"Jack Painter" wrote in message
news:jxhMd.80413$Tf5.67754@lakeread03...

"Larry W4CSC" wrote

So, tell us how DO you know what area you can hear on your HF net?
Noone
transmits for fear of raising your ire. Can you hear Florida today?
Galveston? 100 miles out? 200? 500?

What magic on that dead HF frequency tells you the sun has exploded,
again,
and communications is useless? Surely you're not depending on WWV's
propagation forecast, are you?

If we observe the two quiet periods for emergency traffic calls,
wouldn't
it be better for everyone involved if you knew what boats/ships are also
your ears and eyes on the frequency, expanding your pitiful little
receiving antenna cross section by several thousand miles? "CG Net this
is
WDB-6254, "Lionheart" at 32 24N, 75 12W checkin, no traffic monitoring
802
for next 2 hours." Aha! I can hear a 150W insulated backstay offshore
of
Charleston on Channel 802 at this time. HE, on the other hand, will
HELP
me monitor the frequency, relaying to areas I cannot hear because of
propagation, any calls that get no answers from me.

What harm have I done to Coast Guard Communications?

They USED to do it on CW, you know! It's how I learned the code when I
was
10 in 1956.....(c;

This is precisely why hams "waste bandwidth", as you say.....see?

When I operate from my station, I use every resource available to me, and
it
is everything you would expect a radio operator to do. When operating from
the net control of a vast resource of hundreds of antennas and
transmitters
and receivers across thousands of miles, supplemented with satellites,
there
is no such concern about "will I be able to hear San Juan"? I only have
three antennas and I can get the job done pretty well too from
Newfoundland
to South America, day or night. I carefully chose the antennas to do the
job, and 99% of the time I can do it on 125 watts.

You're confusing radio hobbyists who like to chat with each other and feel
accomplishment in their hobby and equipment by reinforcing that they can
talk to the same stations in the same places over, and over and over, with
the reason that ships are at sea, which is not a hobby. Professional
mariners, which make up the overwhelming majority of all high seas
travelers, have no such time or reason to chat on amateur nets or on
official frequencies reserved for hailing and distress.

The real blue water sailors of a hobbyist ilk, have options in a
communication suite that leaves about zero chance that an emergency call
would not be heard and relayed to appropriate authorities. Amateur
maritime
mobile service nets make up one small and nonetheless important part of
that
but only where pleasure craft or third-world fishing vessels are
concerned.

The USCG just finished supervising the rescue of four people far from
Bermuda who set of an EPIRB. Until the good Samaritan vessel directed to
the
scene by the Coast Guard arrived tonight, the USCG C-130 had already found
them, and supplied comfort, communications, food, water and blankets,
along
with the assuredness that surface rescue was on the way. One EPIRB did
that
for them. Where communications came into play was with the USCG's ability
to
contact all area vessels and vector the appropriate ones to the scene. I
had
no problem hearing every word that was passed to and from the C-130 and if
a
major solar flare had happened, they could have changed altitude, changed
frequencies, and as a last resort, used other more expensive forms of
communication. What you allude to is totally unnecessary and serves only
the
brotherhood of clubs who need social interaction to remain a coherent
organization. That's not contested or misunderstood by me, but I think you
believe they do this for reasons which modern communicators would find
frivolous. Or fun. Take your pick.

Jack Painter
Virginia Beach, Virginia


I would like to throw out a challenge to all the real ham operators, CG and
CG Auxiliary personnel finger pointing at each other here. Hams, join the
Auxiliary, take their AuxCom course, have your security background checked
and licenses verified, then complete the CG Radio Watchstander qualification
at the local CG unit and contribute your communications skills and
background to assisting the Coast Guard. There are CG Auxiliary nets on
VHF-FM also. Also, write your Congress members, asking they make funding and
implementation of Rescue 21 and GMDSS a priority for the Coast Guard. The
problem is congressional guys, not some dunderhead in uniform dragging his
feet on upgrading the system. Similarly, I challenge the CG and CG
Auxiliary non-ham members here to get a real ham license, General Class or
higher, then take some ARES ENCOMM course and become an active participant
in a traffic net or emergency net. Your might even enjoy chatting on CG ham
nets or Auxiliary ham nets (yes, they exist!). They are fraternal in nature.
Aren't we all trying to provide communications channels for boaters at sea?
If you aren't part of the solution, you are part of the problem! I have
been a ham for only 48 years, and have only 9 years (broken service in the
Auxiliary) as a communicator, aircraft owner and pilot flying sundown and
SAR missions, flotilla commander, etc. I also have 20 years active in the US
Navy communications field. CG, CG Auxiliary, Navy,
NavyMarineCorpsCoastGuard MARS, and ham radio should compliment each other
and not be competitive. Each has its strengths and weaknesses.
Regarding CG HF equipment, in 84-86, when I was stationed on Adak Island, AK
in the Aleutians, us Navy guys were very envious of the modern, remotely
tuned HF Collins equipment that CG Kodiak controlled there. It was a far cry
from the R-390A's, etc we had for HF reception. I can not speak for the CG,
but the Navy has since roughly 1980 used a commercially available unit
called a "chip sounder" which sends a pulse burst straight up from a shore
based antenna, takes measurements on the return echo such as signal +
noise/noise and time delay, then the frequency is stepped up and another
pulse stream sent out, measurements made, etc. This results in a spectrum
plot of that stations propagation, ionosphere layer height, maximum useable
frequency, etc, from which optimum useable frequency for long haul
communications is calculated. It is the military way of avoiding the "no
traffic checkins" to determine who can hear whom. I think the ham radio
method is much cheaper, but was thankful to the taxpayers for giving us this
fancy equipment to use.
Back in the days of mandatory commercial Morse operators aboard commercial
high seas vessels, finding a non-ham radio officer was a rarity. These guys
stood their required watches professionally, and enjoyed their avocation as
ham hobbyist also. Why are we arguing here? The old time real radio
operators enjoyed the best of both worlds.
73
Doug, K7ABX; CG Auxiliary, Assistant District Staff Officer-Communications
(South), 13th District