SW Pacific Cruisers ham net

[Jim Cate]

G'Day all,

Reading another thread re HF cruisers nets gave me the thought that there might be CF folks who would enjoy participation in the Comedy Net.

This net has been active for over 20 years. It was started by Ron, ZL1BTQ who was a lighthouse keeper at Cape Brett in NZed. He saw tons of yachts cruising by and realized that many were ham radio operators. Somehow he got things started up, and we've been going ever since. Ron became a silent key some years ago and we've had a few others who kept things somewhat organized since then, but we've maintained his attitude about net operation: no rules, no set format, a different controller each day of the week, and generally to have an enjoyable place to meet and talk boats or whatever is on our minds. Sorta like CF! We now have a lot of land-based stations who participate, but they're all interested in maritime affairs, so we enjoy their contributions too. Currently we have participants up and down the east coast of Australia, New Zealand, and several at sea. Later in teh season we'll likely have boats from New Caledonia and Vanuatu as well.

So, if you are a ham and interested, the net starts at 2040 UTC (just after the Aussie met office broadcast of the MSL chart) on 7.087 MHz LSB. We have an initial call for emergency traffic, then vessels under way with position reports, and then general traffic. It lasts anywhere from 15 minutes or so up to an hour or more.

Hope that some CFers will join in...

73,

Jim N9GFT/VK4GFT MM

[El Pinguino]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

the net starts at 2040 UTC (just after the Aussie met office broadcast of the MSL chart) ...
73,

Jim N9GFT/VK4GFT MM

I never noticed that... very clever....
73 de VP8DNM, VK3JFH/MM

[Jim Cate]

Originally Posted by El Pinguino

I never noticed that... very clever....
73 de VP8DNM, VK3JFH/MM

Thanks for bumping the thread, Frank! We never seemed to get any response the first time around.

Only five more days 'till we go home to Insatiable!

Jim

[JPA Cate]

Incidentally, there are two CF members who participate on the Comedy Net, in case that didn't register with you, gentle readers.