OK, I am HF certified... now what?

[GILow]

Originally Posted by Snowpetrel

... if things go real pear shaped, that fancy whip on your stern is probably gone as well.

Yeah, right... thanks for that... I'm going to go to bed now to hide under the covers.

You Tasmanians are doing this on purpose.

[Snowpetrel]

...And your batteries will be flooded.. Maybe you also need one of these puppies, 3 watts on 2182 (if you wind the handcrank fast enough) and a Morse key. You really have to wait for a silence period to have much luck!

Sent from my HTC_0PCV2 using Cruisers Sailing Forum mobile app

[GILow]

Well that should stave off the boredom while you are waiting for the boat to sink.


Sent from my iPad using Cruisers Sailing Forum

[JPA Cate]

^^^^and the exercise will help keep you warm, too!

[carstenb]

adn as someone once said to me

There is good news and bad news when your boat sinks

Which news do you want first?

Uuuh the bad news I guess

You can be sure that when your boat sinks there is a reasonable good chance you might drown.

What's the good news?

You'll be too busy worrying about the sharks to think about drowning.

[Jim Cate]

Back on subject...

Matt, I'm delighted that you are gonna get your ham license. When you do, please join El Ping, us and lots of other cruising yotties on the Comedy Net, 7.087 MHz lsb every morning of the year at 2040 Zulu (gmt). While it is a maritime mobile net, we have lots of land based stations, some with boats, some without. Quite informal, sometimes informational, sometimes boring as hell, but usually good fun.

hurry on down, y'all

Jim

[GILow]

Hello Jim, thank you for the invitation. I look forward to joining in. I'll take my chances on the content.


Matt

[GILow]

Originally Posted by carstenb

You'll be too busy worrying about the sharks to think about drowning.

Oh good, I am feeling much better now.

[El Pinguino]

The conversation usually involves how to fix lots of broken boat stuff and is rather depressing in all truth.... whoever called it the 'comedy net' had a dark sense of humour...

[GILow]

Originally Posted by El Pinguino

The conversation usually involves how to fix lots of broken boat stuff and is rather depressing in all truth.... whoever called it the 'comedy net' had a dark sense of humour...

I saw what you did there.

That whole reverse-psychology thing... it won't work you know.

[Jim Cate]

Originally Posted by El Pinguino

The conversation usually involves how to fix lots of broken boat stuff and is rather depressing in all truth.... whoever called it the 'comedy net' had a dark sense of humour...

Ping, it was named by its originator, ZL1BTQ, who was a light house keeper... didn't even own a boat, just saw a lot of them sailing by Cape Brett. He was tired of the structure and formality of some of the older m/m nets, and encouraged, nay, demanded levity. We have slacked off on those strictures over the years... since Ron passed away, the helm has been held by several others, and with varying degrees of seriousness. Pete Sutter, N6DQN (a famed San Francisco sailmaker and great cruiser) was his successor, and had a very droll sense of humour. Jean Ness, VE0MEN who was a retired English teacher was more serious, and then when she sailed off to SEA, I took it over, and you know what a cranky old fart I am! But I do like a good laugh...

So Matt, don't let Pingo scare you off... the net is surely no gloomier than CF!

Cheers and 73 (that's ham talk),

Jim N9GFT/VK4GFT

[JPA Cate]

Originally Posted by GILow

I saw what you did there.

That whole reverse-psychology thing... it won't work you know.

Matt, for a while there, we had every member trying to tell something funny that happened, or a joke, or telling about a practical joke, all the while avoiding political or scatalogical subject matter (ham rules). It was fun. There were also limerick contests. The net has morphed, and may jolly well morph again.

We look forward to your presence.

Ann

PS. Get Sal up to date as 2nd Operator.

A.

[GILow]

Originally Posted by Ann T. Cate

PS. Get Sal up to date as 2nd Operator.

Agreed.

[MYTraveler]

Originally Posted by MYTraveler

You are ahead of me. I was done studying about a month ago, but haven't been able to get tested. Now my scores on practice exams are dropping, so I need to figure a date then cram for a few days.

Being in search of some technical info, I just re-read this entire thread and see that I last posted to it several months ago, when I was still studying for a ham license.

I am happy to report that I got licensed, made a few contacts, and am now in the process of adding a Pactor modem, and upgrading my 802 to include DSC functionality.

Originally Posted by GILow

I was very surprised when I read about this, but I can see how it makes sense to be able to receive DSC alerts even while you are transmitting.

As I understand it, the only way to get DSC alerts is to have a separate DSC antenna plugged into the second antenna-in port on the back of the main unit. Is that wrong -- is it possible for those two inputs to share a single antenna? Or is it possible to receive DSC alerts (when not transmitting) over the main antenna / input? Routing coax from my 802 up to the top of my tower is going to be a major PIA. I would gladly give up the ability to get DSC alerts while transmitting, provided that I could get DSC alerts at all other times, in order to avoid that PIA.

My pactor question is whether there is any facility to send and receive text messages using something like winlink or sailmail? It seems like there should be a textlink or sailtext. Does anyone know?

[TLSparks]

Originally Posted by MYTraveler

Being in search of some technical info, I just re-read this entire thread and see that I last posted to it several months ago, when I was still studying for a ham license.

I am happy to report that I got licensed, made a few contacts, and am now in the process of adding a Pactor modem, and upgrading my 802 to include DSC functionality.



As I understand it, the only way to get DSC alerts is to have a separate DSC antenna plugged into the second antenna-in port on the back of the main unit. Is that wrong -- is it possible for those two inputs to share a single antenna? Or is it possible to receive DSC alerts (when not transmitting) over the main antenna / input? Routing coax from my 802 up to the top of my tower is going to be a major PIA. I would gladly give up the ability to get DSC alerts while transmitting, provided that I could get DSC alerts at all other times, in order to avoid that PIA.

T Sparks: You must have a separate antenna for the DSC receiver or as I call it the DERA DSC Emergency Reception Antenna so it is not confused with the DSC Watch antenna which is your main antenna. If you shared the main antenna your transmitter would drive directly into the DSC receiver and probably burn up the DSC receiver which is looking for micovolt signals and not 150 watts. You need a DSC antenna to receive Distress Acknowledgements which includes the frequency the shore station would like to talk to you. Install a DSC antenna.

My pactor question is whether there is any facility to send and receive text messages using something like winlink or sailmail? It seems like there should be a textlink or sailtext. Does anyone know?

Tsparks: There is a procedure on my web site to do texting, using Airmail and a Pactor modem. It is simple, but not like texting on a phone. Made-Simplefor-Cruisers,com