I know someone who is about to embark on an around the world sailboat cruise. She is not currently licensed on HAM frequencies but is going to have a marine operator license. She is about to acquire a marine SSB radio. Most of those radios are also capable of operation on HAM frequencies.
I was trying to figure out if it was possible to legally communicate with her using my K3 from home. Can the K3 be modified to permit transmission on marine bands? I want to emphasize that I am not looking for an opportunity to use the radio for any illegal purpose. I am only interested in operating on marine frequencies for which I would have a valid license. Beyond this, it seems there is a potential marketing opportunity for Elecraft in the marine community. Ocean sailors use SSB and many of them also end up getting a HAM license so they can also use HAM frequencies on voyages. The Elecraft K2 and K3 are in some ways ideal for marine use because they are small and have relatively low power consumption. The stresses on a marine radio are huge and most of them have been made water and shock resistant. Also, marine radios require extreme simplicity of operation because they occasionally have to be used by an inexperienced operator during an emergency. Maybe none of this makes practical sense. Someone educate me, that is what this forum is about. de George AE7G ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:[email protected] This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
