at 1910
12A (12.353 MHz) at 1915

All channels are simplex in USB mode; all times PDT. Morning Star’s call sign is WDI5764.

The SSB setup on Morning Star seems solid. All the data stuff via Pactor modem/Sail Mail/Sail Docs works great. I’ve spoken with WLO for radio checks and a ship-to-shore telephone call, but have not yet done any ship-to-ship calls. As a result, I’d appreciate any suggestions, and happy to modify the proposed plan if another scheme is more likely to succeed.
 
The plan is definitely on for Monday evening's radio check. One boat in the PNW is expected to participate, and I hope to line up another boat locally in SD. Suggestions still welcome if anyone wants to weigh in.

There is decent cell phone coverage at the anchorage, so there will be the opportunity to follow up by telephone if radio contact is missed or garbled. We can exchange phone numbers by PM if you are interested.
 
Apropos of nothing.... when I did my SSB checks in 2008, I motored myself out of the forest of masts at Coyote Point out to the isolated dock near the launch ramp. That put about 150 feet between me and the nearest upright aluminum thing that could mess with my signal. You might want to consider extricating yourself from your marina for this.

Also, I talked to people in Richmond, Marin and Oakland, meaning distances of 30-40 miles. When I did the 2008 race I talked to boats that were 50-75 miles away, like the General. I could hear Hecla, who was as much as 250 miles ahead, but I couldn't talk to him. I figured that was adequate. I managed to do my daily check-in. So if you can't talk from Arizona to Washington, I'm not sure that's really a problem.
 
AlanH said:
Apropos of nothing....
Click to expand...

Actually, quite apropos of the topic at hand. Useful comments, and I thank you for them.

Getting out of the marina for this is definitely in order. The power boxes on the docks throw off way to much electrical noise to be able hear anything clearly. The anchorage in Mission Bay will be pretty empty on a Monday night, which is why I'm heading up there. That, and I always like to get out for at least an overnight somewhere whenever I'm on the boat. Plus, it will be a lot easier to conduct the session at anchor than it would be underway.
 
AZ Sailor said:
Actually, quite apropos of the topic at hand. Useful comments, and I thank you for them.

Getting out of the marina for this is definitely in order. The power boxes on the docks throw off way to much electrical noise to be able hear anything clearly. The anchorage in Mission Bay will be pretty empty on a Monday night, which is why I'm heading up there. That, and I always like to get out for at least an overnight somewhere whenever I'm on the boat. Plus, it will be a lot easier to conduct the session at anchor than it would be underway.
Click to expand...

I'm sure you know this, but....

Being able to talk 20-30-40. miles on the SSB is one type of transmission, in regards to atmospheric conditions. I think that's called ground-wave transmission and it uses lower frequencies.

Being able to talk 1,000-plus is something else entirely. Like, you bounce your radio signal off the ionosphere, or something which I never really understood all that well. That's called sky wave propagation. What I DID understand was that my radio might be working just great, but atmospheric conditions don't cooperate, and so all you get is that 25-200 mile transmit.
 
if you're cruising, which I never have, but seems to me that it would be pretty nice to talk to your buddies back in Mexico, send Sail Mail from halfway to Fiji and all that. So it would be nice to have that sky wave transmission working. However, if you're installing the radio so that you can check in during a SHTP, then a couple hundred miles is more than enough. There will undoubtably be multiple boats within ground-wave transmission distance during the race.

If you have the killer installation and can chitchat at will back to the mainland, you might wind up being the COM boat!
 
AZ Sailor said:
Actually, quite apropos of the topic at hand. Useful comments, and I thank you for them.

Getting out of the marina for this is definitely in order. The power boxes on the docks throw off way to much electrical noise to be able hear anything clearly. The anchorage in Mission Bay will be pretty empty on a Monday night, which is why I'm heading up there. That, and I always like to get out for at least an overnight somewhere whenever I'm on the boat. Plus, it will be a lot easier to conduct the session at anchor than it would be underway.
Click to expand...

I'm sure you know this, but....

Being able to talk 20-30-40. miles on the SSB is one type of transmission, in regards to atmospheric conditions. I think that's called ground-wave transmission and it uses lower frequencies.

Being able to talk 1,000-plus is something else entirely. Like, you bounce your radio signal off the ionosphere, or something which I never really understood all that well. That's called sky wave propagation. What I DID understand was that my radio might be working just great, but atmospheric conditions don't cooperate, and so all you get is that 25-200 mile transmit.
 
Two or three tests ago (2008?) I anchored off the mouth of the Estuary. I could talk to Skip in Capitola but I couldn't hear those of you who were closer. For a test before the 2014 Pac Cup, I anchored off the west end of Potrero Reach (near RYC) and had a nice conversation with VALIS up in Friday Harbor, WA on 4, 6 and 8 bands. So I think testing with stations in that medium range matters.

BTW, both tests were at dusk. I never had much success in the daytime.

Also, I have a KISS-SSB "ground plane" coil for sale. It works fine - it's what I used for the 2014 Pac Cup. I'll take half of whatever they cost new.
 
Last edited:
Thanks, Bob. And thank you again, Alan, for the further observations. All good data points to help with the process.

Fortunately, I'm haven't been dealing with any issues/choices about purchase and installation of the SSB. When I bought Morning Star in 2015 she already had ICOM M710RT SSB, antenna tuner, insulated back stay antenna, Pactor PTC-IIpro, copper foil ground to keel, all professionally wired and installed. Enough of a challenge to learn how to use it all, and get it all to play nice with the lap top and each other, etc. It has been a process, but very satisfying.

Hoping to be proficient by race time, and to use all this for long range cruising after the race. Don't think I'm qualified to be com vessel yet, but maybe by next summer . . .
 
I'm game to try in the morning. I'll still be at this anchorage until 1100 or so. Let me know what works for you.

Here's what I was able to hear tonight:

4A - someone responded, but all I could make out was that they were trying to reach Morning Star, and they were calling from Ventura Harbor. Don't know who that was.

8A - nothing heard.

6A - someone from Washington State responded. I asked if it was Jeff, they said no. I think they said they were in Bellevue, but not sure. Couldn't make out anything else. Don't know who that was.

12A - think I could hear someone trying to respond to Morning Star, but couldn't really make out anything. Don't know who or where calling from.

On all four channel there was quite a bit of static. Don't know if that was a transitory thing or inherent in this location. Closest marinas are nearly 1/2 mile away, so I wouldn't have thought that would be a problem. I'll try calling WLO tomorrow on the sail back to SD, and I'll try listening on these same channels while at sea, to try and determine if this was just a bad location to have selected.

Oh well. Can't say it was a big success, but I don't consider tonight a failure. This is why we test and practice and run drills.
 
I enjoyed getting out and playing with the ssb even though we didn't have contact. Im happy to give it another try soon.
 
How do you make a call if your interested in talking to anyone that can here you? I mean on the ssb. When used the chat on the ham bands you say cq cq etc.
 
Can we try this again?

On Sunday, October 22, I will take Morning Star off shore from San Diego, looking to get clear of sources of radio interference. I will have crew to keep watch, and we will heave to somewhere outside the 3 nm line west of Point Loma. With batteries fully charged and engine off, we will try ship-to-ship communication over the SSB once again.

The plan at the moment (open to all suggestions) is to call out for anyone listening on the following frequencies and times:

4A (4.146 MHz) at 1500
8A (8.294 MHz) at 1505
6A (6.224 MHz) at 1510
12A (12.353 MHz) at 1515

All channels are simplex in USB mode; all times PDT. Morning Star’s call sign is WDI5764.

Interested? Let me know. If we have a group, we could practice a roll call as if we were racing. The attached would be a good template to follow.
 

Attachments

You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top