The "Other" Weather

Hat's off. Anyone who can do a "circumnavigation in a 36' sailboat" is a real adventurer. "a 36' sailboat" isn't that big.

Thankyou but.........Joshua Slocum did it in a home built http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joshua_Slocum sloop. Took him 3 years.

The 36' Oyster was built as one tough boat (my boat)..double re-inforced plastic hull, full mast, 9' cast iron keel etc. They don't build it anymore. Slocum did it in a leaky piece of junk. Mine broke apart off've Australia. His made it.

Another great sailboat design is the Arlberg... some of which in the 30' class have done likewise. Nobody hears about these guys anymore. Now it's around the world in 80 days stuff.....fast boats...indestructible....boring.........I defy any of them to get stuck in the Sargasso Sea for weeks on end without going loopy.

Great minds must think alike for I thought I had asked why Shortwave Two way communications were so out of competition.

The thread answer was that they cost too much, but I have problems believing that that is the whole story.

It is significant in the history of SW Radio that they were used by spies, and hence were dangerous and became important to license.

This is not the only contributing factor to the exclusivity of the Amateur Radio Operators, for assigned frequencies became a practical matter and assigned frequencies to radio transmitters was simply necessary if a station was to exist as a singular station.

Of course everything that the internet is, was presaged by what SW was, and is.

I have had an FCC Broadcast License twice, but never had a Ham license.

Suspension of the requirement that one know Morse Code to have a licensed 2 way Ham Radio ought to have flooded the market with Family and Friends long distance independent communications devices.{p] All I can figure is that the industry has become ossified, and can't see the opportunities.

You got it right...sort of. SW band is controlled therefore must be subject to liscensing. Big deal? ....maybe. It's bandwidth is limited so that only those who are responsible persons/members can tune into the wavelengths. There's really no chat line here and only those who can transmit are subject to the regulations. Having said that I have only run into one rogue ham operator who turned out to be a silver spooner issuing false weather data out've Brunei. He did it as a joke. The authorities broke through and issued a repeating message stating his transmission to be a deception while blocking his transmission. He no longer posseses, or will ever posses, a ham radio liscence.

My two kids, by the way, were educated for 1 1/2 yrs by a SW education broadcast.

This is not spy stuff. Encoded or encrypted messages are more easily transmitted through LW.

80 meter band is the one right?

Seems like I did at one time come across a "radionet".

Heard a couple of years ago that Morse was no longer required.

Seemed an opportunity for makers to field some inexpensive long range two way radios.

I've bought some FRS at Radio Shack that required license for half the channels, seemed like. Pretty short range on those things.

Remember buying a CB and just sending in a card for call letters. Would be fun to have the option to buy SW like you could CB.

Still it is no wonder phones win out, since everybody has one, and dialing a number is pretty simple.

Bought a phone with 300 minutes for 30 bucks this week so the phone company could call me to come and fix the phone and DSL connection.

On hold time made me angry watching minutes go away so I gave the phone to my wife when she got home who could ignore the wasted time and therefore eventually get someone to to come over and fix the problem.

I need glasses to find my glasses!

I need a flashlight to find my flashlight!

Morse, though not required, is damn good to know. If a radio or any com gear goes down they have the parts alreay built in that one can use to send an SOS.

I forget the bandwidth but I think you're right......it is 80m.

Truth is that if I ever do the trip again I will have a sat phone handy....but I sure as hell don't want to pay the transmission fees.

I will state that the guys manning the weather broadcasts over sw are an invaluable resource....and they do it for free.

Transcendian, DuckInThePond,

I'm so glad you guys found each other...

How sweet of you to notice. Eastern part of Kentucky is it?

-western actually

Sorry I couldn't resist chiming in with a bad joke.

It's good to see that there are people out there with interest in preserving the skills to work with technology that doesn't require billions and billions of dollars in capitol to maintain. From time to time I have considered the fact that in the next 'great war' global communications would be the initial primary target of the armies on both sides. Knock out only a handful of easy targets (satellites) and most of our beloved global communications network is crippled, so somebody better have a back up plan.

Cheers!

coolcats man....it was worth the laugh!

I retired my ham radio and licence some twenty years back and now regret it even tho the SW signal strength is extremely weak these days.

I remember when the two Anik com satellites got fried in an electron storm.

http://jya.com/haarp.htm some ionospheric research here

and if anybody can link to this site http://www.hipas.alaska.edu/ I'd be really interested how. For some reason I can't.

Google "hipas alaska"

Had those changes been made before the widespread acceptance of the internet, things would probably have been different, but with the net being so accessible, other options are ignored. The FCC waited too long and let those upstarts from DARPA and CERN get ahead of them.

impressed, Cape Horn can be pretty wicked....

oh, your topic and link is good as well

Blessed are the wicked.............

once helped a friend commision his 32 foot Weatsail.

hats off for such an adventure.

ahuha

Westsail you mean. That's a good, sturdy and very comfy boat. Betcha you didn't break any speed records tho. How far and where did you sail?

Once asked a really good and important question?

Thanks for the great update! I saw an article in NYTIMES on lack of sunspots last tuesday? I think.

And Thanks for the sailing lesson.

So I'm thinking you weren't using gps on your little adventure.

Great post topic and accomplishment.

BBC world service was your homeschool source?

milo

Hey, that posting got me thinking......appears that sunspots have everything to do with shortwave band by charging the ionosphere.

I didn't succeed in circumnavigating the globe. Got as far as Cape York and lost the mast(not good when attempting to navigate through the Reef). It's very difficult being on the ocean for weeks on end and it was beginning to show on the family. Still, though, we pulled through and saw some amazing places.

I just re-applied for my expired ham operators licence and was told by some pimply faced blue toothed apparatchik that the dinosaur age of communications had ended. Unfortunately there are no barns left in Ottawa where I could have furthered my point with this pr*ck.

I had GPS....the most unreliable piece of junk Sony ever made. I tossed it overboard. I mostly relied on instruments, the sextant and a good chronograph.

BBC homeschool is a great service as you yourself know and the kids had a lot of fun with them. Also, Teachers.com out've the US have some truly remarkable and fascinating lectures.

Duckin -- Your bluewater experiences are fascinating. Age, lack of relevant knowledge and experience and a very shorebased life keep me as strictly an observer. Perhaps in another life....... Is there some more appropriate part of CR-4 chat about this general subject? Especially with respect to cruising on something less than a million dollar budget and crossing of oceans.

I had a friend a few years back (with whom I've lost contact) who was a SW amateur with some serious commitment. The subject holds a certain amount of fascination; but more as a tool and less as a hobby. So discussions of that subject are interesting also.

Ed Weldon

Hi Ed.....(wish I had a million dollar budget...we did it on a Visa card that took years to pay off)

Hobbyists are restricted to specific bandwidths and are only allowed to use these bandwidths in cases of emergency or issuing alerts. It used to be that the strength of the transmitter was regulated according to ones amateur status.

What I failed to mention (while on about sailing) is that during the course of the voyage the only contacts we had with the shore-based world was through SW. In many instances the info we received was places to avoid ie...revolutions in Indonesia, piracy off've N. Korea for eg...from the horse' mouth, so to speak. Weather data was crucial....and just connecting with a human voice was reassuring (long voyages can be very boring in a slow boat...internet wasn't exactly happening back then).

To give you an idea of what it's about on a human level. One fellow operating out've Darwin took us under his wing (airwaves actually). This guy made sure we were safe and would connect with us at stipulated times. He took our position and issued exacting weather details....for ten months! It was his connecting to the Aussie Coast Guard and giving them our exact position that saved us when we lost the mast and antenna.

Duckin,

Amatuer shortwave is not so amatuer when you consider they have been using satelites since the 60s. They kept falling back to earth in the beginning.

The 7th OSCAR satellite is still operational since 1974 when in the sunshine because its batteries crapped out long ago and it passes through the earths shadow.

There are a dozen or so semi-operarational and fully operational sats up there that serve the satellite hamfests.

There is one I know of that does earth images now.

Get your new radio gear on your boat.

Jon

Hi Duckin, Enjoyed your sailing bits. This may be of interest for radio http://www.globaltuners.com/home.php There used to be a DXTuners site but I believe it was migrated to this one. Interested to learn your views.

Cheers

Hey...that is a great site! Added bookmark and will peruse.

Too bad Hamsphere had to shut down.