Gary Schafer wrote in
:

As far as guys checking in from their boat with no traffic that again
reinforces the operation of the net. It is also a good way for that
boater to know that he can contact the net when needed. It provides
him with a little training in communication skills also.
Does anyone get that kind of training or acknowledgement from the
Coast Guard? I think not. Practice is what makes this thing work.

73
Gary K4FMX


Noone knows whether they can contact a CG comm center or not. Noone is
allowed to "bother" them with "no traffic" just to see if the propagation
is available or if the radios on both ends are working at the moment.

1) Boaters checking in to MMSN with no traffic, every one of them, with
this simple contact have:

2) Checked equipment to make sure it's working properly...

3) Checked propagation at the time they are monitoring to see if the
ionosphere is still operational...

4) Helped the hams monitoring the net to check propagation between THEIR
station and a maritime area they had not heard from today, just in case
their services are needed during this net time...

5) Inadvertently said, "Thank you, guys" from the boaters the doggedly
loyal ham retirees on shore are trying to serve. All they ask is for a
little check-in "thanks".

Any boater-ham should always check-in for these purposes if no other. You
have no way of knowing until it's too late if the damned CG can hear you or
not and if anyone is REALLY listening out there. "Waste of Bandwidth" my
ass.....

"Jack Painter" wrote in
news:uAGGd.17853$B95.5757@lakeread02:

Hi Gary, that's all right. I was talking about an MMSN member checking
in with the net from the dock. If that's training, so be it. I don't
know if there are ever missed calls because of that chatter, but it
seems possible there would be. Training with check-in chatter could be
accomplished off-net, much like the Sunday afternoon training already
goes off-frequency for a short broadcast of interest to users of the
net. Many Hams are admittedly very skilled with break-in techniques
that keep the MMSN full of non-stop chatter with few breaks for
service, so to speak. Just my observation from over a decade of
listening to it!

Jack



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?

"Jack Painter" wrote in
news:mImHd.18721$B95.15277@lakeread02:

Doug (of Calista), why would you say such a thing? You just slandered
me and I expect an apology through the group, after you read back
through the times that I highly praised the MMSN and the workers in
that net. When you start inventing crap like that just because you
tire of being corrected for your consistently inaccurate statements
about the Coast Guard, your reputation goes to zero in the eyes of
honorable men.

You sir, give a bad name to hams, by lying on their behalf while you
try to defend some of the indefensible statements you have made about
the CG and their radio operations in particular. When you resorted to
slander, you stepped over the line, and that had better stop right
now.

Jack Painter
Virginia Beach, Virginia



Your ONE comment about useless checkins says volumes about your experience
as an HF communications station, CG or not.....

Chris Newport wrote in
:

Coastguard stations around the world are generally blessed with
serious antenna farms and excellent professional receivers. They
are therefore well equiped to hear you if there is a signal to be
heard.


Not without a cooperating ionosphere, which hasn't been cooperating of
late.

What serious antenna farm have you been to? Their receiving antenna is a
whip! Their transmit antennas go from a whip to a conical monopole at the
10KW stations. Serious antenna farm!

Those silly hams are running 1.5KW PEP, when necessary, into an amazing
array of beam antennas both receiving and transmitting. The average Icom,
Yaesu or Kenwood receiver at any ham station has 2 or 3 HF SSB bandwidths
with digital signal processing of both IF and audio. CG had an old blue
display Commercial HF receiver, last time I went from base to base
calibrating their test equipment a few years back. What ultra-sensitive
receivers are they using today? Those ham rigs have 120 db crystal-sloped
IF skirts and .1 uV receivers. The receivers are so sensitive we have to
have an attenuator to protect them from atmospherics.

Back to the antenna problem.....

Let's say there's 50 hams in USA and Canada monitoring MMSN at noon,
tomorrow. The furthest East is in Nova Scotia. The furthest South is in
West Palm Beach. The furthest West is in Honolulu. The other 50 have
their sensitive little Yaesus listening every few hundred miles in between.
So, their "effective receiving antenna" is VERY well distributed across a
wide area of two countries, maybe even Europe and Asia at times.

CG has...well....8 to 10 whip antennas on each frequency....all right along
the COAST with nothing in between?

Which receiving system has a better chance of hearing out little backstay
transmitter, 180 miles off the Georgia coast??

PS - 22 hams KNOW they can hear me because they heard me and wrote down my
callsign on their desk pad when I did my useless chit-chat checkin.....(c;

"Jack Painter" wrote in
news:8L_Gd.18132$B95.563@lakeread02:

9. Automatic Direction Finding equipment with display on
computer-screen charts is selectable from all or individual
high-sites.

The Coast Guard watchstander at Group Charleston thought the "Morning Dew"
distress call was a hoax. Obviously, if he'd had VHF-DF capabilities and
knew how to use it, he would have seen the display light up BRIGHTLY as the
sinking boat was only a mile and a little from Sullivan's Island Light and
3.5 miles from CG Base Charleston in the Ashley River.

Is this new stuff since Morning Dew's debacle?


10. Digital recording devices capture 100% of all incoming traffic to
USCG Group receivers.


Yes, they do! It took three TV stations calling Sen Holling's office and a
lot of political pressure to pry those recordings out of a reluctant Coast
Guard's clutches....negating any doubt about them HEARING the boy on the
Morning Dew screaming for his life.

Let's WAKE THE BOATCREW and WASTE A LITTLE OF MY TAX MONEY!!

"Jack Painter" wrote in
news:Zo%Gd.18134$B95.16615@lakeread02:

Maybe I can get back to you with a more definitive HF-answer later Wayne,
sorry it's just too new a procedure to be sure yet.


I found this SWL list of USCG stations off a Google Search. Callsigns are
awfully hard to find, it seems.

NMB is Charleston, but don't call 'em that if you expect to get an
answer....(c;

NABD USCGUSCGC Grand Isle (WPB-1338)
NABK USCGUSCGC Farallon (WPB-1301)
NADT USCGUSCGC Buckthorn (WLI-642)
NAED USCGUSCGC White Sumac (WLM-540)
NAFO USCGUSCGC Cowslip (WLB-277)
NAKH USCGUSCGC Point Batan (WPB-8234)
NAOI USCGUSCGC Chincoteague (WPB-1320)
NAQD USCGUSCGC Jarvis (WHEC-725)
NAR USNCOMMSTA Key West, FL
NARU USCGUSCGC Coho (WPB-8732)
NASB USCGUSCGC Attu (WPB-1317)
NAV EIGHTNavy/MC MARSHI
NAYE USCGUSCGC Pamlico (WLIC-800)
NAYM USCGUSCGC Matagorda (WPB-1303)
NBEI USCGUSCGC Maui (WPB-1304)
NBKZ USCGUSCGC Metompkin (WPB-1325)
NBNW USCGUSCGC Sitkinak (WPB-1329)
NBRF USCGUSCGC Osprey (WPB-8730)
NBRG USCGUSCGC Stingray (WPB-8730)
NBTC USCGUSCGC Aquidneck (WPB-1309)
NBTM USCGUSCGC Polar Star (WAGB-10)
NCBE USCGUSCGC Tahoma (WMEC-908)
NCCE USCGUSCGC Point Evans (WPB-8235)
NCF USCGGroup Miami, FL
NCSR USCGUSCGC Knight Island (WPB-1348)
NCUI USCGUSCGC Baranof (WPB-1318)
NCWX USCGUSCGC Hudson (WLIC-801)
NDBC USCGUSCGC Juniper (WLB-201)
NDCH USCGUSCGC Point Francis (WPB-8235)
NDCK USCGUSCGC Sanibel (WPB-1312)
NDCV USCGUSCGC Conchito (WPB-8732)
NDIS USCGUSCGC Matinicus (WPB-1315)
NDRV USCGUSCGC Assateague (WPB-1337)
NDTE USCGUSCGC Red Wood (WLM-685)
NDTS USCGUSCGC Dauntless (WMEC-624)
NDWA USCGUSCGC Morgenthau (WHEC-722)
NEDI USCGUSCGC Cuttyhunk (WPB-1322)
NEGS USCGUSCGC Monhegan (WPB-1305)
NEPP USCGUSCGC Healy (WAGB-20)
NERA USCGUSCGC Barbara Mabrity (WLM-559)
NERH USCGUSCGC Tybee (WPB-1330)
NERW USCGUSCGC Anthony Petit (WLM-559)
NEWR USCGUSCGC Naushon (WPB-1311)
NEXY USCGUSCGC Anacapa (WPB-1335)
NFFS USCGUSCGC Chandeleur (WPB-1319)
NFMK USCGUSCGC Seneca (WMEC-906)
NFSH USCGUSCGC Pelican (WPB-8732)
NFWC USCGUSCGC Wrangell (WPB-1332)
NGBL USCGUSCGC Ocracoke (WPB-1307)
NGDF USCGUSCGC Munro (WHEC-724)
NGEI USCGUSCGC Key Largo (WPB-1324)
NGYS USCGUSCGC Key Biscayne (WPB-1339)
NHIC USCGUSCGC Vigilant (WMEC-617)
NHKD USCGUSCGC Sapelo (WPB-1314)
NHKW USCGUSCGC Confidence (WMEC-619)
NHNC USCGUSCGC Harriet Lane (WMEC-903)
NHPX USCGUSCGC Nunivak (WPB-1306)
NHSD USCGUSCGC Drummond (WPB-1323)
NHWR USCGUSCGC Midgett (WHEC-726)
NICB USCGUSCGC Forward (WMEC-911)
NIGY USCGUSCGC Penobscot Bay (WTGB-107)
NIIU USCGUSCGC Steelhead (WPB-8732)
NIKL USCGUSCGC Tampa (WMEC-902)
NIQT USCGUSCGC Point Baker (WPB-8734)
NISS USCGUSCGC Ida Lewis (WLM-551)
NIUD USCGUSCGC Barracuda (WPB-8730)
NJAR USCGUSCGC Spar (WLB-206)
NJEC USCGUSCGC Dorado (WPB-8730)
NJEH USCGUSCGC Vashon (WPB-1308)
NJHT USCGUSCGC Liberty (WPB-1334)
NJOR USCGUSCGC Gallatin (WHEC-721)
NJOY USCGUSCGC Saginaw (WLIC-803)
NJPJ USCGUSCGC Reliance (WMEC-615)
NJPZ USCGUSCGC Moray (WPB-8733)
NJQA USCGUSCGC Manowar (WPB-8733)
NJSH USCGUSCGC Mustang (WPB-1310)
NJSJ USCGUSCGC Razorbill (WPB-8733)
NJTH USCGUSCGC Joshua Appleby (WLM-556)
NJZP USCGUSCGC Marlin (WPB-8730)
NKDL USCGUSCGC Frank Drew (WLM-557)
NKEC USCGUSCGC Monomoy (WPB-1326)
NKFW USCGUSCGC Katherine Walker (WLM-552)
NKIG USCGUSCGC Point Camden (WPB-8237)
NKJU USCGUSCGC Kukui (WLB-203)
NKVQ USCGUSCGC Nantucket (WPB-1316)
NLBI USCGUSCGC Point Swift (WPB-8321)
NLGF USCGUSCGC Northland (WMEC-904)
NLIL USCGUSCGC Bainbridge Island (WPB-1343)
NLKY USCGUSCGC Edisto (WPB-1313)
NLPM USCGUSCGC Chase (WHEC-718)
NLVA USCGUSCGC Point Barnes (WPB-8237)
NLVS USCGUSCGC Rush (WHEC-723)
NLWZ USCGUSCGC Point Nowell (WPB-8236)
NMA USCGFlorida (remotes to CAMSLANT)
NMA10 USCGGroup Mayport, FL
NMA21 USCGGroup St. Petersburg, FL
NMA7 USCGLoran-C station, Jupiter Inlet, FL
NMAG USCGUSCGC Hamilton (WHEC-715)
NMB USCGGroup Charleston, SC
NMC USCGCAMSPAC, Pt. Reyes, CA
NMC11 USCGGroup Humboldt Bay, CA
NME USCGSavannah, GA
NMEL USCGUSCGC Mellon (WHEC-717)
NMF USCGBoston, MA (remotes to CAMSLANT)
NMF2 USCGGroup Woods Hole, MA
NMF31 USCGGroup Portland, ME
NMF32 USCGLoran-C station, Nantucket, MA
NMF33 USCGLoran-C station, Caribou, ME
NMF37 USCGLoran-C station, Carolina Beach, NC
NMF44 USCGGroup Southwest Harbor, ME
NMG USCGNew Orleans, LA (remotes to CAMSLANT)
NMG2 USCGGroup New Orleans, LA
NMGH USCGUSCGC Marcus Hanna (WLM-554)
NMHU USCGUSCGC Blackfin (WPB-8731)
NMHU USCGUSCGC Blacktip (WPB-8732)
NMK USCGGroup/AirSta Atlantic City, NJ
NMMJ USCGUSCGC Sherman (WHEC-720)
NMN USCGCAMSLANT, Chesapeake, VA
NMN13 USCGGroup Cape Hatteras, NC
NMN37 USCGGroup Fort Macon, NC
NMN70 USCGGroup Eastern Shore, VA
NMN80 USCGGroup Hampton Roads, VA
NMO USCGHonolulu, HI (remotes to CAMSPAC)
NMO2 USCGGroup Honolulu, Hawaii
NMQ USCGLong Beach, CA
NMQ9 USCGGroup Long Beach, CA
NMR USCGSan Juan, PR
NMR1 USCGGreater Antilles Section, San Juan, PR
NMUD USCGUSCGC Diligence (WMEC-616)
NMW USCGGroup Astoria, OR
NMY42 USCGGroup Moriches, NY
NNAS USCGUSCGC Escanaba (WMEC-907)
NNHA USCGUSCGC Acushnet (WMEC-167)
NNIA USCGUSCGC William Tate (WLM-560)

Wayne.B wrote in
:

I'm getting ready to have a new Icom M-802

Wayne, just for information.......

That crappy PC board connector they expect you to leave out in the weather
on the AT-130 antenna tuner and the crappy CB coax pigtail SO-239 connector
CAN be eliminated at the tuner.....

The control cable pigtail is soldered to some U-shaped wire loops inside
the tuner where the book shows a screw-terminal connection. NOTE WHICH
WIRES GO TO WHICH LOOPS. Unsolder the pigtail from the loops and pull it
out of the tuner's stuffing tubes. Throw it overboard before it cripples
your HF. Cut the plastic plug off the control cable before trying to feed
it through the boat to the tuner. Makes installation MUCH neater and
easier! Run the cable through the now-empty stuffing tube and solder the
appropriate wires directly to the PC board loops you took the crappy
pigtail out of. You do NOT have to remove the PC board to accomplish this.
Just remove the cover off the tuner.

The coax is another matter......

You'd have to remove the whole tuner PC ass'y to replace the coax soldered
to the board. No fun at sea...So.... I cut the coax plug off the tuner's
RG-58 pigtail and pulled the coax back through the stuffing tube inside the
tuner. I cut the coax to a convenient length and put a new cable-mounted
SO-239 connector INSIDE the tuner, where it won't get drown in salt water.
Feed the unconnectored coax through the stuffing tube and put a PL-259
connector on it INSIDE the tuner. Use a piece of shrink tubing to seal the
coax connections and insulate the grounded connectors from touching
anything inside the tuner. Tywrap the connectors to the control cable
right where it comes in from the stuffing tube to secure it from moving
around.

ALL antenna tuner connections are now SEALED inside the environment of the
sealed tuner.....NOT LAYING OUT ON THE DECK OR IN SOME WATER-SOAKED
COMPARTMENT RUSTING AWAY!

M802 is a great radio....

Turn it on and press MODE + TX + 2 together to open its transmitter to FULL
coverage, including 150W on all the ham bands. Do it again to put it back
to marine-only transmit. (I'm afraid to leave it open when I'm not on the
boat for fear my captain will be out-of-band transmitting, probably on BBC
World Service...(c;)

MAKE SURE THE M802 TRANSCEIVER IS NOT WHERE ANY WATER CAN GET ON IT! The
fan sucks sea air into the chassis to corrode everything inside and destroy
it....part of Icom's Planned Obsolescense System, I think. Stupid
design.... I have the transceiver mounted behind the nav panel high up in
the boat above the flooding and the control panel is on the end of the
extra cable mounted in the mahogany panel right by it. Sorry we can't get
rid of the cheap crap connector on the RADIO end of the control cable.
They don't even give you EXTRA PINS for the plug in case you bend
one....how awful. Putting that plug on is the worst part of the job.

If the antenna tuner fails to tune....Unplug and plug that little white
plug into the radio several times and it will...(c;

Connecting M802 to your NMEA system needs to be done through an opto-
isolator. How stupid....a GROUNDED BNC connector, UNBALANCED, for NMEA
data to tell DSC where you are. My optoisolator is in a little box stuck
to the front of the radio....Stupid, Icom...Stupid!

"Doug Dotson" dougdotson@NOSPAMcablespeedNOSPAMcom wrote in news:8K-
:

So, if I am heading offshore, how do I find out if the USCG can copy me?


Telepathy....SSB Telepathy.


A good way is to checkin to the MMSN on 14.300. If you don't have a ham
callsign, well, GET ONE!