Tony of Pleasanton, CA, asks:

You mention using the SSB often, and checking into Nets... can you tell us what Nets and when? Are you making any Amateur Radio contacts?

Jim Leishman responds:

I'm embarrassed over my lack of expertise in the department of the SSB. We did connect with sailors crossing the Indian Ocean and got frequencies for daily communication. Normally we would be down in the 4 to 8 megahertz range - which is good for shorter range communication - 50 to 800 or 900 miles.

We had Paul Grover aboard who just retired from Contential Airlines and he's been messing around with SSBs throughout his career. He became pretty good about entering frequencies and fiddling with the SSB. But for me, I never had the time to really work with it. Frankly, it was one of the most expensive pieces of electronics aboard and in my opinion (at least for us) the least valuable.

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