[Elecraft] RE: Dayton 2008

[Ron D'Eau Claire]

What you're seeing there is a new "market driver" that will produce a host
of HF radios that require very little expertise to operate them for a much
broader market than Ham radio. 

The "driver" is the Global Marine Distress Safety System (GMDSS) that is
used on vessels of all sizes around the globe to protect life at sea. It's
what replaced "Sparky" and his CW rig on large ships.

There's a HUGE misconception that GMDSS is a "satellite based" system. Not
so. On large vessels, satellite systems are used for routine communications
when there's no emergency and satellites form a backup during emergencies
assuming the equipment is working and needed. But satellites are a backup,
*not* the backbone of the system. 

On large ships such as "Sparky" used to travel aboard, the GMDSS system
depends upon HF (Shortwave) point-to-point SSB communications to contact
other ships and shore stations just like Hams use to make contacts across
the HF spectrum. Licensed GMDSS operators have to apply a knowledge of HF
propagation in order to choose the best frequencies for the needed range
under any conditions, just as experienced Ham operators do. Emergency calls
are made using Digital Selective Calling (DSC) feature on these radios which
alerts bridge crews throughout the area in the event of an emergency call.

That has spawned a huge demand for rugged, easy-to-use HF SSB equipment such
as ICOM is showing in the Youtube presentation. Hams will certainly see a
lot of product fallout as manufacturers focused on that market provide a new
generation of simple-to-use but efficient equipment for Ham band operations
as well. 

Ron AC7AC



-----Original Message-----

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFuy01zZR4g

This japanese company has a new radio with a good looking amber/orange  
LCD display.

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KN1w