Winlink-3rd Party Rules to be enforced

[chuckr]

Originally Posted by Dsanduril

Option B, if you legally qualify for one, it to get a ham radio license from some more lenient jurisdiction, register it with WinLink, and use that call sign when connecting. I know just suggesting that is going to get me flamed, but it is a valid option if you can do it legally.

If not, it means paying much more attention to propagation. During our crossing last year (from Cape Town) we were using a South African station until we got within a few hundred miles of Barbados. At the end we had one or two windows about an hour or two each that provided good propagation, but during those windows we had no problem making a solid, high-speed connection.

what was the SA station? doubt I can hit it as we are a lot farther north - looks like closest point would be about 4400 nm give or take a few hundres

[Dsanduril]

We used ZS1RS. He has a beam antenna that is pointed toward the Indian Ocean until sometime near the end of the year (while boats are transiting the Indian) then turns it and points toward the Caribbean for that transit season.

We had connections out to about 4000 miles. For the 10/15/20 meter range having the sun terminator between us and the station seems to work best. For the African stations on an Atlantic crossing that means either just before sunrise at the boat (sun is already up in Africa behind us) or just before sunset on the boat (sun is already down in Africa). When you switch to the western hemisphere stations that changes to just after sunrise and just after sunset on the boat.

[Ambler]

If only the FCC could promote the creation of one big happy family within our one world which is surrounded by a shared ionisphere that isn't quite broad enough some times (requiring a relay).

So instead it is a step backwards by recreating a division, an inforced line between the Americas and the rest of the world. So it is back to us this side of the line and them on the other side.

Come on FCC communicate and settle your differences (what ever they are) with the rest of the world. At least you could let the hams continue to do what they do best which is after all, simply communicating.

[Paul L]

Originally Posted by Dsanduril

Option B, if you legally qualify for one, it to get a ham radio license from some more lenient jurisdiction, register it with WinLink, and use that call sign when connecting. I know just suggesting that is going to get me flamed, but it is a valid option if you can do it legally.

If not, it means paying much more attention to propagation. During our crossing last year (from Cape Town) we were using a South African station until we got within a few hundred miles of Barbados. At the end we had one or two windows about an hour or two each that provided good propagation, but during those windows we had no problem making a solid, high-speed connection.

What a pain in the arse. It is tough enough to find a good connection at a good time of day when on passage without now having to worry about the political agreements the stations country has with the US.
Seems like this will be a boost for Sailmail from US licensed HF users, since these restrictions do not apply to Sailmail.

[gaucho]

Unfortunately, most thinking surrounding HF are archaic. The whole radio world is old and evidently dying, but it's full of old men trying to keep it stuck in the past. ARRLs efforts to bring radio-usage to this century are mostly met with conservative brickwalls. The FCC as a whole when it comes to radio operators is stuck in the 1950s. It almost feels like Blockbuster from where I stand.