Great Lectures but now I am more confused then EVER!

[LasBrisas]

I woke up will a few questions after the great talks yesterday.

Thank god I recorded and took notes to try assimilate all that.

Here is my question is the race committee going to require all of us to have Yellow Bricks,
so basically buying the IN REACH system would be a redundancy?

How many boats have done the race sans SSB?
I really couldn't give a flying hoot what flavor of ice cream
the fancy boat is eating 20 miles away.

My budget is smaller than I antcipated but I want to focus on safety and
the absolute requirements first.

So, please share my fundraising video with your friends and familly.

www.rally.org/karimasail

Thank you,
Karima

[pogen]

I missed the introductory comments, which may have contained a more top-down presentation.

The final comms plan has not been determined or published. However, it will contain

1. Tracking. Most likely this will be accomplished by rental Yellowbrick units. The rental cost is already included in the race entry fee. This allows the folks back home to follow you, and it is also something that the USCG likes to see.

2. Emergency Beacon. This will be via EPIRB, with a possible option of PLB, or DeLorme. I doubt it though. USCG and ISAF Cat 1 rules specify EPIRB, due to flotation, and long battery life.

3. Check in. Historically, the SHTP race was self-managed by the fleet at sea, with check in performed by one of the race boats designated as a "Comms" boat. Over the years, there has been more on-shore involvement. In the past few SHTP/PacCup races, they have allowed multiple options for check-in

1. SSB to comms boat
2. EMAIL via satphone to an on-shore site, that relays to the comm boat
3. SMS text message via satphone to on-shore number (at a certain time of day, inc. Lat/Long)
4. This year, it may be that the new Yellowbrick devices might qualify as a check-in device, as they have a button you push that sends a message to YB, and lets the committee know the position, and that someone was alive and able to push the button.

An EPIRB + DeLorme could in principle accomplish the three requirements.


Additionally, you may want

1. Offshore weather information (some means is usually mandated in comms plans). This can be accomplished with Satphone data connection, SSB audio or data connection, or an SSB receive-only radio (only $150, not $3000). The last option can also be used in conjunction with a cheap laptop to get weatherfax.

2. Social contact. SSB allows chatting with the fleet. As more boats go with satphones, there may be a falling off of chatter. Satphone allows voice calling directly to home, updating social media, easy email. Some people feel that this is a race requirement. I think it is a luxury that some may want , some not so much.

3. Emergency or tech support contact. SSB again lets you talk to fleet. Sat phone lets you call anyone on shore, including your diesel mechanic or the USCG in Honolulu. Race rules usually excuse technical/equipment support from the ban on "outside assistance".

Personally Karima, I know you are on a tight budget, and you also don't have a lot of time. How many days do you want to spend sourcing antenna cables and soldering on connectors? When you should be getting your rigging in order, and above all practicing sailing in the ocean. I speak from experience; when I double-handed the PacCup in 2012, I spent far too much time obsessing over boat prep and not nearly enough time practicing. And I did not even put in an SSB; at least I was that smart.

A satphone installation (including the software to get email and weather info set up) is far easier and less time consuming than SSB, and almost all of the hardware can be rented. You will know all the costs up front. Email, weather, and check in will be very painless. I can strongly recommend OCENS (http://www.ocens.com/) as a rental source, they have competitive pricing and great support.

The SHTP has a great Corinthian tradition as the cheap-and-cheerful ocean adventure race. So I personally would like to see us keep the race as accessible and affordable as possible, and using the technologies that have been developed in the last twenty years would seem to be a way to help with this. After all, you don't use a 1980's phone or computer, why should marine communications be stuck in the past?

A final note. When I hear anyone make a statement like "well yes, the thing I want you to buy is expensive, but a new jib costs $3000, and if you can afford that you can afford anything", I just want to slap them. I call this logical fallacy Reductio ad ante velo ("Reduction to head sail"), whereby third parties who are not spending their own money would like to bankrupt you so you can have their favorite gadget, just because they think you might need it, or because since they want something you must want and need it also.

[brianb]

Hello Karima,
To add to David's comments:

SSB is not a requirement.
Yellow Brick will be the check in mechanism. YB has a button that racers will have to push once per day to issue a check in message. Alternates include SSB, Sat Phone, or any means of getting a message ashore via human intervention. So another system that resulted in an email to the race committee, or communication with the comm boat would be fine.

DeLorme will be redundant for the race.

[Philpott]

David, regarding the SSB receive only radio: would one have to get a separate short wave antenna for that, or would a stern antenna work for it?

[brianb]

Hi Jackie,
You don't need a separate antenna. In fact you can just connect the antenna lead from the radio to the back stay on your boat. Not need to even have an insulator. You could run a #16 insulated wire thru the deck to the backstay, put a lug ring (like used on the electrical connecttions on your boat) on the wire, and secure the lug to the back stay with a stainless hose clamp. Cover with a good sealent and wrap with rigging tape. It will work really well.

BTW - Bruce Ladd reports that there is a cool new APP for I Pads. You can tune your receiver to the NOAA weather fax frequency, place the IPad close to the receiver, and the APP will decode and display the weather fax. Bruce reports that it works very well.

Brian

[Wylieguy]

Actually a length of #16 insulated wire works as both a send and receive antenna. It needs to be a length that won't interfere with the frequency being used, but it works just fine. SSB radios use an automatic tuner. For the 2010 PacCup I just ran a length of insulated (stranded) wire through the deck and up to a small block on the mast using a light nylon halyard (the stuff WM sells in joined hanks). When not transmitting/receiving I lowered the "antenna" and coiled it up. Just for good measure I took along another piece of wire about 50' long which = two emergency antennas. Just remember that the total antenna length includes the section from under the deck to the tuner.

Run the antenna up where it's out of the way of the cockpit so you won't get HF burns when transmitting, but then you'll be down below in the "radio shack" when transmitting anyway. There's really no magic about a random HF antenna; a stainless backstay isn't the best resonator anyway. And, if your mast falls down, you can just drape the insulated wire around, hooked to stanchions, mast stub, etc. and probably send a signal fairly well.

Pat

[Philpott]

I have a second antenna at the stern; the wiring is in the cabin lying fallow as it were. If I were dismasted (and who ever gets dismasted, seriously) I could disconnect the masthead radio and connect the antenna at the stern. Is this inadequate?

[pogen]

Hi Jacky --

I think there is a mixup of which antenna is which. The masthead antenna is for your VHF, and is a couple of feet long. It is fed by a coax cable. The SSB antennas are about 20' long, and may be variously improvised, or you can use your backstay, and so forth. If you want to transmit high power with your SSB, you generally need fancy cable from your ICOM SSB box to the antenna tuner and then to the antenna. If you want a cheap SSB receive-only, you really only need a bit of wire held up with a string. These are three pretty separate cases.

If you want to use a satphone below deck, you may have better performance if you attach it to an external antenna of its own, usually mounted on the pushpit, which looks like a GPS antenna, i.e. a little plastic module the size of your fist. This is fed by a thin coax (of a certain type) and plugs right into the phone. PacCup mandates an external antenna for satphone, and it is a good idea, as down below you are sitting near the waterline. You could just take the satphone on deck, and use it like a cellphone, except they are not super waterproof and you might drop it. And your computer and plotter are down below anyway.