The SunCat with the tallest mast... 42 ft.!

[Joseph]

Sassy Gaffer spent another week cruising the North shores of Lake Huron. She trailered from Ottawa to launch in Spanish. Then she sailed West to explore the Whalesback Channel, John Island and the waters around the Serpent River Peninsula, the very home waters of Mishebishu...

Pics of the entire cruise are in the making... but here are a few related to Sassy's /QRP (low power) /MM (marine mobile) amateur radio station for which a 42 ft. telescopic mast was deployed from her stern to hold an end-fed vertical antenna:  https://picasaweb.google.com/jose.campione/NorthChannelCallingOttawa?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCJqy16HW9vbL-QE&feat=directlink

From Moiles Harbour in John Island, operating at less than 10 Watts, contacts were made with Bob VA3QV and Rick VE3HVA in Ottawa (40 meter band), and with Gregg WB4NAO (20 meter band). Gregg relayed Sassy's call to the Maritime Mobile Service Net in 14.300 MHz, but what made this contact really great was the fact that Gregg WB4NAO was in Clearwater, FL, just a few blocks from Sassy's birth place at the Hutchins...  For Sassy this must have felt like calling back home...

73,

de José VA3PCJ

[Salty19]

Calling home indeed!   Thanks for sharing.

[ontarioSuncat]

We just got back, launched at Little Current and spent three weeks, got as far as Thomas bay to the east and fox Island to the west.
THere were a few thunder storms in the area the past few weeks. I would have been real nervous with a 42 foot conductor on the boat.
All the best
John

[Joseph]

Yea! me too...! The antenna is a portable one that goes up in a jiffy using a telescopic pole. It is never up when underway and only goes up when there are no cumulus nimbus on sight... I had skeds arranged with another station daily at 7:00 PM and twice I failed to make them because of those pesky thunderstorms blowing by... The contact with Clearwater FL was interesting because this happened before 7:00PM, then the wind caught up and I had to bring the antenna down... But the other station in the sked was able to contact the Marine Net in Florida and was told that they had heard of me and that I was ok... Neat, eh! Ham radio may be an obsolete technology dependant on the Sun (pretty much like sailing...) but it still works.

J.