[Paddlewise] VHF antenna on a kit, SW radios...

From: Julio MacWilliams <juliom_at_cisco.com>
Date: Thu, 5 Mar 1998 11:59:05 -0800 (PST)
I know several people out there use kites to take advantage of
the wind instead of fighting it to paddle from one place to another.
Then, marine radio frequencies are restricted to line of sight communication,
which for a kayaker whose head is about 2 feet over the water means
a practical maximum of 3 miles due to the curvature of the earth.

If someone wanted to make a radio transmition reach very, very far,
would it work to lift a wire antenna with a kite? I think it would
even be easier to do it from a beach in those cases where the beach
happens to be by a cliff wall and radio waves only go out to sea.

Also, for emergencies, it would probably be better to carry a short wave
ham radio. With that it is almost guaranteed that you can get to 
someone who may call the rescue people for you.
I understand that serious boats and ships carry both VHF and SW radios,
which leads me to think that maybe there is a SW frequency to call for
help in emergencies; does anyone know which frequency that is?

- Julio
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Received on Thu Mar 05 1998 - 12:14:19 PST

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