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 MAXX-COM AND THE SEA By Sonny Irons As published in RADIO SCAN and WORLDRADIO Magazines Recently I have noted with interest comments regarding the comparative differences between SGC, SEA, Hull and some of the other electro-mechanical couplers and the Maxx-com device. I have a difference of opinion as to which type of unit is more valuable for cruising boatmen. It has to do with the philosophy of being at sea. I have noticed in magazine columns, concerning the installation of SSB radios, antennas, and their radiation aboard boats, that a constant reference is made to the close range radiation of a few hundred yards to several miles away. These tests that are conducted are not done at sea, but rather at a dock, in a marina with a new installation. Everything works fine when new. My experience at sea has been quite extensive: First, as a crew member of my parents' cruising vessels (both sail and power), and later, as a captain of tugboats, a delivery skipper of all sorts of vessels, and culminating in a five year stint as the captain of a rescue and salvage tug in the Caribbean, based on the uninhabited island of West Caicos. (While in the Turks & Caicos I operated on the amateur bands as VP5SI.) This experience has led me to believe very strongly that there is a tremendous difference in a product such as an antenna tuner operating at a dock under ideal conditions, and what happens once a person takes that vessel to sea and the first huge green wave washes down the deck and filters into the lazarette, through the cowls and into the Nav-Station and soaks the electronic equipment. Even at best, on board larger vessels where there is sufficient space to better secure electronics equipment, you still have the constant, corrosive intrusion of salt-laden air that is not found dockside. I am still the proud owner of every type of antenna matcher: automatic, semi-automatic and manual. I have learned that there may be, because of shorter radiator lengths, an S-Unit's difference between a Maxx-Com and any other electro-mechanical tuner. However, once you're at sea, and you arrive at the circumstance where you desperately need to communicate by radio, that difference becomes not just an S-Unit's difference, but the difference between a Maxx-Com's S-7 signal and the nonexistent signal of a malfunctioning electro-mechanical tuner. I remember one of our monthly crossings from West Caicos to Haiti, when we were caught in the center of an unusually strong storm cell; so strong, with such intense lightning, that I could actually see water splashing as the lightning bolts struck the sea. We were the only boat out there! I looked at that 60 foot tall steel mast with all those antennas up there, and wondered when we were going to be hit. We never took a direct hit, but the induced voltages were sufficient to destroy the 50 volt transistors in the antenna tuner. Sure, it's true that we didn't need to make an emergency call that night, and when I returned to West Caicos I was able to make emergency repairs to the antenna tuner and make it work once again. But, if I would have had to use the radio that night, I would not have been able to make a call for help. That coupler with an S-Unit stronger signal back at the dock, compared to the Maxx-Com, simply wouldn't work under those conditions at sea. It would have brought me no help. The Maxx-Com would have worked. In fact, I have received many phone calls from Maxx-com users telling me of direct and indirect lightning strikes where all of the electronics, except the Maxx-com, were destroyed. Yes, the Maxx-com still worked. Now, to me, this means that once the 90-day guarantee runs out on ordinary couplers, say a year out from San Francisco, down in Micronesia, or a year out from Miami, down in Venezuela, that I might really need to radio for help. And I don't believe that the station that I am calling is going to give a damn if my signal is an S-7, where another coupler might have given them an S-8. I only care that I can communicate to get the help I need when I need it -- every single time that I need it. Even after many huge green waves have washed down my deck. And that is what the Maxx-Com is all about. After going through tuner after tuner, and spending hundreds of dollars flying technicians in from Miami to the Caribbean to replace those delicate CPU's, I began to get very interested in electronics, and especially radio communications. It was there, at West Caicos, where I began constructing antennas and antenna matchers for myself and visiting yachtsmen. We were on the air every single day, and I learned a lot of things about radios, antennas, and propagation. I learned, for example, that when you really want to get good help, do not call the Coast Guard on their own frequencies, but call one of the high seas operators such as WOO, WOM or KMI. These operators are more technically proficient than the 18-year old kids at the Coast Guard Station, and they know how to handle emergency traffic. In our circumstances, we had to rely on the radio not only to protect ourselves, but primarily to provide protection and relief for vessels that found themselves in trouble in the dangerous areas around the Turks & Caicos Islands. There are dozens of vessels whose crew can tell you about the help that was rendered to them by the tug "Final Victory" and its crew during the five years that we spent in this area. After learning something about electronics through the trial and error method, I then began to become more interested in an antenna coupler design that could withstand the corrosive and vibrating environment at sea. It was all too obvious to me that the electro-mechanical designs were, by design, mechanical. They had switches. After all, a switch can only switch a certain number of times and then it fails. That is the nature of mechanical things. I decided that I was going to build an antenna matching device that was not mechanical, would not wear out, and would last forever. This matcher could be depended on under any circumstances. Even if my main antenna fell down, I could take the output of that antenna matcher and attach it to the stump of a mast, my lifelines, or even the remnants of a smokestack and get help. My first attempts at building a matcher took place in the wheelhouse of the tug "Final Victory" anchored off the east coast of West Caicos. My wife (KC4AP) and I wound countless transformers and built a base of knowledge that eventually produced the Maxx-Com device. In fact, the first 17 Maxx-Com units that were sold commercially were manufactured in the wheelhouse of the salvage tug "Final Victory". My concern is not how strong the signal is from a Maxx-Com, compared to an electro-mechanical coupler a few hundred yards or a few miles away when brand new, because let's face it, anyone wanting to communicate that distance will either use a VHF radio or a loud hailer. I really care how much of my signal comes down after the first bounce, or half way around the world. And that's why I have always maintained that "on the air" transmissions from your station to the desired station is the proper way to measure your ability to communicate. That's the only test that counts. And it counts especially at sea, one year or five years after installation, all the way back from your trip around the world. When a Maxx-Com gets back, I guarantee that it will still work. I wonder how many repairs would have been made to conventional electro-mechanical couplers by that time. Some people have told me, one boat builder in particular, that "most people really never leave the dock and go to sea -- at best 2% go any significant distance." So he says, "Why build something for 2% of the people?" I guess most companies build equipment for those 98% who never leave the dock. Maxx-Com is not one of those pieces of equipment. It's built for the 2% that actually go someplace and do something. Maxx-Com is built by a man and his family who know the importance of communications, who have desperately needed radio communications to help themselves and other people while at sea. We appreciate that "quality" is not a matter of price -- "quality" is a matter of simplicity of design, quality of construction and dedication to those ends, based on experience. The 15,000 Maxx-Com users around the world have learned to appreciate those facts. If you are a member of the 2% who actually leave the dock, I hope you will consider and install a Maxx-Com System. During that inevitable lightning storm, you can always unplug the radio, but the antenna system is securely wired into the circuit and is not easily disconnected. Your choice of antenna matcher will determine your ability to summon help when you most need it, and maybe by someone not technically proficient with electronics equipment. Look into the new Maxx-Com Marine Units that are now on the market. I designed these units to work with the shorter lengths of radiators normally found on board boats. The standard Maxx-com works extremely well with long lengths of radiators attached. These long lengths are not possible aboard most vessels. All of my attempts to insert some kind of coil into the Maxx-Com failed. The Maxx-com saw all coils as traps. I discovered recently that by inserting a zigzag copper strip to the output of the Maxx-Com, significant increases in RF loading and its inherent efficiency occurs. Inside the Marine Maxx-Com boxes you will find an 11 inch long copper loading strip that I feel improves radiation from shorter marine type antennas. I will continue to look for ways to improve the design of the Maxx-Com, never forgetting the real world of serious salt water cruising. The ocean voyager will benefit greatly. SIMPLY CONNECT, DIAL YOUR FREQUENCY AND TALK. about Maxx-Com and the Sea, or review Maxx-Com specifications.  | Maxx-Com and the Sea | Specs | | Return Home | About Maxx-Com | Our Models | Internet Special Pricing | Installation Info | Our Customers/ Testimonials | FAQ Page | Contact Us | |
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