How do we communicate at sea?
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- Опубліковано 26 сер 2024
- How to communicate at sea is a question we get asked a lot. After spending two and a half years sailing offshore, around Europe, Across the Atlantic and the Caribbean, we have our thoughts on the matter.
Do you really need an SSB in this day and age? What are the pitfalls?
Do you need a sat. phone, or will a yoghurt pot and a ball of string be sufficient? Just what is a Yellowbrick? Just have a watch and see.
Thanks so much for watching! Please subscribe, leave a comment and give a thumbs up.
Links:
www.yachtrubyrose.com
yachtrubyrose
yachtrubyrose
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Music:
Alan Walker- Fade
As an old Royal Navy radio operations sailor back in the 50s -60s you are so lucky today. My morse code is still set in my brain and can still churn it out at 77.. Best wishes and really enjoy your messages. Roger.
Using HF radio is to communication as sailing is to boating. It's a lot of fun to learn to use.
Very good tutorial on electronics communication. Thanks you!
Don't forget, SSB is the only means that doesn't rely on a centralized infrastructure to operate!
Thanks for honest advice!Fair winds and following seas to you and yours!Seeya out there
Excellent Video however, I think you will be very thankful you have the ssb in the pacific and beyond. Granted there is an up front cost and maint cost but the ssb is the most reliable form of coms on the open ocean or on land. you can send and receive voice and data and you do not have to pay for the privilege. I would definitely have the iridium sat capabilities. Anyhow, safe travels, calm seas and fair winds.
Hello, thanks for the informative vid. Very much appreciated. I also have an SSB and the whole thing that goes with it including the modem. I must confess that I have used it very very little. I am in Europe and there are only two relay stations one in Keel Germany and the other one in Belgium. More often than not, these two are busy or something else. The result is that the thing woks once in a while. So, I have not renewed my contarct this year and I have not noticed any visible difference. So, I am planing to get an Iridium Go. However, given what you said about it, I will wait a little and do some more reaserch. And I also hate windows!
Cheers//
You get information across very clearly Nick
We are enjoying your little info videos. 👍🏼
Extremely helpful for us newbies from Alberta , Canada. Thank YOU !!!
Delighted to hear you say you hate Windows! I assumed that meant that you were a Linux user but perhaps you are an Apple user.
I'm convinced Linux Ubuntu or Mint can handle all your navigation needs.
Glad to see you guys are still doing okay can't wait to see you back on the boat
Great info! Would love to see a video on obtaining weather. I've heard there are a ton of apps and services from text to GRIB to more advanced model predictors that show you suggested routes.
Thanks for this valuable info! Just getting informed on acquiring a boat and outfitting it for the Caribbean.
Another great video which gave me a better understanding of the cruising lifestyle.
Loved this video. I'm glad you are still making videos even if you are not at sea.
great description of comm needs ever. for some others who tried. this were for some reason rekuctant to gi es prices. good on you nick
You could build a ssb antenna out uf copper wire cheap and use a small antenva tuner as well. Get your ham license and you can be self sufficient without all those exoensive fees. I installed one on my cruiser and had good communications. Good info, W4DEU
I have an iridium go and love it. Our phones easily connect to it and we installed an external antenna so we get great call quality. We have the unlimited data/text and 150 minutes a month for $125. It's great for downloading GRIB files
An SSB was all I had in the 80's. I couldn't imagine going without one (Though I rarely use one now other than chatting on the nets). Then, I don't trust most electronics. I love backups for backups...
Really liked the opening music, that shhhhiss sound of a vinyl LP, nothing like it ! Oh ya the video content was informative.
Again an outstanding video with great information about the real costs! Thanks guys and be safe.
I know this is somewhat of an impossible question, but...
Would you
A. Buy a bought that's outfitted for around the world travel and has been used heavily, but maybe will have parts that are nearly worn out due to use.: Water maker, dinghy davits, solar, ais etc. (Something from about year 2000 and newer)
B. A really clean boat with low use, but with almost no gear. (Again 2000 and newer, but a lower hour engine and use in general)
Thank you! I appreciate the answer. We are a year out, but I have been searching by terms like AIS, Solar etc and have found some good boats with high engine hours, but all of the expensive toys. I figure these would need a good 10k or more thrown at them, but in the long run I hope it would save over a bone stock boat.
Also, great video. For us land based travelers the Delorme/Garmin (Garmin bought them) Inreach is a great way to go. I've use the SPOT Gps for about a decade, but without 2 way messaging you can really only say "Okay", "Help Friends!" or "OH SHIT Emergency".
I love that with the delorme you can say, I need a fan belt for a blah blah. Also, it seems that the delorme one doesn't erase your tracking. Spot only shows 7 days of travels. With the delorme you can see where you were in March of 2016 if you wanted to.
Cheers, wife and I really enjoy watching you. I have a feeling you have a lot of material for the blooper reel!
Tim and Kelsey
Thanks for your comments on this subject, it's very useful.
Great video, learning curve,lot of honesty, which can be rare. UK licences for boating/shipping are free for life
On a boat you are limited in height and length, so you have to pick which bands you are going to support. But tuned verticals should be easy to make for 20m and 40m. Tuning these via trimming the lengths, rather than using a tuner, would really help with efficiency. A tuner simply alters the impedance presented to the radio by the antenna, it doesn't really 'fix' anything about the antenna. Which is why making a resonant antenna is better than using a tuner to fix a random length wire. Get yourself some yagis for the upper bands like 10m and 6m and you could find yourself VERY popular in rare grid squares. I ran a mini dx-pedition in the BVI in 2015 and have had 98% of the stations I worked request a card, and the BVI isn't even very rare! I do SOTA and IOTA activations and I never take a tuner to the field, just tuned antennas. Plus salt water = 3dB gain EASY!
Almost no antenna has a 50 ohm natural impedance. Almost all have an impedance transformer of one type or another somewhere. This has little bearing on whether the antenna is 'good' or not. Nor does being resonant mean it is 50 ohms. An impedance match is needed to efficiently couple power from the transmitter to the antenna, and can be 'fixed' in a tuner at the radio, in a balun at the antenna, or in the match design of the antenna itself.
Excellent comments. Thanks! Appreciated!
Awesome video. Great advice guys.
I have most of that gear on my boat too Also like you i paid dearly for ssb 12 years ago even. Used icome ssb 710 back stay insulators, dyno plate for grounding and installed it all myself. Cost me 3,000.00. No pactor modem .I used it a lot out in south pacific.australia etc 12 yesrs ago for conversations at sea, but not much in asia now. Since it has no reliable way to get you rescued at sea i consider this expensive unit a social device. And a radio to get bbc.
I have had the irridium sat phone. It lasted 4 years before mother board damages rendered it uselss never got wet ever..paid 1,600.00 in 2008 included 500 minutes. Cost me 3,100.00 to call home over 4 years. I liked it but when broken bought the inmarsat for 600.00 w no minutes it cost me about 2,000.00 in 4 years to call home
it was ok but not as good as irridium it also lasted just 4 years. A software issue.
Now i am going to buy the garmin in reach for 400.00 and get a basic flex plan. This new garmin should be enough for me to text home. And this with my ssb and a satellite e epirb along with my ais is my cruisig communications.
I would not buy ssb now and i personally wont buy sat phones now that there is the garmin inreach
Another excellent one! Thank you again. Sk in the UK.
The reason Satellite Phones are unreliable is because ALL communication is done via Line-Of-Site, Relay, and Skip
Let me fire another communication salvo: *Undersea Cables Transport 99 Percent of International Data, and cable technology has been in place across the face of the Earth, since 1902*
Would you like to send a Cable or Fax?
As stated by "stromgewehr" below - Weather fax, news, maritime nets and many other resources are available for free using any HF receiver, an optimized antenna will make that far more reliable.
Very helpful. Hope all is well with you. Looking forward to the new season. Cheers.
Honest and super helpful as always.
i have a iridium go and i love the thing. i use it mainly for getting weather updates at sea and or emails. i have a unlimited data package but the speed is very low. 2 kilibyte per second. it has a sos built into it. costed me about 1400 canadian for the device
Iridium 9555 is a better way to go than a go! I believe
Thanks a lot for your answer. I will keep my options and eyes open. The iridium being locked to using its own software programme, so one can't keep one's own e mail provider! How crazy is that?! A quite a disqualifying aspect.
Looking forward to see and hear more from you in due time. Thanks//Cheers//
Any alternative to marine SSB is Ham (Amateur radio), which is perhaps half the cost, but less popular amongst UK sailors (compared to US sailors). SSB can be fun and a prudent backup to satellite devices (and potentially cheaper as you say). I am a land based Ham operator, so I will likely go marine mobile (on Ham). I have also rented a sat. phone for a long crossing (Plymouth to Canaries) as a back up, not used (as great weather).
Also buying a local mobile phone sim when you arrive is essential? (Other global roaming GSM/3G, etc. sims are a potential option to consider?).
... thanks for posting & fair winds,
Skipper Froo
P.S. I would be grateful if you would be willing to share HF net frequencies that you choose to use when in the Pacific (perhaps by personal email) as I am trying to encourage more marine mobile HF use/interest in the UK Ham community. (Although, unfortunately it would likely be truly exceptional atmospheric conditions for me, with my urbanely challenged antenna to hear you in the Pacific).
Yes, different frequencies and licences (and in most countries type approval for transceivers is require, but as marine HF SSB it is so niche now, there are few radios that meet regulations, if any -- in some countries a hacked Ham radio may be no worse than a purpose built marine SSB... I think, but I am no lawyer), but Ham can listen to marine SSB Nets (and participate in Ham marine mobile Nets). My comment about sat phone rental was related to a trip that we made ten years' ago. the boat had a marine SSB as primary comms, we had the rental sat phone as the emergency backup.
Ham and marine frequencies are different. Ham sets can receive marine but typically cannot transmit on them. For some radios it is a simple modification to open all frequencies for transmitting (though this is often not technically legal even with a marine license) FYI, SSB is a modulation type. AM, FM and CW are some other types. Hams use all of these, but they mainly use SSB for voice on HF.
Ham Radio is a great way to talk to people all over the world and marine nets.
That was very useful Nick. Thanks for taking the time and sharing your insights. Best from HKG
As always very helpful informations!
I heard some pros sailors talking about "Iridium Pilot " as the solution for communication at high altitudes!
One consideration of SSB, (and I'm not one of these guys with a "go bag" under his bed) is all of the great nav and comm technology that we rely on can be turned off with the flick of a switch. Short wave radio will still be there. In the event that should happen....well, you'd just be talking to all those other guys holed up in Idaho with go bags under their beds. Maybe they would tell you why the satellites were turned off.
Check out the book "Longitude" by Dava Sobel, a quick and entertaining read and germane to the discussion. :)
Can you explain the abbreviations
Thanks for this informative discussion
An extra thumbs up for hating Windows!
More great information! Thank you! And Terysa, we hear you hiding in the background! Come out!
Hello. As usual, very informative and insightful. Thank you
An SSB is so much move valuable then only a receiver/email device. But many sailers have no intention of leaving the equator. Like any piece of kit, its useless if not used and understood. Its free to use, reaches around the world, especially from high latitudes. Directly communicates with coast guard vessels. Acquires weatherfaxs, and can prevent loneliness. Don't get me wrong, satellite is great as well, but am SSB is robust and free to run. The email portion is probably outdated. Now if you could easily send and receive text via an iPad and an audio cord over SSB, I think they would have years of value beside satellite coms for years to come. Until our iphones work on the ocean, near as well as on land, personal satellite coms aren't yet a replacement for truly remote locations.
Very informative! Thank you for passing along the learning lessons.
Thank you, very informative.
Good explanation of some of the available ways for at sea communication. Hope the Iridium next brings down prices but not holding my breath. When we're off in 2020 or 2021, I need good reliable internet for my wife who will be teaching online, so at the current time, it would be cost prohibitive to do this unless we used wifi and cellular. Satellite is just to expensive but would have to have it during passages, unless I can stick to a rigid schedule, which we know it close to impossible when cruising.
SSB to me is more for the social side of cruising, and would be important if the shit ever hit the fan. But for most, not necessary. Costs can be a lot less though with used equipment. But power requirements can be high. Need to have a good battery bank. From What I have heard of Iridium Go.. not liking it. But I might try it and see for myself. Good for weather and wind. The field is changing, stay tuned!
Very well done. Thank you for sharing 👍🎶
Great advice as always
Great video...very helpful. keeping the good work. Thank you. Cheers
very sound an interesting analysis! thks
The possibility of getting BBC World Service over a £100 SSB Receiver sounds really great. Does this mean that sailors can get news in English any where in the world? Thank you very much for all your videos and help!
Excellent! Thank you again, Nick and Terysa.
Message in a bottle is more my budget
Thank you
A pleasure mate
very informative video Thanks
Fantastic. Very informative. Cheers
Excellent info thanx
I love these Vids. Thanks again!
have been using Delorme InReach paired with iPad or iPhone for years and getting instant weather where we want and as many times we want for cheap. We pay 70$ can per month for unlimited texting 160 characters at the time and another 100$ annually for unlimited weather forecasts. Has never failed us yet for texting have had tons of conversations with our 6 yes yes 6 daughters. As the weather goes to tell you the truth this winter for the first time we were a little disapointed as it wasn't all the time accurate, but texting Julyane, one of our stay home mom daughters, monitoring weather for us we were in good hands. WOULD NEVER GO SAILING WITH OUT IT. Has a SOS alert and if you press it, you don't wait, someone actually texts you right back. Also good around the GLOBE
Great useful info thanks to you both!
Very informative, great video.
Hey Nick, as usual great info. So are you using the SSB for long range and the VHF when closer to shore and when communication with ports, marinas etc? Awesome to see you guys are down under "Mate". Will definitely tune into you live feed tomorrow. Pop into Melbourne for a coffee!
Excellent.
I'm a new fan and I'm enjoying your videos. The information is very helpful!
You mention that you would not recommend the InReach system as your primary communication device. Could you let us know why? My plan is to use the InReach (unlimited email/sms, graphical weather using smart device) as my primary as well as an EPIRB when in remote locations. I would use a long range WiFi antenna/amp (~7 miles), and a cellular booster (~30 miles) for VoIP/data/phone near populated areas.
Off topic, could you let us know what insurance plans (boat, rescue, etc.) you recommend for world sailing?
Thanks for all the great videos!!!
Sailing Yacht Ruby Rose Thanks for the great info!
Great video, very informative! Funniest moment: "I hate Windows!"
You could run Windows in a Virtual Machine on your Macs, then you wouldn't need to tote around an extra PC.
Tangential question: of those books on the shelf in the background, which was the best read?
Having tracking on for the past month made me spontaneously LOL. Your videos are always informative and entertaining, such a pleasure just to watch. Thanks.
excellent.
These videos are great and very good information. I find it very useful.
If cell-phone-like two-way text messages are sufficient, you might want to look into Garmin's InReach SE (formerly Delome). You can find highly positive reviews of them on UA-cam. They use Iridium satellites, so the coverage is global. The prices for the plans are reasonable, and you can change what plan you are on to suit your needs. You can also have them automatically send out your position at regular intervals. The UI is a bit klunky, but you can interface with smartphones.
explore.garmin.com/en-US/inreach/
For times when you have to take to a life raft, a handheld marine VHF radio could save your life. Steven Callahan, author of Adrift, found that cargo vessels that crossed his path never saw his flares. They would have responded if he'd had a radio and could come up on channel 16. One will let you talk to any ship you can see and any search aircraft overhead.
www.amazon.com/Adrift-Seventy-six-Days-Lost-Sea/dp/0618257322
As with any portable electronics, make sure you can keep this gadgetry dry and charged.
Finally, if you do plan to sail in the great reaches of the Pacific and can't afford a marine SSB radio, you might opt for ham radio instead. The gear and licensing cost far less. Also, the ham SSBs marine nets are often better monitored that the CG frequencies.
--Mike Perry, WA4MP
That InReach information may give you a 404 error page for some odd reason. If so, just search for "Garmin InReach SE" and look for the Garmin website.
Also, if you search for the InReach SE on Amazon, you may find the search results steer you to a high-priced vendor selling it for about $400. The offer below is from the original maker and is for $250-that is if that link works here on UA-cam. If not, search Amazon for a part id of B00BX7TJ2O.
www.amazon.com/dp/B00BX7TJ2O
When I lived in Seattle, I had a Amazon software developer tell me, "Never trust Amazon search results." They often show a higher price seller and hide an discounted one. That may be what is happening here.
-----
Finally, if you're really skilled with electronics, there's a made-in-India SSB ham radio for the 40 meter band (7MHz) for $59 as an almost assembled kit. It's not fancy but it will work. And the second link is to a company that offers a $35 antenna tuner that'll work with that radio and a backstay. Just keep in mind that the combination isn't up to an emergency. But if you're cruising it will allow you to chat with hams and have messages passed on to friends.
www.hfsigs.com
www.qrpguys.com
Love these tech videos.
I seem to miss your live broadcasts about half of the time, would you mind putting the up for viewing later? Thanks!
Good info. I realize it may not fall under "communication", but do you also carry a personal emergency transmitter? Or is that essentially the same as a yellow brick? So,,, I have a standard marine band radio for my 20' on Mille Lacs (MN). I don't know that I will be using it much, but I'm hooking it up anyways. Looking forward to a day when I will need real communications!!! ☺
Yeah! EPIRB is what I was imagining! Also,,, not that this is necessary, but anyone, anywhere, anytime could have a couple hundred dollar handheld aviation radio and dial 121.5 and reach dozens of airliners! Of course you also need a license for transmitting on it, but if you had one and not a license and the call saved your life, certainly no one would care...
Can you get a exemption for the marine ssb license when you already have a Ham Radio license.
Which puts you in touch with the Coast Guard faster and cheaper?
Maybe try the SSB Radio in Adelaide, it might finally be useful
thank you
Very informative...thank you. You mentioned moral becoming an issue on a crossing. Obviously it varies, but how long in general did a crossing take you guys?
On a slightly different 'tack' may I ask your views on the suitability of integrated AIS/DCS Radio systems as opposed to 'standalone' AIS. There appears to be the obvious cost saving with the former option but that may come with a downside in terms of practicality for short handed cruising. The biggest advantage, as I understand it is that standalone transponder systems receive and transmit AIS data, therefore not only can also you can see 'other traffic' but can also 'be seen' and identity shown . I'm not sure whether that's so with integrated AIS/radio systems.
Thanks for your prompt reply and it sounds like good advice - Appreciate you sharing from your 'practically gained' experiences - Cheers from Evano
I totally agree and I've just forwarded your good advice to a young couple (Sailing Kittiwake) presently setting out on their first trip across the English Channel. They currently don't have AIS and have just arrived off North West France. It's a well known fact that us sailors 'help each other', I've only been sailing 50 years and still learning...!
very informative , thank's but for me I'm going old school .
Just to advise you that your latest 4 'live' sessions from Adelaide failed to load properly on YT, we got the notifications, but no content in each case - Evano
BTC sim cards for Bahamas and/or Google phone with many country access (Project FI)
I know you are not in the business of satisfying curious yanks, but why is SSB more useful in the Pacific? The distances? Looking forward to your return.
SSB "single Side Band" I think you can get the whole equipment including antenna for under $1,000 dollars. their is some frequencies where you can communicated for stress. Ham Radio Lic. is $12.00 in the USA for a technition Lic. look into IC-706MKII, also Kenwood 2000 model with satellite capability, you can open up the radio to cover all the frequencies from 1.8-30 MHz their is 100's of radios to purchase but for a low budget I think is a good start. thanks for you videos and good energy that motivate my wife and I to get a boat... if you have a question feel free to contacted me. I will happy to help you.
Good stuff Nick. I have my HAM license, so do I still need to get a license to use the SSB on maritime frequencies? Also, if you use a vertical whip antenna, where would you mount it. (i.e. top of mast) THANKS!
You can only legally use your ham license to transmit in the ham bands. Except if it is an emergency of course, then you can transmit anywhere you need to.
Great video and thanks for sharing. Slightly off topic I noticed your ammeters for wind, hydro and solar. What wind and hydro generator do you use and how are the ammeters linked up? I assume they just show amps generated or are they looked to battery to show amps stored? I have a Duogen which can generate wind and hydro but not at the same time. I would like to add some ammeters so interested in your set up. Electronics is not my strongest skill but learning... I have a Rival 32. Regards. Andy
Sailing Yacht Ruby Rose cheers for that, so you didn't add a shunt for the Ammeter? I keep reading about them and lots of videos show using a shunt slightly bigger than the battery capacity.
Just an fyi you only need shunts for large amperes, eg more than 20a although they can make the wiring easier and tidier🍻
All amp meters have shunts. Small meters have them internally, larger amperage ones have external ones. The reason for the shunts is amp meters are actually secretly voltmeters and need the shunts to create a voltage that the meters can read to determine the current through the shunt.
Are you 2 in Adelaide yet? And how long you here for?
Do the phone and inreach use the same service?
Yes, both iridium
You can turn off auto updates for most cell phones, tablets and notebooks. I would recommend talking with some amateur radio operators to get a better understanding of VHF and HF communication. You should have an EPIRB for emergency location transponder.
SSB = Single Side Band ?
2:40 Totally agree, and I get very cross when vendors supply Windows only software and hardware.
He's probably even crosser now!
I am pretty sure you can use VirtualBox as well as a few other programs to allow you to run Windows on a mac and vice versa.
I don't get the rabid i-culture. The reason windows is so widespread is that it can be used on virtually any hardware and has vast amounts of compatible software. Slag it all you like but you are not tied to a single vendor and I constantly upgrade my hardware with a screwdriver - cheaply.
Njck how was tge oyster roast. Did you have a good time. Bill
I enjoy using my Ham radio gear although I do tend do mostly data modes but do use voice once in a blue moon, now you will understand my user name is Mike Zero Oscar Alpha Bravo -.- 73
What 5,000 for a second hand radio , you could set up your own home made radio station for that
Thanks. Navtex ?
Sailing Yacht Ruby Rose thanks mate I'll look into it. What do you use for weather charts then offshore ?
Iridium for an emergency, just go sailing.
That ssb just sets there but if you ever need it even once it will be worth every. Penny you payed for it
guns on the boat??
I hate Apple devices because they are incompatible with so many applications and generally less versatile than Windows, they are also extremely over priced.
Not true a apple Mac can run windows through boot camp better than a PC and also you can use VMware fusion to run windows applictions.
Richard Oram ?
Over priced? You think because a product is cheap then every other product should be cheap? You don’t understand Apple. They set a standard for quality and reliability and so comes the price with it. You hate something you can’t afford? Pathetic idiot.
I agree. Apple is rotten to the core. Not compatible with other fruits of the forest.
Elon Musk tries very hard with his SpaceX. by the end of the year it should already work on the Atlantic. Isn't that an alternative that beats everything else.
bro, come on, 100grand for a satphone bill ? and what are they gonna do if you don't pay up and just throw the phone overboard, hire debt collectors to come after you ? let's be real here.
windows is better
Ignorance is part of you argument not to use a SSB. Start using your SSB and you will see and get the benefit of the communication and the community.
waste of money when they're better and cheaper options