Quite a few people ask: Are you two taking any formal classes on boating? The answer is yes. Here are some things we have been up to.

HAM and SSB

We just took and passed our HAM (High frequency AMateur) radio class. HAM radio allows you to transmit voice and data. The special thing about HAM is in certain modes it has tremendous range. To give some perspective consider that some good walkie-talkies have a range of about 5 miles. Common marine VHF can range is about 25 miles. A technical class license HAM can is about 50 miles. A general class licensed HAM operator has a range of thousands of miles! In fact some HAMs can literally bounce their signal all the way around the world and hear the echo. Others even bounce their signal off the moon. Now you start to get an idea why there is a license needed to use HAM radio frequencies.

It took 3 solid days of class along with the testing to get our HAM licenses. This included Morse code, which was by far the hardest part. Yet now we can communicate across long distances. Thank you Gordon West Radio School. 🙂

Completely related to HAM is marine Single Side Band (SSB). Essentially SSB is a similar set of frequencies, but they are allocated only for marine use. As such, there is a much smaller community of people using SSB. You still need a license, as well as a boat to attach it to. Interestingly you do not need to take a test to get the SSB license. While SSB can be very useful, our radio (Icom 802) can do both SSB and HAM. So we went for the HAM license as well.

Having long range radio capabilities helps us for safety, weather, and social life. There are lots of radio networks, where people communicate at certain times and chat about relevant issues. It could be about some possible severe weather, the best food to eat at a location, or just to rendezvous at some remote location. We are looking forward to using our radio.

Coast Guard Auxiliary

The United States Coast Guard patrols and protects USA’s coast and waterways. They are a branch of the miltary. They have a tough job because they get calls at anytime for a wide range of potential problems. It has got to be an exciting job. Few people may know that equal in number to the Coast Guard (~30k) there is a group called the Coast Guard Auxiliary. This group helps patrol and supplements the Coast Guard. One important function is they train people about boating. In fact almost all insurance companies will give you a break if you have taken the basic Coast Guard Auxiliary class. Amazingly the Auxiliary is entirely made up of volunteers!

We just passed our second Coast Guard Auxiliary class. The first class was 2 hours once a week for 8 weeks. It covered basic boating, such as navigational aids, engines, types of boats, etc. The next 5 week class went into more detail about radios, engines, and navigation. We hope to attend some more, and we are very thankful to the volunteer instructors.

It has been fun learning new things, which has been one of our goals. There is an amazingly list of things to know about being safe and comfortable aboard a long range boat. We are going to continue to take classes and of course spend as much time underway as possible between now and our departure time. So far things look like a go in April.