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We came across a story this month that reminded us of the importance of being educated in radio communication and a reminder of what a resourceful,  knowledgeable, and helpful community amateur radio operators are.

On September 7, 2022, a boat named  SV Nereida traveling from ​​Cape Flattery, the northwesternmost point of the USA to San Francisco, California became disabled after 2 days of 35 knot winds and storms. 

81 year old Jan Socrates, an experienced sailor who has sailed around the world without assistance, and in fact has been the oldest person to do so, found herself very low on power and her onboard radio equipment marginally operational. But her knowledge of amateur meant she knew how to get her message out to a community who could help!

Amateur operators in New Mexico, California, and Canada, and members of Group 7.155 heard her requests for assistance.

One such person who heard her request and in fact was able to contact Socrates on 40 metres was Gil Gray, N2GG. “Her power was extremely low, and she was unable to communicate on 14.300 MHz to notify the monitoring group on that frequency,” said Gray. “She needed help with wind and sea conditions, and tidal data for San Francisco Bay,” he added.

Q5 copy was almost impossible due to the low-power output on the HF radio which would typically be Q2 or Q3. Thankfully several software-defined radio (SDR) operators were on hand  in California, Utah, and Maui, Hawaii, who were able to glean enough copy to understand her situation and answer questions for her navigation.

Another stroke of luck was that several of these radio operators were also experienced sailors and helped guide Socrates through periodic contact with weather and wind reports.

Their last contact was on Monday, September 12, at 11:00 AM (MSDT). By this time, Socrates was sailing with only the forward sail on her 38-foot sloop. Thankfully, a “following wind” kept her moving without a mainsail. 

As the Golden Gate Bridge appeared within sight, Socrates was able to use the tidal information passed on by amateur radio operators to make it safely to Berkeley Marina in San Francisco Bay.

“I wouldn’t call it a rescue,” said Socrates, “just good amateur radio assistance — and I’m grateful for their help.”

This is actually one of 3 events in September in which amateur radio was able to provide emergency assistance.

If you would like to learn more about Jan Socrates’ travels, take a look at her Facebook page.

Do you know somebody who loves to travel and who would benefit from knowledge of shortwave? Send them this article, and indeed a link to this website as we have lots in interesting shortwave news, links, and resources, as well as the best range of shortwave radios available in Australia.

Adapted from the original article that can be found on https://www.arrl.org/news/

 

 

Unbeknown to many, MIAMI based broadcaster WRMI, one of the largest shortwave radio operations in the world, has a huge shortwave antenna array in a paddock north of Lake Okeechobee in Central Florida. This shortwave broadcaster is able to beam high power signals to Europe, when it is needed most!!

As we know, shortwave was mostly used during the world wars as a means of communication and propaganda distribution. Many countries including U.S. Services like the Voice of America and Radio Free Europe have scaled back shortwave services due to the rise in TV and internet services. However, since the invasion of Ukraine, Russia has shut down journalism as we know it, meaning those sources have been either blocked or heavily filtered. Shortwave radio is now the only way the Russian population can access unbiased reporting of the current conflict.

 As the crisis unfolds in Russia and Ukraine you will see more and more people tune in once again to their shortwave radios to access unfiltered news and events.

Russia is “attempting to pass a law making journalism essentially illegal, imposing a 15-year criminal penalty” according to Kate Neiswender, one of the teams organising funding for news programming for Russian audiences.

Neiswender and fellow former journalists formed a fundraiser to beam news into Russia, where state-controlled media, at best, does not tell the true story of the invasion and many Russian citizens have no clue about the severity of the invasion.

Link below to donate.

Funding for shortwave to Ukraine

So, back to this massive shortwave radio antenna in a Florida paddock… The general manager of Miami-based WRMI, Jeff White says “We have 14, 100,000-watt transmitters and 23 antennas beaming to all parts of the world,”

Why is it important? Thanks to funding it is currently providing much needed unfiltered information and news of the invasion, beamed over in Russian, Ukrainian and even in English with no censorship.

There is also no shortage of shortwave radios and radio listeners in Russia so this can be accessed fairly easily.

This highlights the importance of shortwave radio in the modern age.

Click here if you are interested in contributing to the fundraising efforts to keep uncensored news flowing into Russia and Ukraine.

Information source thanks to https://miami.cbslocal.com/ WRMI