Any HAMS out there

Has anybody brought their Ham Radio Equipment with them on a cruise. Just think of the QSL's you could pick up with very little interference.

I am a ONE-WAY kind of guy... lol

I just bought a Grundig SAT800 a few weeks back... I have not listened since the 70's (DX-160) ... now I just need a decent antenna. I wish I could filter out the plethora of religious stations - which I do not recall (to this extent) from 30 years ago... oh well..

But, yes, I can imagine tuning in to some nice signals while I sit out on the balcony in Barbados in a few weeks.. QSL goldmine...:D

Tom

Interesting question. What are the rules and regulations concerning transmitting a radio signal on the ham bands in international waters? Would a cruise line allow you to?

If so what would you use as an antenna?

If so what would you use as an antenna?

A whip antenna

from

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whip_antenna

Which can also be used for (deleted) later on.

That sounds like a really neat idea. If someone checks into the rules and regulations on this please post the information for the rest of us hams. I have never really thought about that but that would be fun and I've never heard any regulations on it. The only problem would be with my wife, she probably wouldn't appreciate it very much.

Stingray

That sounds like a really neat idea. If someone checks into the rules and regulations on this please post the information for the rest of us hams. I have never really thought about that but that would be fun and I've never heard any regulations on it. The only problem would be with my wife, she probably wouldn't appreciate it very much.

 

Stingray

The regulations are pretty simple:

1. You must have a license for the country the ship is registered with. For certain countries, you may only have to append your callsign, etc with the callsign prefix of the "host" country.

2. You must have written permission from the captain of the vessel.

I looked into this for my last (and first) cruise, but I never followed thru with it - mainly because I wanted to bring a portable HF (shortwave) radio and I didn't own one and couldn't find anyone to loan me one.

If the ship is registered in Bermuda, you can get a Burmudan license basically by fax. Getting the captain's permission is another question. I actually wrote the captain of the Carribean Princess a note while I was on board asking about and haven't got a reply.

The 3rd point, which is not an international regulation would be that of the company policy. Although the captain may have no problem with it, the cruiseline may have a corporate policy against it.

My wife and I are planning another cruise for next year, and I may actually try to persue ham aboard the boat a little more aggressively.

If you're a US licensed ham, the ARRL has a good section on operation in international waters and operating overseas.

I was in Germany last year, and since Germany is a "CEPT" nation, all I had to do was bring my original license with me, a print out of the CEPT regulation, and then just prefix my callsign with DL / <us callsign> .

If you had a small radio - like a Yeasu FT-817 or one of the other smaller QRP radios, you could rig a pretty easy dipole in the limited space.

There was an article in QRZ some time ago that I found where someone on a smaller cruise ship (more of a luxury yacht then a big boat) was able to ham at sea and the ship was very accomodating - he basically had to give the ship's radio officer a list of the frequencies he'd be using, a loose shedule of when he would be operating, power transmitted, and type of antenna.

John

(First time poster, BTW - been lurking a while - but took my first cruise just a week ago and loved it - and will be doing it again!)

Could a Kosher Jewish person be a ham?

And could his Hamstring go bad?

Never operated aboard a civilian ship.

But heres my QSL card ...

N1AJI

Western Massachusetts

USA

Ray