Day 9 - Halfway and HAM Radio

In the dark of the early morning hours, fog creeping over the boat, the halfway mark overtook us. The half-asleep watch-standers realized this the next morning as the rest of the crew roused. There was a cheer and then the day went on. So, for any emergency from here on out...Hawaii is the closest port. YAY! And, to celebrate, the hubby made the most amazing chicken fajitas for Mexican Monday! If you wonder why so much of this blog is about food and repairs, that is what most of the day has been spent doing. As for the rest of the halfway day, the generator went hard down, and repairs are ongoing. So, I am going to devote the rest of this blog to the HAM and HF radio stuff on my mind.

Thank you. To all of the people out there who have taken the time to become amateur radio operators. If you know any of these people, please thank them too for us. If it weren't for them, you would not have heard a word from us on this voyage. For those who are completely unfamiliar with the technology, we are sending emails to the blogs via a single side band data connection on an HF (high frequency) radio. As the radio spectrum goes, HF is lower frequency, but has a longer range because of this. We have to check atmospherics and propagation, etc. Within two months of studying, we were able to get to the test and my husband passed the first try. (I had to go out of town, so did not get to take mine yet.) It is an amazing method of communication, and, as long as you follow some simple rules, you can talk to anyone anywhere in the world for free!

Anyhow, I am going to stop here as we are keeping the HF off until the generator is fixed. This may not make it out for a day.

Posit: Halfway to Hawaii!!