Cruising Sailors Forum Archive

Great resource for long distance cruising.

Had an Atlas 215 radio with manual tuner onboard when we were cruising SoPac in the '70s. Got the radio working in the Marquesas thanks to help from an electrical genius who modified the Dentron Tuner so it would get the SWR down to a workable level. Was a pirate operator, no license just a made up call sign, that was quite common then. The SSB worked a treat for checking into the various maritime mobile nets and a local boating net in French Polynesia. Very helpful in getting phone patches back to the parents and weather checks. Tried to get my General License when we got back but was incapable of getting my code speed up to 13wpm so quit using the radio after getting my novice license and eventually sold the boat. Bought a Pearson 35 10 years ago and decided to get back into the Ham radio scene when they finally dropped the code requirements. Passed the Technician and General License with a couple days study of online test prep sites. Have an ICOM 718 with an SGC-230 tuner using the insulated backstay for an antenna. Worked a treat for the TransPac. Contacted the Maritime Mobile Net daily on 14300mhz, down loaded GRIBS and emailed my wife via a Pactor Modem. Have had the boat torn apart and the radio in storage off the boat so haven't been up on the radio for a couple of years. Finally getting the boat back together so expect to have the radio up and running shortly.

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