Dave, fantastic operating!
Did you get any new prefixes?
The IARU 100 and R 80 anniversary stations are a great catch, too.
Cliff
On May 16, 2025 2:15:08 AM PDT, "David W Crocker via groups.io" <dwcae@...> wrote:
You won't believe that I got permission to operate on board. The second day the captain gave a champaign reception and introduced the officers on his staff. He had a reception line where you could meet him, nice Dutch guy who said that he studied Morse Code when he was in the Dutch navy. He knew all about amateur radio and thought that it was a great idea to operate from the ship. He was willing to give me written permission. I didn't know what to say.?
The weather was good from Fort Lauterdale to Burmuda so I operated on the 14th deck, outside (see attached photos). Band conditions were OK on 20 and 17 but the noise on the ship was S8. I managed to work at lot of stations up and down the east coast. Nobody would believe that I was on cruise ship. I even checked into marinetime net on 14.300 which turned out kind of funny, the op kept calling me captain. I got into trouble and had to change venue as somebody said I was making too much noise, I got a little excited! It turns out one deck below me was a special area with cabanas for high high paying guest. I thought that was end of my operations but the captain took care of it, who knows a couple extra bottles of champagne.
The weather went bad after Burmuda mostly rain and wind. I tried to operate on the 9th deck on the rear of the ship where could sit under and an overhang out of the weather. At this I was hearing lots of station in the UK and Europe. I started operating from the room which I didn't think would work as well but could stay out of the weather with my antenna supported by the railing on the veranda. Signal conditions on 20 in the evening more coming at 30db over S9. I was getting reports of 59+ with complements for good audio. I continued to operate ?from room for the duration of the cruise with good results (see log). The IARU stations are for the 100th anniversary while the russian 80 stations are for the end of WW2.
Log:
N2BOC
KC3RDV
KK4KK
KB4JUL
N3CU
AE4ZR
KC1OT
N1ET
N8FRJ
K2LTU
KN4NBJ
K4NKY
K2DJL
W0NTP
AC1RH
KZ2G
K3CBI
IK4JPK
KD2PHK
K3COW
EI0CL
EA8CVZ
M0YKS
W6JDH
N1NTM
AO2IARU
HA100A
M1DDD
CR5IARU
OH8KKK
SB7S
RA100IARU
EI2JIB
G7BXU
ED1HV
IZ6BXV
MM0PLX
PE1ISP
AO7IARU
EA5QB
LZ3TY
CR5IARU
CU3HN
ON66WDL
EP4HPY
HB9TWY
AO7IARU
IT9DOR
G5MCL
TM79REF
SM5YMS
IS0GGA
RM2A
EA7KGZ
SO100IARU
SP9DLM
S51DX
AO6IARU
LZ1WR
EA5QB
AO3IARU
IW1FPK
AO4IARU
CT7ATO
AO7IARU
I2ROO
IC8HRG
IV3WTJ
LZ1WR
AO5IARU
DB5AR
AO3IARU
SN100IARU
CR5IARU
I8URR
CS7AZX
EA3KE
AO4IARU
PORTABLE PA/W6VYC
AO100IARU
YL100IARU
IT9VPT
RP80KS
RP80KA
E75DX
RP80CTS
Cliff Sojourner K6CLS