Excerpts from the latest Scuttlebutt issue.

Greetings from C6ALD

Hurricane season is upon us once again, and it's a good time to remember the role that amateur radio still plays in emergency communications.

Cell phones and e-mail have changed the nature of communications radically in the past decade or so. Even from a boat in the Bahamas, you can "phone home" - or e-mail the office, for that matter - from most locations. But all this technology depends on a complex infrastructure: cell-phone towers, telephone lines, satellite links, wireless internet antennas, not to mention the electricity to run them all.

Then along comes Floyd, or Francis, or Ivan. The telephone poles, communication towers and wireless antennas are blown down. Heavy rains knock out the satellite links. And the amateur radio operator cranks up his set and goes to work.

After every major hurricane that has hit the Bahamas, Waterway Net members here in the islands have spent days - sometimes weeks - passing health and welfare traffic to and from concerned family members, property owners and boat owners back on the "mainland". With no power and no phone service, we were the only means of communication for most people.

Even when we're not getting our socks blown off by a hurricane, Waterway Netters are constantly helping the USCG to locate missing boats and pass messages to their skippers. Even though most of this traffic is of the "phone home, Aunt Martha's worried" variety, some boats are genuinely overdue, and the timely help of the Waterway Net not only relieves the anxiety of relatives, but also relieves the Coast Guard of an unnecessary search.

So even in this age of Information Technology, there is most definitely still a need for amateur radio. Let's give ourselves a quiet pat on the back, while at the same time hoping that this coming hurricane season doesn't call on us to fulfill that need.

Wishing us all a peaceful summer...,

Bob - C6ALD

I would like to take this opportunity to welcome the new members to the Waterway Radio and Cruising Club. It is still inspiring to receive those applications, especially when they contain a little note at the bottom like the last one I processed. Mark Haskell, KI4AIW wrote at the bottom of his application "Just upgraded to General on Saturday. Looking forward to participating in the Net." Welcome, Mark, and congratulations on the upgrade.

It is reassuring to see that the interest is still there and that people are upgrading so that they can talk on our net. I know that's why I got my General license in the first place. There was no reason to stop at Novice or Tech because my goal was to be able to talk on the "Net".

Many years ago, Tom Taylor, N4LDX introduced me to the Waterway Net while we were tied up next to him and Lila J in Riviera Beach, FL for Christmas. We were on our way south for our first trip since we quit our jobs. Our first big adventure in our new liveaboard lifestyle.

There was no question that I needed to get my ham license, as soon as possible.

That's exactly what I did when we returned to St. Augustine a few months later. Like all new hams, I was nervous about making my first contact. Gordo, KI4SL was the Fleet Captain back then, so my very first contact was to him. Afterwards I went up to the marina office and called Gordo on the phone to ask him how I did. I was really nervous, like I said, but Gordo assured me that I had done fine. It's not easy to make that first call, but if you are new to the net or new to amateur radio, we set aside a time during the net specifically so that you can call in without having to test your signal against someone with a super strong signal. No hassles. Please don't hesitate to check in anytime, even if it's just to put in your first position report. There is a precedent for that.

We all need to keep a look out in the anchorages and around your marinas for prospective members. This time last year we sent out 825 newsletters to member families. This year the count is 761. That is not a very reassuring trend. If you know someone who may not have renewed his or her membership, give them a call and encourage them to renew. I took pity on the ones who had not paid for this year by the time I published the roster and left their names in the Roster. They did not receive a copy of the Roster, nor have they received any newsletters since the January issue, but at least when they do renew, they don't have to feel left out of the Roster. (The point is you can't tell necessarily if the dues are paid merely by looking at the Roster). However, if one of your friends mentions that they did not receive a Roster or the latest Scuttlebutt, have them give me a call. It's possible that they missed a dues payment.

Everyone have a great summer, and don't forget to take some super pictures and send them in for possible cover pictures for next year's Roster.

88,  Jeanie - N4WFM,  WRCC Sec-Treas

The CW Net continues to draw 15 to 20 check-ins each day. Fridays are dedicated as "straight key" day and finds more people actually using that antiquated device but many of us who now have sending speeds of 25 wpm or more find straight keys rather 'confining'.

The CW net recently started a Yahoo group (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ WRCCWNET/) which is proving to be very successful. Now we can actually see what each of us looks like, what our shacks look like and as well as being able to post messages to the group.

A new regular check-in is Les, 9Y4LT from Trinidad. While Earl, C6AGH is our other regular DX check in.

Several members participated in field day operations and one, Joe, K8MP, along with his young son, operated class lB collecting 6,414 points which they are hoping will better their second place in North America finish last year.

Everyone is welcome and invited to the CW Net operation. Come on down to 7050 some time and say hello to the group. We are on from 7 AM until about 7:30 daily.

Friday is straight key/slow day.

Sunday is fast day (30 + wpm)

Speed on all other days depends on the net controller for that day but they all will slow down if you ask them to.

73, Sam Ulbing, N4UAU

We first cruised the Bahamas in Altair I in 1964 and got our weather forecasts by AM Marine radio and AM broadcasts. The marine radios were 2 MHz AM and most cruising boats had one. I was not a ham and there were very few in the Bahamas then.

My marine AM radio was typical: Simpson, 50 watts, 5 crystal controlled channels each tuned in a big tank circuit, cost $200 or less. The random wire antenna started at the back of the radio with no feed line. They had a range of about 100 to occasionally 300 miles. My 5 channels were: Miami and Nassau Marine Operators; call and distress (2182); two ship to ship. The marine operators gave weather forecasts on iffy schedules. They would not interrupt traffic for weather. AM broadcast stations in Florida giving marine weather included Charlies Locker, Ft Lauderdale at 8AM on WVCG, a disc jockey in Miami with a thick Maine accent and Zed NS Nassau with weather broadcasts, including one in the morning right after "Obituaries on the Air".

Most out island "clubs" used AM marine radios for communication, ID'ing from their boats like Mizpah, Black Pepper, Yellow Cat, Bessie Virginia and Cleopatra's Barge and others. Some of these marine radios strangely migrated from the boat to the bar room. Cruising and charter boats met on the air every morning on ship to ship channel 2738 to exchange weather and other info. Some referred to it as "The Childrens' Hour". That's the way it was about the time the Waterway Net got started. From 1971 to about 1974 AM Marine radios were phased out. The change was not popular but encouraged cruisers (like me) to become hams. The AM radios were replaced with VHF-FM and SSB Marine radios - the latter were big and expensive. VHF Marine weather was started then, but for years there were holes in this system. AM Marine radios (with their QRM) were used for years in the Bahamas after they were illegal in the US. The 1970's also saw new small 12 volt solid state ham rigs like SBE, Atlas, Ten-Tec, Kenwood and others: These were big improvements for cruising boats and they cost much less than marine SSB.

We became hams in 1972, WB4WTR and Chris was WB4WTS. That spring we took Altair III from Panama to Florida and checked into the Waterway net regularly. The net did not have organized weather reporting but members did relay needed forecasts. On June 16 we found shelter in a small harbor on Cozumel, which soon filled with Mexican freight and fishing boats and some yachts as hurricane Agnes formed in the Yucatan Strait. I can remember Altair's little pilot house crowded with Mexican captains as we listened to the Waterway Net on my Swan 5000X and got the only reliable weather forecasts available. We suffered no damage and Agnes went straight north to the Florida panhandle.

Sometime around 1980, Dotty Miller, N4AAT started giving the east Florida coastal forecast on the net copied from Charlies Locker. A year or so later Wes Carlseen, N5AQJ started giving the marine weather from Gulfport, MS. In 1990 Carolyn, C6AGG started giving forecasts from Nassau. Nobody assigned them the job, they just did it. Weather forecasts were shorter then, about as detailed as what we get now from Nassau.

John Stufflebeem, N3DKZ did a lot of homework on weather sources and got us reporting the S.W. N. Atlantic in 1986. Many of us weather reporters got up at 04:30 gathering weather info from the USCG on NMN at 5AM Eastern time. Bud, KK4MV appointed the first weather coordinator in 1991, Conrad, WA3SSB got us into Weatherbank and that was a big breakthrough!

In 1993-4 John N3DKZ wrote detailed instructions on its use. It was a private company supplying WX info mostly to newspapers, trucking companies etc. Each net weather reporter maintained a credit balance account with Weatherbank and we downloaded requested weather forecasts using an 800 number, a PC with modem and free software. It cost 25 cents a minute, but sometimes it took longer. It was reliable and fast. For the first time we could get weather forecasts at any time and print them out. Two or three years later we started getting weather off the World Wide Web. A lot of services came along (and some left) about that time, like Weather FAX, NAVTEX and RTTY weather. Unfortunately, USCG ended the most reliable CW weather in '93 and the Navy ended WxFAX in '97.

Since the start of the Waterway Net, there have been many advances in weather forecasting: weather computers; satellite images and communication; doppler radar and more. In spite of this the NWS still has problems with their forecasts and errors seem to increase exponentially the further out the forecasts go. Forecasts are more detailed and redundant leaaaading me to believe that sometimes, I think, more is less and less is more.

I want to thank the following for help in writing this article: C6AGG, N3DKZ, W4IKV, N4LDX, KK4MV, KN4RB, KI4SL, N4UAU, WA7WOT. Other sources include old Scuttlebutts, Rosters, Net Guide, Marine Electronics 3rd. Edition by WB6NOA and my log books.

Location: 3845 N Wickham Road, Melbourne, FL 32935 - Wickham Park Website

When: Thursday, November 10, 2005

Times: Registration starts at 10:30am, ET.
Those displaying items at flea market should also register by 10:30am.
Dinner line will start at noon, ET.

Facts: Please bring a covered dinner dish to share, not chips or dips. The following will be provided: soft drinks, water, beer, ice, paper plates, cups, napkins and utensils. Drinks in cans are permitted, but no glass bottles. A BBQ grill will be available but it is outside and in back of the pavilion. This is a larger covered pavilion than we had before. Foul weather gear would only be required to get to the pavilion from your transportation in case of bad weather. We are trying to keep things simple to keeps costs down. We are asking $3 per person to cover expenses.

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