Aboard Dignity (Lagoon 420) Blog

If you’re reading this then I have successfully managed to send an email blog via shortwave. It is something of a triumph and a thrill to have got this far. Just a recap of what it took to get this far.

* I had to set up a website : www.aboarddignity.com
* I had to research different ways to commingle website authoring with blogging
* I tried and became disappointed with one blogging solution
* I migrated to WordPress for blogging including transferring all my old entries for the second time
* I configured WordPress to receive blog entries via email
* I had to study and pass my HAM Technician test
* I had to study and pass my HAM General test
* I researched shortwave radio solutions and opted for Icom M802 transceiver with auto tuner coupled with Pactor Modem
* I bought all of the above and waited for the parts to arrive
* I bought a back order cable from Radio Shack because I couldn’t wait
* I sought and received a lot of helpful advice
* I set up the radio in house and played around
* I constructed a multi strand counterpoise
* I sent my son up a tree to help set up an outside antenna
* I had to wrestle Vista into allowing Airmail3 to run
* I read lots and lots of manuals to know what the heck was going on
* I tried without luck to contact Winlink stations (these are the HAMs that make it all work)
* I had to learn more about propagation and learn how to choose a Winlink station that would work
* I successfully sent two test emails
* I sent this email

Phew. As you can see, this blog entry took a lot to send. As with most things, the harder it is to accomplish, the more reward/pleasure derived from success.

I think a bottle is in order. Cheers all.

Yesterday I was unable to solder my connecting wire to my antenna effectively so today I bought a butane based soldering iron and used the mini blowtorch tough thoroughly solder the two wires together.  I then went back to playing with the weatherfax.  Boston was back on and much clearer than on Saturday – probably a combination of the antenna being outdoors, the soldering and reorientation of the antenna which is now more perpendicular to Boston.  Connecting the radio back to by laptop I found I got much better fidelity by turning the microphone gain down.

Take a look at this pic.  I’m impressed – hope you are.

A few more steps taken today. Not being able to wait for the final part (the antenna connection between the M802 and the AT-140) I drove round to radio shack to get a substitute. I connected all the parts and made an antenna out of some mains cable I had spare. The weather in NJ is lousy today so there was no way I was going to go climbing trees let along simply going outside and getting wet. So my Mk I antenna is strung up indoors from one of the house to the other. Not sure if Helen is overly pleased by this but she’s letting me play for now.

I don’t have a proper ground so I’ve made a counterpoise based on some recommendations I received on the internet. The radio seems to work but few channels are in use. The M802 comes with many preprogrammed channels (frequency, mode, etc.) so it’s easy to run through these. I was able to find a time signal and a weather fax channel. I also opened up the HAM channels using a technique I found on the internet and was able to scan the HAM bands. I managed to listen in briefly to one side of a conversation on the 20m band. I guess the other guy was out of range of my ramshackle set up.

Back to the weatherfax channel I downloaded SeaTty 2.0 and plugged my laptop mic into the transceiver. After some messing around this is the best I could get.

As you can see it’s a bit fuzzy. Chances are this is due to my setup. An ex-neighbour emailed me to say indoor antennas are not very effective. This means I can look forward to some improvement when the weather lets me start climbing trees in the back yard / garden.

Weather faxes over the sideband radio are very important to the sailor – particularly when far from shore.  Learning how to capture these effectively is a skill I need to develop.  I’ll upload more as I get better.