While I wait for improving weather my task today is to discover the source(s) of interference that the SSB is picking up and minimize it. The receive signal seems weak and noisy. Also, I have to wire up the external speaker to the terminal strip on the rear panel of the SSB so that I can then wire the external speaker terminals to the audio input on the SSB Pactor data modem. All of that allows you to send and receive email when there is no cell coverage or internet, you can also receive GRIB files (weather related data) and weather faxes.
I should explain what an SSB radio is, SSB or Single Side Band radio is a HF (high frequency) radio for marine use. The radios you see on most boats are VHF (very high frequency) radios and are good for 10 to 20 miles, the Coast Guard can pick up VHF signals from boats as far away as 50 miles on a good day, but that is because they have the best land-based systems. Once you get out 20 miles or more, cell phones don’t work, VHF radio doesn’t work, you’re on your own. Well, that’s not completely true now a days, I carry a satellite tracker/communicator that has worldwide coverage. I can send out text messages and distress messages with the tracker. It’s not fast, its not easy, but it is a last resort if needed. I’ve used it once when I was abandoned at sea by a towing company, but that is a story for another time. An SSB radio can send and receive voice transmissions hundreds to thousands of miles. That’s not a mistake hundreds of miles to thousands of miles, if your old enough, like me, this is the equivalent of HAM or Short-Wave radio. With a special modem you can send and receive data. (emails, weather faxes, weather forecast texts), NOAA prepares high-seas forecasts everyday for different parts of the world’s oceans.
To get at the guts of my SSB and start testing, the table-top of the nav station needs to be removed, attached to the table-top is a storage area that is full of stuff that I do not want to remove and then put back again, so filled with stuff, weighting about 70 lbs. out it comes. Next, we remove all the connections from the SSB back panel that includes power lines, RF (radio frequency) ground wire, control head connector, antenna tuner control, and the antenna wire. With all the connections removed I can lift out the entire SSB control enclosure which measures about 16” x 8” x 30”. First, I inspect all the connections to make sure everything is as it should be, and to my great surprise and shame, I saw that I had forgotten to solder the antenna wire to the center pin of the antenna connector. Basically, the radio had no antenna, but how do I fix this at anchored? Hum… on my last trip to the Bahamas I had twice as many tools on the boat as I do today… One of the things I left behind was a production solder station, one of the good ones, temperature controlled, but it only works on 120 Volt AC, all I’ve got is 12 volt DC batteries. It isn’t widely known that when I outfitted the boat for cruising, I installed a 4500-watt inverter (takes 12 Volt DC from batteries and turns it into 120 Volt AC), I tested it after it was installed and was running a toaster oven, it worked like a champ, but sucks power out of the batteries like a beast. I really don’t want to use it either, to turn it on I have to empty the port side lazarette, get down inside to turn on the inverter, it would be such a pain… Half hour to empty the locker, 5 minutes to solder the wire, and a half hour to put everything back. Luckily one other thing I remember from my last trip is that there is also a mini-inverter, same thing as the big boy, just much smaller, its a cigarette lighter kind of thing. Now all I have to do is find it… wait its in the tool locker. The mini-inverter is 300 watts and looking at the bottom of the solder station, it’s only 30 watts, so ya it will work, hopefully… I dig out the solder station from the v-berth cabinet, get the mini-inverter from the tool locker, plug in the inverter and turn it on to see if it even works, yep the mini-fans are running, now I plug the solder station into the mini-inverter outlet receptacle, turn it on, and feel the tip to see if it’s heating up… ya again. Now the most important thing, solder. I remember removing all the spools of solder when I cleaned up from the last trip, but I also remember taking some solder off the spool and putting it in a baggy, put it somewhere… I looked everywhere for the damn baggy and its no where to be found, shit, I’m ready to go and no one to dance with. I start thinking about other ways to solve this problem, I remember I bought a commercial solder gun, changed the tip so I can use it to melt rope ends so they don’t fray… I put it in the tool locker before I left, I just wonder… yep, the original kit had a small piece of solder in it and it’s still there. Wa hoo good to go, well not quite yet… I have to find some way of holding the cable and connector so they don’t move while I’m soldering them, you see it takes two hands to solder, one to hold the soldering iron and the other to hold the solder. There has to be something else here I can use… buried deep in the tool locker, in the dark corners are 2 ratchet clamps, God only knows why I put them in there. But, I used one of the clamps to hold the cable and connector to the nav station pedestal… literally 2 minutes later a perfect solder joint.
I’m feeling pretty good about, maybe finding the reception problem, but I still have to wire the external speaker to the terminal strip, so the entire unit needs to come out. When I mounted it I made sure that it could easily be removed, and it was. Took off the top of the enclosure, made up a mini-audio cable, plugged it into the Ext. Speaker connector on one of the circuit boards inside, ran the cable out the back to the terminal strip and put everything back together. I reinstall the SSB radio enclosure, reconnected all the wires and with the table top still off I started my testing. Everything seems ok, but I need to listen to another SSB transmitting to see if I can hear it and what the quality is. SSB radio nets are run mostly by boaters and cruisers and they broadcast at predetermined times on predetermined frequencies… early in the morning (for the latest weather) and then in the early evening (for cruiser in route to check in). Now all I can do is wait for the next broadcast at 5:00 pm… This is me impatiently waiting… … … The broadcast time finally arrives, I tune the radio to the net’s frequency and I can hear people talking, they are in the Pacific Ocean half way between California and Hawaii, their sailboat is called St. Jude with Dick and Judy onboard, but I also still have too much interference. I’m not completely surprised by that, everything electronic on this boat is an RF noise maker, the wind generator, the solar chargers, the inverters, the engine alternator, etc. I know that I don’t have enough RF suppressors with me to install what is needed, it will have to wait until we return to the US. I put everything back together and all tools away. Done for another day.
This is control head mounted on the nav station, the guts of the SSB radio are housed just below within the nav station pedestal, just below the table-top.
Breakfast – Creamy Peanut Butter on unsalted top Saltines, trail mix, Lunch – Turkey Baloney and cheese sandwich, pan fried mini red & white potatoes, Dinner – Chicken and noodles, pears.