WHY SHOULD I BOTHER TO GET MY AMATEUR RADIO LICENSE? AND WHAT GOOD IS THIS 'AMTOR' or 'PACTOR' THING?

THE FIRST QUESTION "WHY BOTHER?

Many of us (cruisers) think, "I have a well equipped boat, with marine radios, radar, and GPS (or Loran). Why should I bother to get a 'Ham Ticket'?"

When you are in a mobile lifestyle, whether driving a truck, traveling the U.S.A. in a camper, or cruising the ocean, one challenge you face is how to keep in touch with family and friends back home. Family members worry about how to reach you in case of an emergency. This is even more vital for cruisers. Out on the ocean, you are subject to the vageries of nature, and family and friends worry even more about how you are and where you are.

Amateur Radio offers a link that is vital to your safety on the ocean as well as a link to assure those left behind that you are safe and sound. There are numerous Maritime Nets on SSB (voice), which track cruising amateurs. They provide a safety net in an emergency. The Nets require daily check-in with latitude/longitude/course/speed/wind/seas/cloud cover/barometer reading. The Pacific Maritime Net on 14.313 has a 'Radio Float Plan' provided to me by Fred (KH6UY), one of the Net Controllers in Hawaii. In an emergency, they are a link that could save your life.

On the social side, the Maritime Nets provide telephone links, and some message relay to those back home. It saves you the costly links by commercial radiotelephone services, which many cruisers cannot afford. It gives you a meeting ground with other cruisers.

Amateur Radio works best for a cruiser if you take time to get a General or Advanced Class license. That means you don't have to wait till you get your Mexican other reciprocal license to be able to use the HF bands that work best for cruising vessels (20m, 30m and 40m)

"I HAVE MY HAM TICKET; WHY SHOULD I USE PACTOR or AMTOR?"

When I first met my husband, he was a truck driver, transporting 5th wheel campers all over the U.S.A. He knew I loved calling computer BBS's by phone, so he showed me a ham radio mode called "Packet". It's another form of electronic mail. You write messages on your computer and send them to another computer for friends to read. It's a wonderfully rapid way to send personal messages.

When Allan (KC5LT) went to work, driving from Southern California to states all over the U.S.A., I would have no way to keep in touch with him. A professional driver can't stop to call and chit-chat with his loved ones. Long distance phone charges fast become prohibitive. So, I got my amateur radio license, to keep in touch by voice and Packet.

Then I started driving with him, and found it was lots of fun to use Packet to send mail to all our friends back home. We entertained them with our adventures over the road. I could send an NTS message to my folks from time to time, telling them we were fine, and where we were.

We found that Packet didn't work well on the HF frequencies, so we started working Amtor and later changed to Pactor. It was amazing to get mail to California within 2-3 hours from Florida, instead of the 2-3 days Packet took. Unlike Packet, which allows multiple connects, Pactor connects are one-on-one. If someone is 'on frequency' you either wait, or move to another frequency. The MBO's (Mailboxes) are friendly and easy to use. They have help files, and bulletins giving you the "Digital Mail Box Lists" all over the world. Some Mailboxes specialize in NTS (National Traffic Service) messages; some specialize in sending personal messages.

One thing all digital modes have in common is the fact that, in poor band conditions, or mobile links, you can hold a digital radio link longer and easier at greater distances than you can retain a voice link. When the human ear can no longer hear the spoken word, the TNC (modem for the radio) continues to hear and decode the typed word accurately.

When we bought our boat, we found that cruisers who tried to work Packet lost touch when they got out of reach of the coastal VHF stations. The HF Packet BBS's would not allow 'users' to call and leave messages, but the Amtor MBO's (Aplink/Winlink) are very 'user friendly'. We realized Pactor offered the digital link for cruisers that HF Packet did not provide, so we worked at spreading our knowledge of Pactor to others in the cruising community as well as to the land-bound.

A friend introduced us to Bert (N6ID) and Wilda (KA6IVB). Two weeks before they left San Diego on their trek down the Mexican coast, and subsequently across to French Polynesia and New Zealand, we met Bert aboard our boat and gave him his first and only 15 minute lesson on how to work Pactor, Amtor and the MBO's. He tried VHF Packet in Mexico. His messages rarely arrived in the U.S. One night we linked on Amtor and arranged for him to send his mail to us at our Aplink MBO. The rest of Bert's learning curve came from the usual 'trial and error'. From that moment on, his mail has never gotten lost, and he continues to send regularly what we lovingly call 'epistles of Bert' to family.

When we receive Bert's messages, we save them to a computer file. We call Bert's sister in San Diego and read it to her. We send copies to other hams who have agreed to get them to other family and friends. Wilda's sister in Denver is called by either Sterling (KB0JBT) or Carl (WH6ANH). The most popular files on W6TJ BBS in Riverside where Bert and Wilda used to live, are Bert's messages uploaded by Carl (KC7XM). A 'would-be cruiser' gets his from Bud (N0IA) in Las Vegas. Bert's brother Walt is called by Earl (WX4J) in Florida. When we cruise to join Bert, Carl (KC7XM) will probably do the relaying I now do. Dozens of family and friends enjoy the excitement and trials of Bert and Wilda as they cruise with their children, Olin, the renouned fisherman, and Elaine, the horsewoman, now sailor.

This fun side includes my sending Wilda a group of basic recipes when she needed to make bisquick and sour cream, or the 'birthday card' I created at grandma's request for Elaine's recent birthday (which got to her ON TIME!) Then there was the time Bert put mail in our computer direct as we sailed to Catalina. I was at the helm and Allan slept through it. Only the radio and TNC were on. My cue to the link was when the autopilot started sailing in circles, till I turned it off. Other times, we've had live Chats (QSO's) from our mobile truck station to him as he cruised to French Polynesia. Live QSO's at long distance are very exciting.

Then there's the serious side. When Bert found a bolt floating in the bilge, he sent us an urgent detailed description of it. We talked to someone who knew engines, and sent the reply, 'look at the shaft coupling'. Another time his water-maker didn't seem to work. We found a friend with the solution and linked with Bert to send it, plus a diagram of how to set the switches on it.

Bert has sent us messages from other hams who do not have the digital capability, as well as non-hams. These we relayed to families who rarely hear from their cruisers.

When band conditions got worse, we didn't lose the link. Live chats, typing from our keyboard to his don't work right now, but the mail still comes regularly through the ever friendly MBO's. He sends his mail at VK2AGE.NSW.AUS.OC, and we usually read it within 2-3 days at W7DCR.OR.USA.NA. No post office in the world can get his mail back home faster. He still uses the Post Office. Periodically he tells us the next 'mail drop' for the Yacht Guinevere in Transit, and we tell family and friends, so they can forward his mail and packages, early enough to reach these destinations before or soon after his arrival.

We find there are radio operators on commercial vessels who run Winlink MBO's, and relay messages as well as making available bulletins on weather reports they receive. Links to commercial ships can be an added safeguard as well as fun.

The cruising hams who have tried Pactor are excited and enthusiastic about this efficient mode of message transfer. Chip (KA1EXF) and Les (N7YYM) on Tamarack track the Vessel they buddy-boated from Oregon to Northern California with, and sent them updated port entry data when they found it to ease their friends' initial entry to Hilo, Hawaii. Bert is sending us information on reef locations, and other vital data on the South Pacific areas they have traveled. I arranged for another cruiser already berthed in New Zealand to keep a look-out for Bert and Wilda, and help them with anything they might need to know for easier entry to New Zealand. We have a new friend in Western Australia whom we will visit when we cruise.

BEYOND AMTOR, WHAT'S NEXT?

Many hams excitedly work Pactor for keyboard to keyboard chats. There are lots of people to talk to and to exchange mail with.

We have learned now how to send messages from Pactor to other mail services. We have received mail from hams only on Internet, CompuServe, AOL, Juno, etc. Through a gateway, we can send mail to family and friends who are using other services. I've even sent messages to my son on Fido-Net. The possibilities are endless.

WE'RE INTERESTED; NOW WHAT DO WE NEED TO HAVE AND DO?

• a ham radio license, general class or higher
• a computer with a radio communications program
• a TNC (like the modem you use on telephone BBS's)
• an HF radio, with its antenna

Take time to learn how to connect all your equipment and how to install your communications program and work Amtor before you start to cruise. A month or two is better than waiting till the last days before you leave. A year is even better. I have worked Packet over two years, and Amtor over a year. Much of what we need to know for cruising to the South Pacific, we learned from relaying messages for Bert and Wilda.

Look for an article written by Bert which gives different information you'll find very helpful. Ask yourself some questions:

• Do I want added safeguards as I cruise?
• Are there family / friends who want to keep in touch with me?
• Who do I know who's a ham? a CompuServe user? on Internet? or on other e-mail service?
• Do I like to share the excitement of my travels with others?
• Do I want another way to ask for help when I can't get through on the marine radio channels?
• Do I want low-cost, fast message relay to loved ones?

If you want help, sent mail to KK5PN @ KC5LT.#SOCA.CA.USA.NA or Nedra@Worldnet.att.net or find a local ham who knows Pactor. You'll find it a life-saver and joy as have Nedra and Allan aboard S/V Blythe Spirit, Bert and Wilda on S/V Guinevere, and Chip and Les aboard S/V Tamarack.

Addendum

Also, another ham, Bob, N4CTC, in Denver saw some of my mail to friends there and offered to personally relay my mail to my cousin in his city. He's an ex-cruiser who lives on land now.. the best kind of person to have relay mail for a cruiser. He's -=dedicated=- to helping cruisers. He's been there - done that - and knows the need.

Now I have created my own mail relay network, in addition to Bert's, which I continue to maintain as I cruise Mexico in 1994. My mail relay includes sending my children mail via Internet Gateways. The only problem, however, is most gateways -=refuse=- to relay mail from my non-ham children via internet -=back to me=- .. a breakdown I have finally overcome. Maybe they will get their no-code licenses so they can keep in touch more easily.

Meanwhile, the bottom line is: Work Pactor !!! And learn it months before you cruise.

Go to Blythe Spirit Home Page

Packet/Pactor mail: KK5PN@KC5LT.#SOCA.CA.USA.NOAM
http://www.geocities.com/TheTropics/Shores/2552/index.html
http://www.geocities.com/MotorCity/Downs/8551/index.html