My sophisticated new antenna mounting system – note the carefully constructed tower made out of a boat hook and electrical tape….
We wanted to have some sort of e-mail on the boat. Most people are installing an SSB and using a modem – this is a $4,000-$6,000 project, depending on how much of it you can do yourself. Also – its old technology – like 1960’s. Their are a lot of problems getting it to work right. Grounding issues, installation of copper gounding plate, high voltage antenna tuners, etc. We had originally decided to go this way, so had the boat built with a sea ground plate (dynaplate) and an insulated backstay. However, the more people I talked to, the more they sounded dissatisfied With this system, especially in relation to the cost. The SSB was great if you wanted to talk to people underway, or participate in long range cruising nets. Well, we don’t like to talk to people, especially on the radio. We always argue about who’s turn it is to have to talk on the radio. So we decided to try the Skymate.
MY new Skymate 100 satellite e-mail system promised ease of installation – why do they all say that – we all know nothing is easy on a boat!
The first problem was mounting an antenna. When you first read about the Skymate – you get the impression that you can use just any old VHF antenna. I thought I could hook it up to an existing antenna and use a two way switch. That might have worked – except the problem was the antenna mounted on the masthead uses Euro style fittings. I was not able to locate adapters here in the USA. Maybe they are around, but the places I looked did not seem to have them or know about them. American antenna come in a range of fitting styles, "B" fitting, Motorola, RCA – there are three or four different types. I now have a small box full of these fittings……
The Skymate folks recommend using their proprietary antenna – it is tuned to a 140 to 170MHZ band. This is a different wavelength than an antenna tuned to receive HF broadcasts – these are in the 2-30MHZ range. They recommend it be mounted up high, and three feet away from any other antenna. I tested this around the stern of the boat with their antenna tapped to a boat hook. Guess what – it works a lot better up high, above the radar dome, then it does mounted low on the rail. The computer allows you to evaluate the reception (this is a really neat device, by the way). The Skymate folks are really nice – they get back to you right away with e-mail (I mean in less than 1 hour). They dropped shipped me an antenna cable and actually called me on the telephone! E-mail "Chris Irwin" <cirwin@skymate.com> – for skymate information – he was of great help.
As you can see here – the Skymate involves quite a few wires – I usually keep a small libation inside the electrical cabinet to help get me through these sorts of problems.
The Skymate itself is a smallish sort of unit. One of the problems is that it came with a 9 pin serial output. I had to get a serial adapter to get the unit plugged into the USB port of the computer. Why such a sophisticated piece of equipment came with a 1980’s style of hookup I will never know. Getting the computer to talk to the Skymate was a bit of a hassle.
The installation is starting to get a bit under control here…
The navigation station comes apart into many pieces – no wonder I drink all of that gin…(Marianne gets scared when this happens – but I have always gotten it back together again.
The Skymate has a dedicated 12 volt connection with an inline 1 amp fuse. You leave it turned on at the nav station, and it acquires satellites.
This is the finished installation. It fit quite nicely up on the wall of the station. The connection to the USB port goes through the bottom of the cabinet. There is a little light that installs on the outside of the cabinet to let you know when there is an incoming message.
I will be finishing this up this weekend and post about how it seems to work. Right now, we have contact with the satellite and have received our first weather forecast from NOAA – it took about 40 minutes.
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