Purely for Aussies - WANTED HF RADIO

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bogranjac1

Senior Member
Joined
Jul 6, 2014
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Location
western australia
Purely for the resident Aussies,
I need an HF radio.
Have the chance to do some of the West Kimberley this July / August. Reckon I might trailer Nimiane to Derby and go check out the Buccaneer Archipelago / Horizontal falls / Montgomery Reef and as far as Prince Regent River.
Need an H.F. radio to keep in contact and weather etc. and boy are they expensive !!! Anyone have one for sale or know anyone ???
 
HF's are wonderful things but as you say very expensive. I have flown over all that country you are heading to and it is fairly remote. Have you thought of renting a satellite phone for the period you are up there?

Brett
 
My neighbor is selling an ICOM-IC-M700 SSB and ICOM Tuner for $400.00 US. I could get it and ship it to you if you like.

Bob
 
being a ham radio operator (VK4NFL) I like HF radio, but as others have suggested, sat phone would be a lot easier, have you thought about hiring one? there are plenty of companies that hire them.

Yobbo
 
Mate,hiring a Sat phone would be the way to go for you. Especially as it is short term and there is no resale on HF's anymore. ( buy cheap and sell even cheaper)
I have both and use the HF for weather on the automatic channels but when I really want some info I call home or a mate on the sat phone.
I also think the HF would take up to much space on your boat , especially for the amount of use it would get.
 
My boat came with an HF radio and aerial of skyscraper height, I think they were standard to 80s IGs. I fitted VHFs up and down, never bothered with the HF, but would not remove it either, except for the massive aerial. Sat phone sounds a good idea, especially when I see letters in Afloat about limited Marine Rescue HF coverage.
 
Marine HF is expensive....have heard that HAM radios can do the same freqs/job for a fraction of the price...plus how you rig it can alter the bottom line too.
 
HF still has it's place,however VHF has pretty good coverage especially on the East Coast.
Sat phone are great,again with the proviso that you can't receive general radio traffic,sat phones are good when ET wants to phone home and an outright emergency,but of you want to chat try ham radio.Like all phones you need the number of who you want to contact.
We still use HF,a lot of the time just for listening rather than communicating.
You should be able to pick up a set with RFD (Royal Flying Doctor) stuff all set up for a 4wd on Ebay,not marine but will get the message out if required.
If it just emergency and reporting home though I would go the sat phone.
If you go the Ham route I thought I'd give you a picture of a nice compact set up for you.
Also a picture of a typical Ham operator,the young lady,I heard is quite keen on a trip to WA as well.She will teach you whatever you heart desires to know about Ham radio.
 

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Thx guys,
for all inputs, especially stornaway7, that's just what I wondered about the units out of 4wd's. There's a few here in perth 4 sale, and yes I would get to see it operating and have help installing and mayb even a quick lesson in operation.
My main objective is to get the weather report out of Wiluna every day. Not big on the boat to boat chatter - LoL got a woman with me for that !!!

Just cannot risk getting caught in King Sound or any open ocean however short a trip up there if a high pressure comes through like this week for example. As you guys know the southerly/sou.easter up there is gale force for days matched with a massive tide. :eek:
regards
 
BruceK said:
My boat came with an HF radio and aerial of skyscraper height, I think they were standard to 80s IGs. I fitted VHFs up and down, never bothered with the HF, but would not remove it either, except for the massive aerial. Sat phone sounds a good idea, especially when I see letters in Afloat about limited Marine Rescue HF coverage.
Click to expand...

Ditto for Malagari - a giant Wagner radio and aerial tuner above the downstairs helm station - about as useful as ................. well you can work it out. Its still there only because I don`t want to have to fill the holes. Still has the huge aerial - I`m thinking of cutting off the top 2 metres just to make it about the same size as the VHF
 
Don't forget that with the ham radio you will be required to get either a foundation radio lic or an upgraded Standard radio lic. Our marine radio lic apparently doesn't cut the mustard for the ham guys.
 
Don`t we need a licence even for VHF? Does anyone get one? The original owner`s radio qualification certificate is with papers I got with my boat.
Our SSB is a Wagner too, same reason to leave it in place. I did remove the aerial, we`d never have fitted under the Spit Bridge to access Middle Harbour with it in place,save waiting for bridge openings for sailboat/yachts.
Hope the OP finds a suitable unit at a good price, it will be handy to have.
 
Only 27 Mhz doesn't need a licence.
Almost all boat users should have their MROCP (Marine Radio Operators Certificate of Proficiency.)I thinks it has been replace by the LROCP (Long Range Operators Cert of Proficiency)
From memory when you do the course it's very easy to do the HF component at the same time.Not sure what the age limit is,my daughter got hers when she was 17 so it must be 16.
 
bogranjac1 said:
Thx guys,
for all inputs, especially stornaway7, that's just what I wondered about the units out of 4wd's. There's a few here in perth 4 sale, and yes I would get to see it operating and have help installing and mayb even a quick lesson in operation.
My main objective is to get the weather report out of Wiluna every day. Not big on the boat to boat chatter - LoL got a woman with me for that !!!

Just cannot risk getting caught in King Sound or any open ocean however short a trip up there if a high pressure comes through like this week for example. As you guys know the southerly/sou.easter up there is gale force for days matched with a massive tide. :eek:
regards
Click to expand...

I think for HF you are also meant to have a special licence and pass a proficiency course and test. I suspect that is still the case. Probably not worth the fuss. The sat phone would be better. I think you can get the local weather through a GPS. Navionics, on my iPad has the weather, tides, etc option.

PS. Sorry, I missed the fact others had already mentioned the licence thing. My wife and I did our VHF one years ago in NZ and it was accepted here, which made a change, Almost nothing else is.
 
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Peter B said:
The sat phone would be better. I think you can get the local weather through a GPS. Navionics, on my iPad has the weather, tides, etc option.

peter. please elaborate this statement, I want to know how an ipad or comp can give the the daily weather reports ( from where) when i'm at the 'back of Burke'
Click to expand...
 
Brisyboy said:
Am I missing something (or displaying what a luddite I am) but is there likely to be any reliable mobile/data coverage where the trip is planned
Click to expand...



No you're not missing anything .

If traveling alone and venturing onshore in such a remote area wouldn't a sat phone be number 1 priority and a fixed radio on board for weather be a back up ?
 
Brisyboy said:
Am I missing something (or displaying what a luddite I am) but is there likely to be any reliable mobile/data coverage where the trip is planned
Click to expand...

George mobile coverage in the Kimberly is non existent. You will only get a service in the towns i.e Broome, Derby etc. and these are a long way apart,

Brett
 
George , that is why I have had a Sat phone for the last10 years as I worked up in that area and there is basicly no coverage to speak of.
The HF will give you weather and may be a few cruisers in the area, but the Sat even though it is only one on one will give you coverage to all and sundry.
 
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