That is true, and if the article is any indication, it sounds like the marine community uses "SSB" to mean "an HF radio with SSB", and "VHF" to mean "a VHF radi

That is true, and if the article is any indication, it sounds like the marine community uses "SSB" to mean "an HF radio with SSB", and "VHF" to mean "a VHF radio with FM". A bit like the way the ham community uses "CW" and "Morse code" somewhat interchangeably, even though as scoot pointed out they are not the same thing. In fact, the ICOM IC-M700PRO shown in the article bills itself as an "SSB Radio Telephone", but it also supports other modes including AM, CW, and FSK (frequency shift keying). http://www.icomamerica.com/en/products/marine/ssb/m700pro/ http://www.icomamerica.com/en/products/marine/ssb/m700pro/ (Note that where the specifications mention USB, they are not talking about Universal Serial Bus. They refer to Upper Sideband. Since there are two sidebands for every AM signal, when you use Single Sideband you have to pick which one you want to use - the upper sideband, USB - or the lower sideband, LSB. This radio only supports upper sideband, not lower. Ham radios use either one depending on the convention for the ham band you're using.) But still, the article really conflates SSB modulation with the HF frequency range: "[Ham radio] covers a broader array of wavelengths than SSB..." "...they’re both using SSB frequencies..." It's not a big deal, and obviously the author knows far more about sailing than I do. But the article specifically calls out propagation differences for different kinds of radios, and it's worth knowing the actual reason for those differences.