Topband: Maritime gear programmable on ham bands?

[Tom W8JI]

> Tom, this is news to me. Maritime equipment is manufactured to
> extremely strict type acceptance. Can you give me an example of an
> Icom MF/HF maritime rig that can be used or reprogrammed onto the ham
> bands? It seems to me that some incredible redesigning of such a radio
> would have to be done.

Jeff,

The real world is different than we think.  :-)

http://www.marineelectronicsjournal.com/how_to_buy.cgi?article_id=81

Often in about one minute, almost any radio will transmit anywhere across HF 
these days. Some dealers sell them "opened up".

Not only that, dealers sell Ham Icom's and other brands as "economical" SSB 
marine radios.

73 Tom