The black item on the left of the picture is an ICOM IC-78 Amateur band radio. As a receiver, it's range is 30Khz to 30MHz, and it can transmit from 1.6MHz to 30MHz. This makes it a Medium Frequency (MF) and High Frequency (HF) transceiver. It does not cover the standard VHF cnannels that most yacht transceivers do, but the frequencies it does cover allow communication over hundreds or thousands of miles.
The item on the right is an Anntenna Tuning unit, or ATU. This allows the transceiver to be used over a very wide range of frequencies using just a single aerial (antenna). On a yacht, this is traditionally connected to the backstay, and that single length of wire is used as the antenna. In practice, we do not yet have the qualifications to use this on Ishtar, so will be using it at home until qualified, hopefully some time next year (Amateur radio Full License - http://www.rsgb.org/arls/adv_licence.php).
So far, we've set up the radio, and, using a 15m long length of old speaker wire, I've managed to pick up the following transmissions
- Full range of medium wave transmissions, including BBC radio 4, 5 and the world service
- Weather Fax transmissions from Offenbach and Northwood, covering the North Atlantic
- Navtex RTTY transmissions from the same stations, covering the Mediterranean and Atlantic
- Transmissions from sailors using the UK M/M Net, on 14.303MHz. A radio net of sailors covering the UK, Mediterranean and Atlantic waters.
As we learn to use the equipment, and progress with our radio licensing qualifications, I will post more.
This weekend, we'll be sailing Ishtar back from Dale to Cardiff for the winter. It's been the poorest summer, from a sailing point of view, since we bought her, largely due to me being 'out of action' with torn ankle ligaments for over 2 months. I'd like to stay in Dale longer, but we have a couple of weeks diving in Scotland coming up soon, as well as work commitments, so we'll restrict our sailing on Ishtar to the top end of the Bristol channel for now, and look forward to a better year next year.
