Tested Icom m802 with SRW meter, fine new backstay connection- 2023

Lately we have been doing some radio work. We tested our VHF with a SWR meter, and it seems fine on both sides of the antenna splitter.January 2023 - s/v Elegant'sea ⛵ Chip & Debbie 💑 anchored ⚓ in the Barra de Navaid lagoon ⛱ Pacific Mexico 

Debbie and I have done some testing on the Icom M802 SSB and so far it is looking good SWR meter-wise. The range of both radios is our question. On the Icom M802 SSB for instance we were broadcasting from Barra de Navidad Lagoon to La Cruz anchorage but came in faint. We have just cleaned the back stay connection by stripping and refreshing the end of the antenna tuning wire to it. We also added four more ferrites from the antenna tuner to the Icom M802 SSB. We have the KISS ground on the Icom M802 SSB so we do not need stand-offs on the back stay.

This morning on the Amigo net we were heard and could be heard good by a sailboat seven miles out of Los Muertos which is kind of South of La Paz. We could hear fine also. So all is good with our SSB now. Also, with the Icom M802 SSB if we send out a distress call it will be seen all around the world with our position data (we are connecting a GPS to the SSB today).

How important this is for the SoC we are not sure. We are going up in a couple months or so and now that we have Starlink we can get weather on our apps and as an added bonus Debbie can talk to her sister and daughter in SoCal and we can call for support anywhere if needed. We have tested this VOIP while anchored in Carrizal where there is no cell service and it worked well.

However, we do live by the weather so having two methods to get the weather in a remote location is best!