Wow we are now online via Ham Radio

OH MY GOSH, I AM SO EXCITED!!!!

I just figured out how to hook up our modem so we can send e-mail via our ham radio and we got MAIL!!! Thanks to those of you who read our blog and sent mail to our ham e-mail, it was so thrilling. It is the first time we have got the thing hooked up and working and we have had it for almost two weeks. I kept trying to get the thing to work but had not hooked up to the right signal, and then I had the brain wave to go back to when the guy who had installed it, hooked it up and look to see what station he had contacted and try that station and it worked. Oh my gosh, what a relief that it worked and that I am not a total idiot for not being able to figure it out, WHEW!!!!

You have to know what stations you can hook up to in order to get a signal. There is a list of stations and then you can look at a grid that tells you what the propagation is like to that station at the particular hour and day that you want and then when it looks good you just go ahead and try and hook up, the station I hooked up to is at Atwater which is 675 Nautical Miles away from here. It apparently is a good station that I can access, so I have written down it’s call sign and the frequency that I reached it on. We are going to get a special notebook to note our ham connections.

We have not talked to anyone on the radio yet, but I have a list of nets that boaters use and then yesterday while going through my Ham Radio for Dummies book I found a list of frequencies that Ham’s use and when there is good propagation to be able to hear stuff, so I am going to work on that next. We have heard people but have not spoken to anyone so the scourge of the airwaves has been stymied in her efforts to break into the Ham world. Fear not, I will persist and let you know when I succeed. THEN WATCHOUT, you won’t be able to shut me up.

Upgrades to our Fast Passage 39

We did a whole wack of work on the boat last week. We installed two new solar panels with a solar controller, and we took off the wind generator. The wind generator was outdated and unreliable and creaky and Barry didn’t trust it and we were unable to tell how much power it was generating and it took over 20 knots to get it going, so off it came. The new solar panels have a controller that tells you exactly how much power they are generating, so you can watch it change as it gets sunnier and cloudier and as the sun gets lower you can see the output decrease.

We also installed a new ham radio, my goodness, our pocketbook is quite a bit lighter but we are quite happy with the results. We have a Pactor 3 Modem that comes with it so we will be able to send e-mail through our ham radio when offshore. Our ham radio internet e-mail address is VE8BL@winlink.org You can not send attachments to this address, only text messages, so please do not send chain messages or jokes or funny comics to this address, we can not access the internet but can send and receive e-mail.

When we bought the radio we got the main unit, the control unit which has all the buttons and dials on it, a speaker and a modem. They all had to be mounted and hooked up on the boat. We also had to install a new tuner and a new antenna wire. Installing all the wires involved getting into small places, hanging upside down in a locker doing up nuts and bolts and climbing up on the tower at the back to install the antenna. I think while I was doing that it was the nastiest weather that we have had so far this winter. It was blowing about 25 knots, pelting down with rain and it was close to freezing, NOT FUN! It took us three days of fairly constant wiring and installing before we were done.

Somehow the boat feels more like it is ours now, things are starting to look like how we would like them to be and it seems that we have stopped fixing things the former owner had. We are updating his 10 – 15 year old technology and installing new more powerful and better functioning equipment. It feels like we are getting pretty close to being done all the important things and now just have to fine tune the minor stuff. We still have to purchase an EPIRB and a life raft and I would like a permanent ladder to board the boat. We are planning to buy the EPIRB at the boat show this weekend so should be able to get that done.

I hope you like the pictures of all the new equipment and if you want explanations or more details on anything, just let me know. Okay, I tried for over an hour to get those pictures to upload, but no luck. I will try again at another spot. I think we are going to have to get the upgrade to a bigger antenna on the mast, this is just ridiculous.