Subject: [NEXTEL-1] ARRLWeb: A Cargo Ship Cruise Down Under

From: [email-masked]
Date: Thu, 16 Oct 2003 00:18:10 -0400

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Oct 14 A Cargo Ship Cruise Down Under

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A Cargo Ship Cruise Down Under

By Hugh Tinley, K0GHK

October 14, 2003

Desiring to return to the South Pacific, a retired Nebraska ham
sets out across the Pacific Ocean aboard a freighter bound for Australia and
New Zealand on a 49-day marine-mobile Amateur Radio excursion.

The Columbia Star container cargo ship off the
northern New Zealand coast. The author completed a 49-day voyage from Seattle
to Australia and back aboard the ship. [Blue Star Lines, P. M. Stacey, Photo]

Operating HF Amateur Radio from an ocean-going freighter
is more fun than Christmas, the Fourth of July and a birthday all rolled into
one. This is particularly true if the ham involved had been running 80 W to an
inside dipole in a basement apartment. His sudden popularity with others,
operating marine mobile from the ship, might make him feel he had died, gone to
Heaven and been given such a trip instead of a harp.

That ham was me in January 1996. Before I retired from a
life in the agriculture business, my work sometimes took me into the South
Pacific. When I retired, I wanted to return to that paradise, and my return was
on a freighter and with a ham rig.

The vessel I was on for seven weeks was the 23,000-ton
British container ship Columbia Star. The nine passengers ate with the
captain and chief engineer, and we were on a first name basis with both of
them, as well as most of the crew. It was a friendly, middle-aged container
ship, typical of the freighters that today are calling on the sleepy little islands
of the South Pacific.

The ship's voyage started in Seattle, and the first stop
was in Long Beach, California to pick up cargo...and me. Coming from Nebraska,
I liked California's January weather, and as we headed for the equator, I liked
the weather even better. The seven-week swing through the South Pacific
included cargo stops at the island Kingdom of Tonga, then on to the Fiji
Islands. Then it we were off to Christchurch, New Zealand and finally on to
Sydney and Melbourne in Australia. From there, it was back to Seattle.

Meals on the ship were like the ship itself: good and
satisfying, but nothing fancy. The day before going into a port, the chef might
ask the passengers what they would like to have him pick up the next day when
he was shopping for food. It was a relaxed ship, comfortably working its way
around a relaxed part of the world.

World War II and the movie "South Pacific" brought to the
attention of the American people the friendly, easygoing life that people lived
in the South Pacific. Surprisingly, this pleasant way of life is still going
on. If the pressures of life ever cause you to scream, "Stop the world, I want
to get off!" then perhaps you should get on a South Pacific freighter and
become a maritime mobile ham with a big, attention-getting call sign!

Nuts and Bolts: Putting the Trip Together

Cost is always a prime consideration. It will vary, but
$70 to $130 a day is a good estimate. That's well below the $300-plus per day
for a 30 or 45-day excursion on a cruise ship, and your accommodations on the
freighter would no doubt be substantially better. The accommodations are
typically the unused staterooms of officers no longer needed on board due to
satellite navigation and communication systems. You will find several agencies
specializing in freighter travel on the Internet [a search for "freighter
cruises" on a popular Web search engine came back with 1300 results--Ed.],
but here are two, and I think both are good. Travel Dynamics Group in La Jolla,
California, and Freighter World
Cruises in Pasadena, California is another.

Before you put any money down for a freighter voyage, here
are some considerations:

For passengers, there is an upper age limit on many
freighters, and it varies between 70 and 82.

As there is no doctor on board, most freighters are
limited to no more than 12 passengers.

Make sure your booking agency gets permission for
you to operate Amateur Radio from the ship. Most of the freighter companies
leave this decision up to the captain. As there is no formal entertainment on a
freighter, some captains like having Amateur Radio operated from their ship as
it provides great entertainment for the passengers. On the other hand, some
captains simply don't want Amateur Radio aboard their ship. If one agency can't
help you securing a ham-friendly ship, maybe another one can.

As most of the radio traffic pertaining to the ship's
business comes off satellites, you aren't going to give the ship's radio
operator any problems with your HF or VHF operations. Your interference
problems, if any, will come from passengers who brought along a handy-dandy,
little portable shortwave radio. On my trip, I didn't get into a passenger's
personal radio. No, I had to go and get into the captain's radio that he used
in the evening to listen the BBC. He didn't "suggest" that I stay off the air
when the news was on, but I thought it best if I did. On a ship, God and the
captain are equals and I didn't want either jerking my chain.

Many cargo freighters have unused staterooms that are no
longer used by ship's officers. [Hugh Tinley, K0GHK, Photo]

Be sure and ask the booking agency for the name of the
country in which the freighter is registered, as this is the country you will
need to contact for your ham license, if CEPT or IARP
doesn't cover it via reciprocal agreement. ARRL Regulatory Information
Specialist John Hennessee, N1KB, is the one to contact
for help with any licensing questions. Also, ask the agency if you will need a
visa to get off the ship when it stops in the various countries to drop off
freight and ask if the ship has 110 or 220 V ac power.

When you start to pursue a reciprocal license, allow
plenty of time to receive it; bureaucracies can be slow.

It's only after you have all your questions answered,
and are sure you are going on the freighter, that you can get out your
checkbook. If you don't have a passport, your first check should be for $55 to Uncle Sam.

[A good place to begin finding answers to these
and other questions is at the Around The World Traveler FAQ.--Ed.]

Radio Gear: What to Take

You don't want to take a lot of stuff, as you have to pack
it, carry it, probably get it on and off airplanes--and for sure, get it on and
off the ship. So what should you do? You should plan on taking two of
everything, so if something breaks, or gets lost, you will still be in
business. The alternative is to do as I did: Take one of everything...and pray.
There is one positive thing about the latter approach: If something breaks or
gets lost, you can look forward to a trouble-free, QRM-free boat ride.

For an antenna, I took a Hustler mobile vertical. As the
Hustler is light, can be taken apart quickly and it was easy to pack. As it
turned out, my stateroom was 80 feet above the water and I was able to stick
the antenna mount on a handy post. The antenna was not only in the clear and 80
feet above the water, but it was easy to get at when I changed frequencies.

A vertical is an ideal antenna to use on a steel ship. The
Columbia Star is a 23,000 ton steel ship floating deep in salt water; it
made an ideal counterpoise for the antenna and I couldn't have asked for better
performance out of the setup. With it, the 100 W from my ICOM 757 and the
attention-getting call sign of "K0GHK/C6A, maritime mobile region 3," I ended
up at the bottom of some big, big pile ups...and never had so much fun in my
life.

Tinley relaxes in front of his "shack," a small table with
a Kenwood TS-130S transceiver. A Hustler mobile antenna on a balcony rail
completed the station. [Hugh Tinley, K0GHK, Photo]

A few more things to consider...

As the salt sea air will really do a number on aluminum, I
taped the Hustler with plastic tape from one end to the other, and it stood up
to the 49-day voyage with no damage. Grease or oil, if you apply it every
couple of days, will do a good, temporary job of protecting bolts and a metal
antenna-mounting bracket.

When it comes to coax, I'd advise taking the small stuff.
Since you don't know how much you might need, take 150 feet in three, 50-foot
lengths with male coax fittings on the ends. Don't forget female coax fittings
to join sections together, as necessary.

Take a pocket knife, a medium sized screwdriver, pliers
and wrenches for the antenna mount, extension cord, and a 120 V transformer if
the ship has 220 V ac. Ask ahead of departure what type of plug is used aboard
ship so you can match your ac power cords to the receptacle on the ship. Black
electrical tape, fuses, a short length of hook-up wire, pencils and a
spiral-bound notebook will double as a log and as a paper supply. Note
frequencies and PL tones of the repeaters you may encounter, and a list of DX
call sign prefixes.

Finally, although you may be an adult, it's great to have
a local "babysitter" so you can stay in touch with the folks at home. I had a
great one in Lori Bogle, AAOBS. Lori lives in my neighborhood and is one of the
net control stations on the DX net at 14.251 MHz. Lori was as dependable as a
clock, and though I was on the other side of the world, she kept me up-to-date
on the news at home.

Hugh Tinley has been a ham since 1962. He retired as
president of Farmers National of Omaha, the largest farm management company in
the US, and also served as a volunteer for the US Departments of Agriculture
and State, briefing overseas embassies on agricultural issues. During the
Vietnam conflict, he originated Operation Hello, running phone patches for
serving Marines and their families. Tinley remains active in the Service Corps
of Retired Executives, Rotary Club and Amateur Radio. He can be reached via
e-mail at [email-masked].

Previous: Amateur to Turn in Ticket in Police Radio Interference Case

Next: [email-masked]: Youth and Emergency Communication

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Page author: [email-masked]

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