I hiked across Shute Hill this afternoon to David Swain’s Farm. The colors were stunning. I worked Bulgaria, the Cayman Islands, St. George Island, Aland Island, and Italy.

I started out at the old cemetery off the Rufus Colby Road and hiked south along a snowmobile trail. Along the way I took a snap shot of some of the trees.

It stayed in the 50s today, but was warm in the sun. I hiked about two and a half miles to the old range road and then into Swain’s field. I tossed my antenna wire into a gold maple and sat down in the grass with the KX3. Here’s a photo of the tree.

I operated on both 20 meters and 17 meters. Here’s my log:

11 Oct-16 1755 14.010 LZ3QE CW 559 589 Bulgaria
11 Oct-16 1758 18.072 ZF1DX CW 599 599 Cayman Islands
11 Oct-16 1800 18.074 K4G CW 599 599 St. George Island
11 Oct-16 1801 14.020 LZ1DS CW 449 599 Bulgaria
11 Oct-16 1806 14.027 IZ2QXG CW 559 579 Italy
11 Oct-16 1810 14.024 OH0Z CW 599 599 Aland Island

The color is a few days away from peak. But we may not get another brilliant
day like today. I’m glad I got out.

A great story sent by David Richer, WB6VGO about how amateurs helped rescue a sinking vessel in the Pacific.

Excellent work!

On September 28, 2016 at approximately 0300 UTC, Charles Houlihan, KD6SPJ, a net relay relay station for the Pacific Seafarer’s net while monitoring 14.300 received a call for assistance from the captain of the Sailing Vessel (SV) Rafiki. The captain reported that the SV Rafiki, a 35 foot sailing vessel, was taking on water. Charles who was the captain of the SV Jacaranda and located at sea, contacted Randy VanLeeuwen, KH6RC also a net relay and located in Hawaii. Randy contacted the US Coast Guard Station to report the incident and provide Rafiki’s location, 230 miles south of Cold Bay, Alaska.

Randy remained in constant radio contact with the Rafiki until contact with lost. Fred Moore W3ZU (Florida) and Peter Mott, ZL1PWM (New Zealand) additional net relays maintained contact with the captain of the Rafiki until the arrival of the Coast Guard the subsequent rescue.

According to a press release issued by the United States Coast Guard Station–17th District, a Coast Guard Air Station Kodiak MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter and an Air Station Kodiak HC-130 Hercules were dispatched to the Rafiki’s last reported position. Upon arrival the crew of the Jayhawk helicopter were successfully able to hoist the captain and one additional crew member to safety aboard the helicopter.around 1000 hours UTC. Both men were reported to be uninjured. The vessel was abandoned.

This real-life incident happened during the daily “roll-call” conducted by the amatuer radio operators (or “hams”) and members of the Pacific Seafarers Net. Everyday at 0300 UTC amateur radio operators from North America, Hawaii, New Zealand and Australia monitor the progress of maritime amateur radio operators who are sailing on the Pacific.

Prior to the start of the roll call for “maritime mobile” vessels, a call for medical, emergency or priority traffic is broadcasted. It was after such a call for any emergency traffic that the call for assistance from the Rafiki was received.

According the the net’s website (www.pacseanet.com): “The Pacific Seafarer’s Net is a network of volunteer Amateur Radio Operators that handles radio and internet email communication traffic between sailing and motoring vessels operating on all oceans and land-based parties. The land station Net Control Amateur Stations are located in various locations throughout the Continental United States, Hawaii, Australia and New Zealand. Communications traffic consists of daily position reporting and automatic posting of positions on several websites, message handling via email relays, Health and Welfare traffic, phone patch services, search and rescue coordination, and vessel equipment inventories for search and rescue operations. Life threatening emergencies are taken from any vessel whether or not they have ham radio licenses. Net control stations keep computer databases on participating vessels and their movements throughout the oceans.”

Got this great tip from Larry KG4ZAR:

Every ham seems to have a HT or two in their shack and sooner or later they find the rubber duck antenna loose.

Most times it’s the locking ring/nut on the chassis mount that’s worked loose. If you use one of the improved 1/4 wave aftermarket antennas, this becomes a more frequent problem.

Trying to tighten up this ring (especially on one of the Chinese radios) usually means grabbing a pair of needle nose pliers and making a mess of things, along with pinching your fingers when the pliers slip off the ring.

A much simpler way to tighten these rings is to purchase a cheap set of “snap ring pliers.” A set of these pliers (with various interchangeable tips) are under $10 at Harbor Freight and you’ll find many other uses once you own a set.

Stories you’ll find in our October, 2016 issue:

LnR’s New LD-11: A Very Red, QRP, All-Mode, All-Band Transceiver
By Thomas Witherspoon K4SWL

LnR Precision, Inc., is a North Carolina-based company that specializes in antennas, straight-keys, and QRP transceivers. Earlier this year, when the company announced their latest QRP transceiver, the LD-11, Thomas Witherspoon was especially intrigued. The new LD-11 supports 160-10 meter operation with all modes (SSB, CW, CW-R, Digi, AM and FM). Find out why Thomas says its performance-for-price-point puts it in a market with some heavy-hitters like the venerable Yaesu FT-817ND, the Elecraft KX3, and the new Elecraft KX2.

The Slow Creep of Scanner Encryption
By Chris Parris

Those within the radio communications industry have been actively marketing the ability to encrypt the latest generations of business and personal radio communications fairly inexpensively. This trend follows one that has been on a steady march for years in the public safety communications industry, and it affects many more people than just scanner listeners. But why is this happening? Federal Wavelengths columnist, Chris Parris, takes a look at what encryption is, who is using it and how it affects all of us in the radio monitoring hobby.

Monitoring Russia’s Northern Fleet
By Tony Roper

In its current form, the Northern Fleet is still the largest in the Russian navy, consisting of approximately 80 warships, half of which are submarines, as well as this number again in service ships, tugs and icebreakers. Longtime military monitor, Tony Roper, shows us how he monitors the activities of this fleet through Morse code transmissions directly from the ships as well as using Web-based tools, such as Google Earth, and webcams to physically see the ships in action.

GMRS –The ‘Other’ Citizens Band – Part 2
By Cory GB Sickles WA3UVV

GMRS is a fun and useful aspect of Part 95 communications, seemingly as far removed from Class D CB as you can possibly get. And, while GMRS can be enjoyed without repeaters, having a well-placed and performing machine in your area makes it even more so. In this installment, Cory explains the hardware needed to set up such a repeater; how to start a local GMRS club, what the likely costs of will be, and he takes a looks a some successful GMRS clubs in different parts of the US.

The Hams Behind the Fender Guitar Legend
By Richard Fisher KI6SN

Gary Gray W6DOE’s Uncle Leo became a ham in about 1931 or ’32. “I’m not sure he ever renewed his license,” Gary told Richard Fisher in an interview. “He was most likely on the air using CW . . . There wasn’t much phone back then. He did a lot of electronic work as a ham.” One of the things Leo Fender, who held the first W6DOE call, recounted to Gary was how he started a career in audio by building amplifiers for public address systems. The rest, as they say, is musical history. With meticulous attention to musical and electronic detail, the Fender guitar and amplifier legend was born.

Scanning America
By Dan Veenaman
Howard County, Indiana and Monitoring Airborne TETRA

Federal Wavelengths
By Chris Parris
Scanning Smaller Federal Agencies

Utility Planet
By Hugh Stegman NV6H
US DGPS: Bad News and Good News

Digital HF: Intercept and Analyze
By Mike Chace-Ortiz AB1TZ/G6DHU
Getting Started with Digital GPS Decoding

HF Utility Logs
By Mike Chace-Ortiz and Hugh Stegman

Digitally Speaking
By Cory Sickles WA3UVV
Still in the Box? Put it on the Air!

VHF and Above
By Joe Lynch N6CL
Earth-Moon-Earth Communications

Amateur Radio Insights
By Kirk Kleinschmidt NT0Z
Radio Fun with an Uncooperative Ionosphere

Radio 101
By Ken Reitz KS4ZR
Obsessing about Awards and School Club Roundup

Radio Propagation
By Tomas Hood NW7US
Space Weather: Interfering with Global Positioning Satellites

The World of Shortwave Listening
By Andrew Yoder
Halloween Shortwave Pirates and Global Pirate Weekend

The Shortwave Listener
By Fred Waterer
Listening to Shortwave and Internet Radio

Maritime Monitoring
By Ron Walsh VE3GO
Stormy WX and an End to Some DGPS

The Longwave Zone
By Kevin O’Hern Carey WB2QMY
WSPRs on the Band

Adventures in Radio Restoration
By Rich Post KB8TAD
The Triple-Conversion Puzzle: Hammarlund HQ-180A

Antenna Connections
By Dan Farber AC0LW
Tools of the Trade: Antenna Work Essentials

Radio Horizons
New Digital Radio Mondiale Receiver

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