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Bertram31.com General Bulletin Board
Re: SEA-SSB radio
Posted By: vic Roy In Response To: SEA-SSB radio (gerard)
Date: Saturday, 18 March 2006, at 9:24 p.m.
Gerard - SEA (think it's an acronym for Stephens Electronics Associates) makes nice radios. They had gotten behind the curve to ICOM which went digital long before SEA did. The SEA 222 was probably their most popular recent model, but with prices falling on all the electonics, no match for the ICOM 802. All SSB radios need an antenna tuner to match the selected frequency to the length of the antenna. SSB is High Frequency, operating on the 2.0 MHz to about 20 MHz band, where the wave length is very long, so the tuner "clips" the antenna to a divisible multiple of the wave length. For example, the international emergency channel on SSB is 2182 KHz, which has a wave length of about 120 meters as I remember. Your VHF radio operating on the 148-150 MHz band, a much higher frequency, has a wave length of about 2 meters, so tuning the antenna is not really necessary.
Point being (OK, I'm bored and writing this dissertation on SSB after a nap caused by da Judge, Andre, et al forcing me & the Bride to eat a ton of crawfish this afternoon, not to mention the clears) that a SSB radio needs an antenna tuner to work right.
I have the ICOM 802 on AJ and like it a lot, but there is not much traffic on the SSB any more, but the USCG still monitors 2182 when your ass is in a sling, and the sideband will go a long way. The new digital ones like the ICOM 802 are DSC and have an interface to a GPS that will i.d. your vessel (gotta get the vessel # registered) and location so they can find your body easy.
Look on ebay and there are marine SSB radios there frequently. Make sure you get the antenna tuner (a box bigger than the radio itself, BTW) and the interconnect cables between the radio and the tuner.
Anyeay, email me with the details on your SEA and I may know someone who needs it.
UV
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