Since Martek Marine in NJ lost, stole, kept, won't return, my side band that I asked for repair (microphone) in the beginning of summer, I have a couple of questions. You all still using a side band, which unit provides the best reception and output?
I want it for safety as well communications, but they are expensive. I frequent the canyons off NJ 12-15X a season and often go off 100 miles+ away from many other boats.
I have both a SSB and Sat Phone. Personally, like having diverse technology back-ups for canyon fishing and that's one reason I STILL have my old Northstar Loran C as a back-up to my chartplotter. There's still a LOT of people that use SSB's in the NE canyons.
I have the ICOM M802, but the set-up is expensive. ICOM also has the old Model M710 which has been around forever and is about 25% less expensive than the 802. ICOM just came out with a new SSB Model M700PRO, but I don't know anything about them.
You might be able to find a deal on a used unit on Ebay.
I second the thoughts of JD. There is nothing like having redundancy. I do not have the need for this type of communication for fishing purposes, however, for my day job (aviation) we use them on a regular basis. We actually use HF (SSB) as our primary means of long-range communication for position reporting and clearances over remote areas. Can you believe that? Using 1950's technology in this day in age. It still works though and pretty good in most instances. You can’t beat the sat-com for basic communication, but its limitation is who is on the other end. If you needed to make a distress call, unless you had the number of a trained person (USCG, another Capt. etc) that call may be in vain and, only that one person is listening. If you make a distress call on an HF emergency frequency, most likely there are several people and agencies listening and that may make the difference in determining the outcome of your circumstances. Not sure if this all translates to being on the water in a remote area but, I thought I would throw it out there. Just my opinion.
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