Ham radio and marine ssb 500W digital mode

The Ultimate SSB/Ham

Well rugged portable 500W amplifier for robust digital connectivity on 1.8 - 30MHz Bands

On our sailing catamaran SALOMEA we operate a decent radio station. VHF,AIS,Sat and SSB. Eager for more vivid communication we decided to join the Ham community. But I learned first of all I must build my own radio first - the ham license questions are not easy to know unless you have been experimenting a lot with this stuff. This is my way to learn the technology and a chance to create the optimal equipment being capable of Marine, MARS, and HAM bands in any weather condition. Ultimately there is a need to take the radio with us if we would need to abandon the ship. All in all quite a strech goal for a beginner. But for more than 10 years we build our own boat too, how hard it can be...

Project mission

Indestructable by operator error, broken components, bad environment

transparent and deep diagnosis insights in the field without extra tools

low load design for high temperature environment, possible to operate without active cooling

simple and state of the art electronic parts, easy to keep spare and stock underway

100% automated design. No manual operation necessary

Antenna tuner included for security reasons

High energy efficiency for battery operation, while maintaining highest possible radio output > 80%

Cover HAM bands all regions, MARS, Maritime radio frequencies

Robust 500W for hours continuous full throttle in digital transfers (PACTOR,VARA)

Budget 500 EUR (1EUR/W)

Ham society is a sharing sprit. Therefore I feel inclined to put my documentation online. Especially as I will use plenty of design work of other Ham's.

For the radio, I was looking for a basic, principle design with a traditional BPF and mixer design, but with the nice waterfall features. I found mHCF and Tulipan are really nice and small designs. I will give the Tulipan a try, the receiving audio samples and low noise look promising. Lots of SMD soldering. However it is a way to learn.

For the PA I am looking into a cheap LDMOS MRF300. Very promising specs and ridiculous cheap. I will do my first experiments with the smaller bother, the MRF101. Less power should keep me safe.