March 2014

London Bridge Amateur Radio Association

On a sailing voyage from Huntington, New

York to St. Maarten in the Caribbean

(You may not know this but LBRA has a member who sails the high seas. This is the story from one of

Captain Reiner Schick’s (KD5MBA) many sailing trips up and down the East Coast…..editor)

The Boat is an Amel 53 Super Maramu named Kimberlite

owned by Eric Freedman. The Crew Eric Freedman, Reiner

Schick, Jeff Kraus and Carl McGregor. We left Huntington,

New York on October 27, 2013. The wind (20 – 25 knots)

was from the North East to East for the first 6 days and we en-

joyed great sailing, passing Bermuda to the East near 62 de-

grees.

On Sunday November 3, at 0800 while on watch, I received a

VHF call from the Motor Vessel AS Vicentia. Asking me if we

needed assistance. I told him that we were not in need of assistance. He replied that he received a call from the

US Coast Guard informing him that a sailboat near our position had requested assistance. Our position at that

time was 25 degrees 42 minutes North and 63 degrees 47 minutes West. I looked at our AIS (Automatic Identi-

fication System) and found out that AS Vicentia a freighter was en-route to Gibraltar in the Mediterranean.

0900 Vicentia made a course change of about 200 degrees which put it on the same course as Kimberlite. Vi-

centia contacted me again and told me that the sailboat needing assistance was approximately 50 miles South

and another Freighter named Chicita Scandinavia was also en-route to lend assistance.

1400 Chicita talks to Vicentia on the VHF and tells them that his res-

cue crew could not get the 61 year old Canadian solo sailor off the

boat. The Seas are too rough (12 feet) and the wind is over 20 knots.

Vicentia requested that Kimberlite may be able to help if his rescue

crew could not get the sailor off the boat. We are en-route following

Vicentia.

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LBARA MEETING SCHEDULE

System Location Freq Offset PL MCARS Bullhead City 145.27 - 131.8

Kingman 146.76 - 131.8

Kingman 448.25 - 131.8

Lake Havasu 146.62 - 131.8

Willow Beach 147.12 - 131.8

CRRA Lake Havasu City 146.96 - 162.2

Lake Havasu City 224.24 - 156.7

Lake Havasu City 146.64 - 156.7

Lake Havasu City 449.95 - 141.3

BARN Lake Havasu City 447.54 - 136.5

Las Vegas, NV 449.95 136.5

Onyx(Palm Springs) 449.34 - 136.5

Orange County, CA 447.54 - 100

MONTH BOARD REGULAR

MAR NOTE: BOARD 3/20

APR MEETINGS WILL NOW 4/17

MAY TAKE PLACE ONE 5/15

SEP HOUR PRIOR TO THE 9/18

OCT REGULAR MEETING 10/16

MARCH PROGRAM

AUTOMATIC PACKET REPORTING SYSTEM

EVERYTHING YOU EVER WANTED TO KNOW

Presented by Dick Jernigan, W7DXJ

APRS is digital communications information chan-

nel for Ham radio. As a single national channel (see

map at right), it gives the mobile ham a place to

monitor for 10 to 30 minutes in any area, at any

time to capture what is happening in ham radio in

the surrounding area. Announcements, Bulletins,

Messages, Alerts, Weather, and of course a map of

all this activity including opjects, satellites, nets,

meetings, Hamfests, etc. The APRS network has

grown to most countries with strong Amateur Ra-

dio populations.

3

(Captian Reiner cont.)

1530 MV Chicita positions his Vessel to form a Lee towards the sailboat and Vicentia crew rescues the Canadian sailor.

The Coast Guard requests Vicentia steam towards San Juan, Puerto Rico to meet a Coast Guard Cutter with a Helicopter

on board the next morning.

1700 Kimberlite is on site where the rescue took place but there is no sign of the

sailboat. We call Vicentia on the VHF Radio to find out what happened to the sail-

boat. We were told they are towing it.

1730 Vicentia calls and informs us that the towing line broke and they are abandon-

ing the sailboat.

1900 We have the sailboat in sight; it is getting dark and the seas are too rough to

board the vessel to claim salvage rights. It is a nice looking 33 foot sailboat in good

shape. Good luck to whom ever gets her.

I reported the hazard to Navigation to the Maritime Mobil Service Network at 14,300 MHZ on the SSB with the last

known position of the Sailboat to warn sailors in back of us heading towards the Caribbean. The abandoned Boat has no

lights and a very tiny radar signature.

We arrived St. Maarten on November 6, at 0800; what a great trip!

(We are all glad you’re back safe Reiner, but too bad you couldn’t have salvage her!....editor)

LBARA’S WEATHER STATION IS

BACK ON THE AIR

Thanks to Dick Jernigan, W7DXJ, Tom

Hutter, K7TJH, and Lyle Sibbald,

K7YQ, the Club’s weather station is up

and running again from Site Six on

Lake Havasu.

You can take a look at the latest Site Six

weather anytime by simply going to

http://www.findu.com/cgi-bin/wxpage.cgi?

call=k7lhc-1

or go to

http://aprs.fi/#!call=a%2FK7LHC-

1&timerange=3600&tail=3600

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LBARA Hams Enjoy The Yuma Hamfest

Dick Jernigan, W7DXJ, and Lyle Sibbald,

K7YQE, hoping to win one of the drawings!

Jerry France, K7LY, getting his QSL cards

checked by the DXCC guys.

AMBIGUITY & IDIOSYNCRASIES

FOR THOSE WHO LOVE THE PHILOSOPHY OF AMBIGUITY, AS WELL AS THE IDIOSYNCRA-

SIES OF ENGLISH:

ONE TEQUILA, TWO TEQUILA, THREE TEQUILA...... FLOOR.

ATHEISM IS A NON-PROPHET ORGANIZATION.

IF MAN EVOLVED FROM MONKEYS AND APES, WHY DO WE STILL HAVE MONKEYS AND

APES?

THE MAIN REASON THAT SANTA IS SO JOLLY IS BECAUSE HE KNOWS WHERE ALL THE

BAD GIRLS LIVE.

I WENT TO A BOOKSTORE AND ASKED THE SALESWOMAN, "WHERE'S THE SELF- HELP

SECTION?" SHE SAID IF SHE TOLD ME, IT WOULD DEFEAT THE PURPOSE.

WHAT IF THERE WERE NO HYPOTHETICAL QUESTIONS?

IF A DEAF CHILD SIGNS SWEAR WORDS, DOES HIS MOTHER WASH HIS HANDS WITH

SOAP?

IF SOMEONE WITH MULTIPLE PERSONALITIES THREATENS TO KILL HIMSELF, IS IT CON-

SIDERED A HOSTAGE SITUATION?

IS THERE ANOTHER WORD FOR SYNONYM?

WHERE DO FOREST RANGERS GO TO "GET AWAY FROM IT ALL?

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(AMBIGUITY & IDIOSYNCRASIES cont.)

WHAT DO YOU DO WHEN YOU SEE AN ENDANGERED ANIMAL EATING AN ENDANGERED

PLANT?

IF A PARSLEY FARMER IS SUED, CAN THEY GARNISH HIS WAGES?

WOULD A FLY WITHOUT WINGS BE CALLED A WALK?

WHY DO THEY LOCK GAS STATION TOILETS? ARE THEY AFRAID SOMEONE WILL BREAK-

IN AND CLEAN THEM?

IF ONE SYNCHRONIZED SWIMMER DROWNS, DO THE REST DROWN TOO?

CAN AN ATHEIST GET INSURANCE AGAINST ACTS OF GOD?

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Are you looking to upgrade your license?

Give our VE Exam Team a call.

See Ed Gillespie, AB7EM at #453.7412

SATURDAY MORNING’S BREAKFAST

HAS MOVED!

You’re all invited to join LBARA members for a great breakfast each and

every Saturday morning at a new location, Peggy’s Sunrise Café. Peggy’s is

located at 1584 Countryshire. Breakfast is served at 6 a.m. (or earlier if you

want a good seat!) Most important, the food is great!!!!

Upcoming Activities and Hamfests

Williams Hamfest and Arizona State Convention, July 18-19

ARRL FIELD DAY, June 28-29, 2014

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FOR SALE

______________________________________________________________________________________

811H Amplifier (includes 572 and 2 sets of 811 tubes) - $650

MFJ 989D Tuner (Versa Tuner V) $250

Yaesu FT-530 Handheld $75 Kenwood TH22AT Handheld $30

Alpha Delta DX-EE Antenna $60 Hustler HUS-GT -144 (w/manual) $100

For more information or to make offers please contact:

Jackson Longaker (KF7MJC), 764.3052 or <jecookie@frontiernet.net>

LBARA OFFICERS AND DIRECTORS

Reiner Schick (KD5MBA President

Carl Schiller (W7CRL) Vice-President

Tom Hutter (K7TJH) Treasurer

Loyd Wilbur (W7TTW) Secretary

Dick Jernigan (W7DXJ) Director (2 YR)

Jerry France (K7LY) Director (1 YR)

Charles Kotan (K0TAN) Director (2 YR)

Cliff Baril (W7IRC) Director (2 YR)

Jim Varner(AE6N) Sgt-at-Arms

Jerry France(K7LY) Web Master

Jerry France(K7LY) Static Editor

Lana Lotspeich(N7WST) Membership Chair

FROM THE EDITOR

If you have anything you would like to see included in

these issues, please let me know. I’m always looking for

articles, news items, construction articles, or anything

that might be of interest to our readers. You can contact

me at 928.855.7941 or email at grf@npgcable.com.

VISIT OUR WEBSITE

www.lbara.net

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EQUIPMENT FOR

SALE

ATTENTION READERS

Please note that this issue represents a “work-in-progress”

and there are a number of changes to be made in subse-

quent issues. I would greatly appreciate your comments,

both good and bad, as well as any suggestions for future

issues. This issue also begins our first attempt to deliver

the STATIC to your doorstep electronically. Please keep

me abreast of any email address changes you may have and

I promise to have this delivered promptly and accurately.

Also, I still have a number of articles awaiting publication

and will do so in the future. This is your newsletter, so

keep the articles, letters, and pictures coming. I can be

reached at home (855.7941) or via email at

grf@npgcable.com .

EDITOR’S NOTE : List your items for sale

here. Ham radio related only, please. Include a

picture if you like (please use a jpg format).

Email all to me at grf@npgcable.com) along

with your name and phone number.

L.B.A.R.A

P.O. BOX 984

LAKE HAVASU CITY

ARIZONA 86405