"Scuttlenet".... Your thoughts?

[PaulJ]

Re: \"Scuttlenet\".... Your thoughts?

Snowleopard thanks for your response..... this is all your fault anyway! /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif While you were writing I was also making another posting on the subject!

I "hear what you say" about a dedicated net controller but as you imply, we are just not going to find one. /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif So that is why I think it would be worth having a go on an "ad hoc" basis and just see how it goes. As you say, we have a sizeable pool of potential participants so who knows.... it might work?

As for the "something to chat about", as somebody pointed out earlier, long chat sessions will probably drive people away in droves. My suggestion is that this should become a position/progress reporting system intended mainly for the benefit of "them back home" but also for the interest of other forum members.

My personal preference would be for quite short and concise messages just passing the important information....... but no doubt there will be those with more to say! /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif Ham chats tend to be about such topics as Antennas and propagation conditions..... Fascinating though they may be, I am not sure we want to talk about such things. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

Please see my new posting on the subject..... perhaps you would like to suggest a frequency for Marine band users.....?

Paul.

 

[Benbow]

Re: \"Scuttlenet\".... A better idea!

[ QUOTE ]
As a matter of interest, at what time and on which frequency did you hear boats in the Indian Ocean? Also, the Indian Ocean is a big place, do you happen to know where they were?

[/ QUOTE ]

I have never systematically recorded this, but just casually scanning, especially in the 20m ham band, I have heard /mm s from all over the place, plenty in E coast S Africa and plenty more further North. Of course I cannot tell how reliable this 'link' really is as I only know what I hear, not what I don't hear. If I am sufficiently bored to listen in to the maritime freqs all I seem to hear are Russians so I have no idea where they are, or even if they are at sea!

One thing that is VERY impressive is the PSK31 transmissions around 14070.150 I have 'heard' /mm's transmitting perfect PSK31 at 5W or less from boats all over the Atlantic and the Indian Ocean, however, I got the impression that these were bored radio officers on big commercial boats - although I know one was master on an ocean-going tug.

Now if you had a PSK31-based net......only kidding, I don't suppose many yachts are sufficiently sad to have set themselves up to transmit this format, but its ability to be heard at very low power over very long distances is impressive.