HF Radio....to Invest or Not?

It depends on if you're thinking of HF-SSB or HF Ham. There's lot's of traffic and scheduled listeners on Ham, but not a lot on SSB. Years ago, in 1998, a friend was broadcasting a Pan-Pan on SSB 12 Alpha. My wife was monitoring the frequency for the Transpac and heard it, so I responded to him. He had tried to contact the USCG from 150 miles south of San Diego on the emergency HF 2182 frequency, without success. From Acapulco, I called USCG Station San Diego via sat-phone. They told me that they don't monitor any HF frequencies, but I managed to relay a meet-up between the CG and my friend on another frequency (8A). The moral of the story is that A- don't expect immediate assistance from HF, and, B- Sat phones work well. Be sure and have the quick-dial programmed, though
Incidentally, the Iridium Go really needs an external antenna. I couldn't get a signal in the pilothouse of a yacht in Panama at the dock in Bocas del Toro, but it worked OK in the salon!

I had Marine HF/SSB on my boat for 14 years and loved it.
Not only for stuff like talking to fellow cruisers or getting a good wx forecast, but also if in the middle of nowhere you want to know what’s going on, dial in BBC World News. Also good for phone patches, wifey needed to chat with mother and sister every day: Using cell phone roaming from the Bahamas to the US could be $3 per minute a few years ago. Using the SSB with a phone patch knocked it down to $0.53 (cents) per minute (credit card on file with the radio station.)
Would install an HF again if I had a bigger boat, not suitable or needed for this little tub: www.odincharters.com

No idea. Sold my sailboat with the SSB 6 years ago, never keyed an HK mike since.
What is on the Mega Yacht Bridges? Sat this and Sat that, but no HF probably?
(I should go along on deliveries of big boats with some of you guys, to upgrade my ticket from 100 tons to 200 tons, I need recent sea time on boats over 67 tons according to the nice Lady at the MPT school)

Roger on that.
Does most big boats under 500 tons also use, or have HF installed?
(All long range airplanes also have 2 HFs, transmitting at Max 300 watts, but nobody is monitoring the emergency frequency, it is all selcall)

It looks like Whiskey Lima Oscar is still operating out of Mobile, Alabama, if Facebook is current. Over in the Pacific, we used KMI out of Point Reyes until it went off the air at the same time WOO went off the air. When chatting with the operators, I found that all the traffic went to AT&T High Seas in Chicago! We spent $5 a minute for that convenience. I was never aware that the rates were better on the other coasts, although VHF Marine Operators were around 24 cents, when in range.
It seems to me the real value in HF would be in Ham, since that's where the traffic is, and it's illegal to broadcast on the Ham frequencies with SSB gear, although you can listen freely. Unless, of course, all that's changed since I was current.

The $0.53 rate with WLO was with a $25 annual “membership” or subscription, regular “off the street” rates were higher, but can’t remember the amount. (2 things happens when you get older: First thing to go is the memory, the second one I can’t remember. )

WLO’s website is still up, but tried to call ‘em now: No cigar.

http://www.coastalradio.org.uk/worldcoastal/mobilemarine/mobile.htm

From a Cruiser Forum, 2018.