Equipment | Radio(s)

Radio(s)

Oh boy, do we have radios!

We have a High Frequency (HF) Icom IC-M710, programmed to be open on transmit and receive over the entire band from 500 kHz to 30 MHz. John has a Tech Plus Ham licence (back in the days when a measly 5 word/minute morse test was applied!) that allows restricted access to the HAM bands, but of course we can also use all of the marine frequencies. This HF radio is also the receiver for our Sailmail and weather faxes (via the Pactor modem, shown underneath).

I installed a Standing Wave Ratio (SWR) meter in the HF transmit feed to debug an HF problem I had. I left it in to check on the tuner (an Icom AT130) performance and the power level I'm getting out when calling the server station to send emails.

We also have two Very High Frequency (VHF) radios, once fixed installation (25 watts) and one (5 watt) portable Icom IC-MIV. Finally there's the two Utra High Frequency (UHF) 'Cobra MicroTalk' radios for bow-to-helmsman and ship-to-shore communications.

The Icom 410 is a simple, robust (even waterproof) cockpit-mounted VHF unit for ship-to-ship and ship-to-shore communications	Here are the two UHF radios (on the left) and the portable ICOM VHF (on the right) in their desktop chargers at the navigation station