Could a new satellite operator successfully conduct a DX operation from a
cruise ship? It was a little over a year ago on July 16, 2000, that I made my
first amateur radio satellite contact. A few weeks earlier I had seen a
satellite demonstration by Bruce Paige, KK5DO, at Field Day. When I was first
licensed in 1978, I thought I wanted to work satellites, but I did not get
around to it until Bruce piqued my interest. I soon became active on the FM
satellites, UO-14, AO-27 and SO-35. I had been working the satellites for about
a year when my wife and I began making plans for a
My first step was to investigate licensing requirements, and determine where
I would be able to operate. In order to operate maritime mobile from a ship, it
is necessary to obtain a license from the country in which the vessel is
flagged, and to have permission of the captain of the ship. The ship we had
booked was the Ocean Princess, flagged in the
I also began to investigate operating from the various islands we were
scheduled to visit. Again, the ARRL web page was extremely helpful. The CEPT
agreement also included permission to operate from Curacao in the
My next step was to determine what equipment to take on the
cruise. I sent E-mail to John Sheets, N8QGC, and Ramon Santoyo,
XE1KK, who had both operated on cruises during the past year, and asked for
suggestions and recommendations. Both John and Ramon responded with excellent
suggestions and help. John had operated on his cruise with an Arrow handheld
beam, but after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, we live in a
different world. While operating satellites in the
Now that my equipment was selected, I began to check out the equipment and
become familiar with it. I read the Icom IC-W32A
instruction manual from cover to cover, even though I planned to take the
manual along. I noticed a few minor problems with my IC-W32A, and decided to
send it to Icom for servicing. In my cover letter to Icom, I explained how I planned to use the IC-W32A on an
upcoming cruise, and Icom went over the entire radio
to make sure that it was operating within specifications. I found that my HT
battery packs were beginning to show their age and did not hold a full charge
as long as they used to, so I purchased two new battery packs. I decided to
take along three battery packs for the HT, a drop-in charger, and a trickle
charger. I was very cognizant that Mr. Murphy would probably pay me a visit,
and I planned backups for critical equipment such as the battery charger and
antenna. An Icom HM-54 speaker microphone would be an
acceptable backup for the MFJ headset. Because Icom
had just serviced my IC-W32A, I did not plan on taking along a backup radio.
Double-checking the gear before the trip, Allen Mattis,
N5AFV, is making sure it will work as expected
(Photo by KK5DO)
My final preparation consisted of making practice contacts with the equipment I planned to take on the cruise. I used the IC-W32A and AL800 antenna to make approximately 75 contacts under a variety of conditions during the month before the cruise. The practice operation continued until five days before my scheduled departure. This proved to be very important, because on the final day of practice operation, both Tony Campbell, W5ADC, and Bruce, KK5DO, reported that my audio was very low. A test of the MFJ-288I headset indicated that it was not working properly, and I quickly obtained a replacement headset to take along on the cruise. I hadn't left for the cruise yet, but Mr. Murphy had made his first visit.
A few days before departure, I called Continental Airlines, to find out how the new security regulations would affect the transporting of amateur radio equipment on an aircraft. I was told that transporting the IC-W32A HT should not be a problem if I could turn it on and show that it worked, and had my amateur radio license along. I was also told that the Premier AL800 antenna would have to be transported in checked baggage because it could be taken apart and used as a weapon. In addition, it was prohibited to carry most tools in carry-on baggage, so my emergency tool kit consisting of two screw drivers and a needle nosed pliers was also destined for checked baggage. Dave Paperman, W5WP, also suggested to me that extra battery packs for the HT be carried in checked baggage, because they could not be opened to show that they did not contain prohibited materials. I finalized my plans for packing - the HT with one battery pack and its regular rubber duck antenna, the MFJ-1717 high gain dual band rubber duck antenna, the trickle charger, the GPS unit, and the tape recorder would travel in carry on baggage. All other radio gear and related equipment would go into checked baggage. This distribution of equipment provided the ability to operate if the checked baggage was lost.
The trip from
The next day we boarded the ship. Security was just like the
airport, and my carry-on baggage passed through without a hitch. After our bags
were delivered to our stateroom, we unpacked. All radio gear arrived intact and
was ready for use. The next step was to obtain permission to operate on the
ship. I inquired at the Purser's Desk if it would be possible to meet with the
radio officer, and was told that, due to security, I would have to send a
written request to the radio officer. I was handed a piece of paper and
envelope, and I sat down to write a one-page letter requesting permission to
operate. In the letter, I stated that I was an amateur radio operator with a
I was ready for my first satellite pass as a maritime mobile. It was an evening pass, so it was dark. It was also windy and raining, and there were five-foot seas. As a result, there were almost no passengers on deck to witness this momentous occasion. I turned on the radio, and within a minute I could hear the satellite. I turned on the tape recorder and made my first call. Bruce, KK5DO, was my first contact, and I proceeded to work nine different stations in that pass. I was excited when I returned to my stateroom. I turned on the tape recorder to transfer the log to paper, and heard nothing. The tape recorder played, but had not recorded the pass. What happened? Mr. Murphy was back. Before panicking, I decided to put fresh batteries in the recorder. Now the recorder worked. Apparently it takes more power to record than play, and with weak batteries, the pass had not been recorded. I remembered the calls I had worked and the approximate times, so no damage had been done. The recorder worked fine, and Mr. Murphy had been defeated again. Fortunately, this was the last time Mr. Murphy visited me on the cruise.
During the next ten days I operated 34 satellite passes, and
made a total of 235 contacts from 21 grid squares. These totals include
operating at sea, and operating from
Another rewarding aspect of ham radio on the trip was working a number of local operators on two-meter repeaters as we sailed among the islands. It was nice to talk with these local residents and find out more about the islands. Like hams almost anywhere, the local operators were very friendly and welcomed me to their part of the world.
After I returned home, John, N8QGC, sent me a tape he made of the satellite
passes when he worked me. It was very instructive for me to hear how the passes
sounded in
E-mail - [email protected]