At ARRL there was an eye-catching title in a list of old posts on the side bar (much like all the titles of my posts on my side bar).
HMS Bounty Rescue
“Okay…”, quoth I. “I wasn’t aware that HF transceivers were available to the crew of HMS Bounty, an 18th c. Royal Navy full-rigged and ill-fated ship.
It happens that a replica of HMS Bounty was built for the famous film. It was sailed around for a while, but eventually wrecked off the coast of North Carolina thanks to Hurricane Sandy. Some of the crew died, but most were rescued.
They had tried all the means of communication they could to get the Coast Guard, sat phone, Marine Mobile Net on HF. Nothing worked. No one responded. But one of the crew, a ham and DXer had WINLINK stuff, which they were using to post, via HF, to Facebook. They sent an EMAIL to the Coast Guard, the Coast Guard arrived.
This really caught my eye because last night on ZedNet we talked a little bit about Winlink.
I am pretty intrigued by this tech… email when there is no internet.
Email when there is no internet.
Think about it.
Read that post. It is really interesting.
Meanwhile, a screenshot of my entry at QRZ for my contact with the Pitcairn Islands.
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From
Loss of the Bounty, A Personal Recollection
October 30, 2019 | Island Features | By: James D. “Keeper James” Charlet | From The: Coastal Review Online
Excerpts:
The following sobering facts emerged from the formal and lengthy investigations by the Coast Guard and the National Transportation Safety Board:
• Serious rot in hull planks and ship’s ribs had been reported by shipyard workers only months before.
• Earlier reports by crew about serious problems with the bilge pumps.
• Requests granted for a Coast Guard designation as “Uninspected Vessel” since it originally carried no passengers.
• On that voyage it had an extremely inexperienced crew.
• Records show that Walbridge resisted issuing “mayday” or SOS calls until there was 6 feet of water in the bilge and the ship was taking on more at a rate of 2 feet every hour.
• Stubbornly, Walbridge waited far too long to order crew to abandon ship.
[Later]
The two problems faced by these helicopters was that Pena’s H-60, No. GC6012, had only one hour left before “Bingo,” the point at which they only had enough fuel left to return to the Elizabeth City base. The other problem that she shared with Bonn’s No. CG6031 was that the computer automatic audio keeps calling out, “Altitude. Altitude. Altitude.” This was clearly and repeatedly heard in the Coast Guard videos because the helos were trying to stay about 30 feet above the rescue sites, but the storm waves were also cresting at 30 feet!
Winlink is pretty nifty. You just have to know where the gateways are, their call signs, and any digipeating nodes, if needed. The group of Catholic hams I network with check-in weekly via Winlink and try to do it exclusively over the radio to ensure that our expected connections are still available. There is actually a way to bring Winlink to Android via the app WoAD. That combined with a HT and a Bluetooth connected TNC (Mobilinkd) creates a highly mobile mode of digital communication. I use it regularly and it works pretty well!
-WX6BUD
17M is a great band!
Is there a recommended place for tech-minded beginners to learn about this stuff? I am increasingly concerned about Big Brother deciding that we need to be silenced, and it seems like radio waves may be the best backup plan. Zednet also sounds fun, but how does one begin?
aflusche
I would start here https://www.arrl.org/shop/Ham-Radio-License-Manual/
This prepares you for the Technician level exam that consists of 35 multiple choice questions taken from a question pool http://www.arrl.org/files/file/VEs/2018-2022%20Tech%20Class%20Pool%20Final%20with%20errata.pdf
You can practice for the exam here http://www.arrl.org/exam-practice
Good luck!
I wasn’t aware that Fakebook was available to the crew of HMS Bounty, either. No wonder they mutinied.
Aflusche,
You should definitely put your rough approximate location out here in case there is someone nearby reading that would elmer (teach, take you under their wing) you.
I made my first HF transmission last night as a General Class ham operator using my friend’s IC-7300. I got to talk to a Navajo Code Talker out in Arizona and another guy in Georgia.
I’ve caught the bug.