Re: [Paddlewise] GPS and ham

john wrote:

> ?
>
> Also...David wrote:
> ......
> Subject: [Paddlewise] Ham radio while kayaking.........

> Here we are coastal. That means mountains, Ham has some trouble with this.
> I'm not sure why you want to do this - other than a back-up safety radio.

Why do I want to do this? Why do folks want to go kayaking  ? I can't speak or
others . But. I go kayaking for the fun and the challenge and to get out to
beautiful places to enjoy the experience. And not as a necessity to feed my
family which I take it is what drove the inventors of the kayak.  And Amateur
radio folks find reasons to operate their portable radio stations from unique
locations for the same reasons. And not solely as a means of staying in contact
with other folks for safety or other reasons.  Lets face it both groups are
geeks about their own elements of interest . Kayakers about the water and ham
operators about the behavior of electromagnetic waves. :-)


Well Ham radio, aka Amateur radio,  certainly does not mean mountains or rather
it does not require mountains. In fact on some frequencies of operation having
an antenna located near the conductive surface of salt water is an enhancement
to the  propagation of the radio waves in comparison to an antenna above dry
ground on a mountain .  A high mountain may be useful for vhf or uhf frequencies
, where line of sight is needed but for frequencies in the so called hf range of
frequencies the height of the antenna above average terrain is the important
thing. However  a high mountain may be nice simply for a beautiful location from
which to operate an amateur radio station.  ( see Bear Island link below for
areas of the globe reached by radio waves from a seaside location reached by
kayak )

 While having an amateur radio along could be an additional safety back-up the
type of activity I had in mind was more just for the technical challenge. What I
had in mind was something more along the lines of the activities sponsored by
the ARS ( Adventure Radio Society) or the ARS-EU ( ARS -Europe) . These groups
exist to encourage radio operations from unique locations  reached by human
power. That is to say hiking , biking , canoeing or kayaking etc. Using low
power transceivers powered by battery or solar cell for example. Using what is
called QRP radio equipment . QRP being a short hand term for low powered
transceivers. Less than 5 watts of transmit power.

While the ARS and ARS-Eu both have challenges to operate from the mountains such
"The Top of the World " or SOTA ( Summits on the Air ) programs . But the point
of the mountain location is not for necessity of operating the radio but rather
to get folks outside into wilderness areas. But two other  promotions by these
groups are  called "Beyond Top of the World " and  " IOTA-ARS style" ( Islands
on the Air - with low power transmitters ) . Both of which are to encourage
radio operations from islands reached by paddled boat or rather human powered
boat.

Below is link to a short story about a kayak trip to Bear Island off the N. C.
coast by some members of an amateur radio group called the Knightlites.  Which
is more along the lines of what I was inquiring about as to whether anyone on
this group engaged in such activities.

http://www.knightlites.org/Knightlite/bear_island_2001.htm

Anyway, due to lack of response here . I think rather than search among a group
of kayakers for amateur radio operators I'll do better to search among a group
of amateur radio operators for some kayakers.

But should some one be interested , below are links to the ARS and ARS  EU.

http://www.natworld.com/ars/pages/ars_info/info_idx.html

http://www.qsl.net/ars-eu

Regards,

David

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