Here in Virginia , USA, my NURSE Wife is a country girl and we live very close to salt water, connected to the huge Chesapeake Bay. We live in VERY rural farming and fishing country, have NO highways 'passing through' because we live on a penninsula and ALL roads to the mainland 70 miles away, end in deep salt water .I improve the garden soil every year, fish for the occasional meal, have crabs, oysters and many, many kinds of fish. In winter, we heat using our iron woodstove, with wood from our 1 acre property and massive local woods, using hand axes and bow saw - the old way.
// My people came to North America from Normandy and before Normandy from Norselandia, so sailing and axe work are in the genes  ;-)   //

Salt water on three sides of us means FOOD/protein, and transportation.  I'm an old sailor, I have experience navigating with paper charts, compass and sextant. No fuel "required" for old sailors: oars and an ersatz sail are powerful tools when the expensive power boats are out of gas, have no computer GPS and the owners live in major cities, like Washington DC which is the world's number one TARGET!

No place is perfect, but we are in a little cottage to retire in place. Oh and RADIOS, with wire antennas in TALL trees.

73 de Ray

https://static1.squarespace.com/static/58f4e114be6594c2f9bcc9f6/t/594ae675893fc03d52ba3304/1498080889272/Road_to_CW_de_W4ALF.pdf

A very good booklet to read for new and 'seasoned' operators. Have a look at page 12, second half of the page, where it explains the reasons why a 5 Watt Morse signal is equivalent to an SSB signal of 100W for conveying the same message. No computer required, other than the one between your ears ;-)

73 de RadioRay  ..._ ._

Gil is safe in the home port. Now time to RECOVER from his 'vacation'.

-RadioRay  ..._ ._

SAFE @ 02:51 , in a marina 8 km south/east of Toulon. Sailing across in rough weather and navigating into an unknown small marina in the dark, >solo<, with little or no sleep... VERY difficult.

Well done Gil! 

de RadioRay  ..._ ._

Ps.  It may take some time to feel normal to walk on UNmoving land after those days in a bumpy sea.

I agree!

It looked like a rough night out there. Satellite weather last night indicated constant 27kt winds with gusts to 40kt ,  quartering/beam seas average wave-height of 2 meters with occasional larger waves (up to 2x) . On-watch in the cockpit must have been exhausting. Today's forecast looks a little better.

73 de Ray  ..._ ._

If anyone makes contact via radio ( I am too far away in the USA) please post details here :-)

RadioRay ...- .-

Gil said : ..."there are three high-db reports of me on 10118 on the 11th. Those are fake."

That explained those huge signals in the Canadian/US Pacific North-West, yet nothing in Europe at that time.

I hope that you get some good rest tonight and a continuing fine sail.


>Ray

Reverse Beacon Network showed the following.  // Gil reported that these are fake, not him. //

F4WBY   10118.0   CW CQ   31 dB   17 wpm   2033z 11 Jul
F4WBY   10118.1   CW CQ   50 dB   17 wpm   2033z 11 Jul
F4WBY   10118.0   CW CQ   34 dB   17 wpm   2033z 11 Jul

I believe that we know this fellow :-).  Port tack and a beautiful day.

>>> Gil said that he will try to be on freq tonight. Looking at his course and speed , I am assuming his QTP/QTH should be the coast slightly west of Barcelona.

Gil's Garmin track shows that he has launched into the Med Sea , making almost five knots !

The Paraset !  I could certainly a video of you making contact with England while using a Paraset from France
;-)

Of course, if you EVER find one of these at a hamfest ---



73 de Ray  ..._ ._

$500  Ouch!  With one frequency in the 80m band and possible one other at the high end of 80m , depending upon the variant, you're better with the choices you've already made in QRP rig.  The COOL factor is quite high with the PRC-316 though ;-)

de RadioRay  ..._ ._

Retirement and ham radio are a good mix. 

My Wife & I saw a plaque a few days ago that said it all:

   -Retirement -
Twice the husband.
  Half the money.


Welcome aboard -

Bushy de Ray -...-

How goes the Morse code practice ? Have you tried a first contact? 

73 de Ray

Thanks for the update & especially the SPAM fighting.
-...-

Here, my BRAVE browser will not logon but the Firefox and phone does (same password: "1234" but don't tell anyone!!!).  Other than that, it seems to work well .

73 de Ray  ..._ ._