Difference between marine HF and land HF
Submitted: Thursday, Aug 10, 2006 at 01:22
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ro-dah-o (WA)
A querie,
what (in layman terms) are the significant differences between a marine HF and a land mobile HF. I understand the whole boat cant go to
the desert thing LOL, but curious about the differences in radios.
Any help appreciated
Reply By: Frank_Troopy - Thursday, Aug 10, 2006 at 02:09
Thursday, Aug 10, 2006 at 02:09
Hi,
The marine radio uses a different frequency set than a land unit and also will have some quick access to some marine specific things like single button press for a marine emergency channel. I also think that the land based sets may not have AM (non SSB) mode which saves having to adjust things like weatherfax frequencies for the shift to the side band. The 2182 emergency frequency is AM, or it was the last time I checked. Marine HF has become pretty useless on the sea now that the OTC bases have been shut down.
Also, you will find that if a radio has been abroad on a yacht, then it may have been altered such that any HF frequency can be selected for transmition, rather than just the set burned to the eprom. This may be done legally for a departing set and often they are not rerestricted when the vessel returns. This can be handy in an emergency as it enables the set to be used on ham frequencies if no contact can be made on a legal frequency. It could also get you into trouble if used without a genuine emergency.
Another likely difference is the amount of salt water that the set may have swallowed.
Cheers Frank.
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Follow Up By: traveller2 - Thursday, Aug 10, 2006 at 08:06
Thursday, Aug 10, 2006 at 08:06
Most later model sets will have an autotune box which enables the use of a backstay (if on a yacht) as an antenna. The same setup can be used on a vehicle if it has a roofrack utilising a horizontal wire either diagonally or lengthwise on insulated posts. They actually work pretty
well.
They will also be set up for dual control, the actual transmitter will have a front panel and remote as
well so it can be used from either the cabin or cockpit.
also all the extra bits to enable the use of weatherfax and seamail.
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Follow Up By: ro-dah-o (WA) - Thursday, Aug 10, 2006 at 10:47
Thursday, Aug 10, 2006 at 10:47
Thanks for that.
Can these radio's be used in a vehicle, if programmed for the appropriate frequencies etc and coupled with an appropriate antenna, be it auto tune or tap wip?
cheers
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Follow Up By: traveller2 - Thursday, Aug 10, 2006 at 10:53
Thursday, Aug 10, 2006 at 10:53
Sure can but be aware of the salt water environment, printed circuit boards, connectors, cables etc even if not actually immersed/wet at some time will all suffer corrosion problems if not now then down the track.
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