Don't know if this info will help but ... in 2005, we booked a cruise on
Princess from Ft. Lauderdale thru the Canal to Los Angeles. It was 16
days which was about 5 days too many, I really began to get tired of the
Big White Boat. The Canal transit was fantastic though. I wrote to
Princess asking to take my KX1, and included photos and specifications
of the radio, LiFePO4 battery [with DOT certification], and antenna as
any good engineer would do. The answer was swift ... "Absolutely not,
you might interfere with the [-------] which included navigation,
communications, lifeboat radios, microwave ovens, pool pumps, and
blenders in the bars, and it might start a fire among other such things
as we may think of."
On the premise that while HQ may think they're in charge the Captain
actually runs the ship, I took my wireless apparatus anyway. After
settling in, and noting the small size of our "balcony" which more
resembled a "shelf" and wondering how I was going to turn this into a
radio shack, I took my stuff to the purser's desk where I showed a very
young 8th or 9th officer my license, explained my radio, and answered
his questions. He was particularly interested in the KXPD1 touch
paddle. He told me I had the Captain's permission to use my radio while
at sea, but not in public spaces and I was not to remove any paint. He
willingly wrote this into my ARRL mini-logbook into which I also logged
a dozen Q's while in the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico, all SA.
Our cabin was on the port side [left as you face the pointy part of the
boat] which put a few thousand tons of steel between me and North
America for essentially the entire trip. I did hear one NA signal, very
weak, W9RE working some contest. In the end, trying to get something to
radiate from our "shelf" turned out to be quite a bit of trial and
error, and the thrill of operating afloat waned. I have a base-loaded
knock-off of an M1 whip, however the resonator looks an awful lot like a
pipe bomb on the airport X-Ray and I chose a random wire instead since
I'm already toast at TSA with braces on my legs and some scrap metal in
my shoulder.
Our kids gave us an Alaskan cruise for our 40th anniversary. It was
Holland America, I did the letter thing and they said "As long as you
have the proper license, you're welcome to bring your wireless device."
I ultimately left it home and just enjoyed the cruise. YMMV
73,
Fred ["Skip"] K6DGW
Sparks NV DM09dn
Washoe County
On 10/16/2019 7:48 AM, Joseph Shuman via Elecraft wrote:
Going on a cruise in a few months, so I emailed the cruise line about operating
at sea with a KX2. Here is the reply: “Ham Radios, Shortwave Radios or
Satellite Radios (portable or standalone) may not be brought on board as they
pose a risk of interfering with onboard navigational equipment.” OK! The line
has a right to say no. But...
I have operated my KX2 QRP 40m portable with a GPS and Laptop in the
transmission RF envelope with no interference problems. I know maritime uses
mostly 156-162 MHz for ship to ship or ship to shore, some specific HF
frequencies (outside of our bands) are allocated for emergency communications
and satellite navigation is typically 1150-1610 MHz. Most ships now have WiFi
and rely on phone apps for on-board communication, so there are a few thousand
phones on board operating in the GHz range that are no problem. Also, as a USN
Sub Service vet I learned a few things about at-sea comms 40-some years ago,
and considering the improvements in our technology...
Sorry if I seem to be ranting, but opportunities to operate at sea (for a OM in
Ohio) are rare and this cruise line’s position seems to me to be the easy
answer: ban all Hams outright.
Keeping Watch-
shu KE8KJZ
Joe Shuman
______________________________________________________________
Elecraft mailing list
Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft
Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
Post: mailto:[email protected]
This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
Message delivered to [email protected]
