SSB "How to" needed

[daledrums]

I just returned to the world band radio world by getting a Sony 7600GR. Scanning with my 246T has driven a new interest in monitoring ham transmissions, so I need now to ask a question regarding the Sony's use.

How, in general terms, do I monitor SSB transmissions? I mean, I know how to set the radio up to do it, but (please bear with me) do I enter specific frequencies and then fine tune, or what? Perhaps there's a FAQ or online primer I could be directed to(?) I obviously need it

 

[kb5udf]

SSB Reception

With the exception of hams transmitting below 10mhz (use LSB here), almost everything will be in USB, so set your radio accordingly. As you fiddle with the tuning dial, you will here the speech go up and down in frequency accordingly, just set it until it sounds natural.

For scanning ham bands, generally, that's the kind of place you just go 'fishing' tuning around to see what you can find like between (14.150-14350, 7100-7300, 21200-21450, during the day).

For other services like USCG, Aircraft etc, consult the wiki's and frequency lists here on RR.com. There you might want to enter them in your memorys.

Hope this helps.

P.S. Having a good quality shortwave antenna can be very important for monitoring these kinds of transmissions, since the mobile stations, will generally be nowhere near as powerful as SW broadcasters using AM.

 

[daledrums]

With the exception of hams transmitting below 10mhz (use LSB here), almost everything will be in USB, so set your radio accordingly. As you fiddle with the tuning dial, you will here the speech go up and down in frequency accordingly, just set it until it sounds natural.

So doing that is it? If something is there I'll just snag it? Don't need to enter a frequency first...? I'm also getting an AN-LP1 to help the 7600GR out in this process a bit.

And, yes, even as slow as it seems to be going as to my learning curve, you ARE helping ;-)
I appreciate it.

 

[kb5udf]

Yes and no

On the ham bands trolling around in USB or LSB as appropriate (3800-4000, 7150-7300 LSB at night) will get you alot of traffic.

However, most military, airline, and commerical kinds of traffic(ie stuff other than hams) is very intermittent, so knowing the right frequencies is important if you want to hear much of anything.

A couple of the more active ones off hand is 11175 for military, usually phone patches to aircraft (daytime). But even then you may here only a few transmissions per hour.

So I'd put that in the memory, along with a few of the coast guard freqs, and many some airline stuff that you can get from the databases here on rr.com. I'm all the way down in MS, but I can often here both NYC ATC and the airliners checking in with them in the 8800mhz region (you can get the exact freqs here).

So bottom line, ham bands, troll around, other stuff you are better off knowing the exact frequency.