Tuesday, June 25, 2013

SAM & I spent the day up in Saugatuck area and stopped by Tower Marine to pick up Bob Trotter.  Bob you may remember as the gentleman from NZ that purchased our boat Inspiration in the Fall of 2011.  Well, it seems that Bob was having a bit of an issue with the title so we took him to the Secretary of State facility and did some fancy footwork and he left with the title in hand and brand new stickers for the State of Michigan.  He was a happy man.

Bob says he will be leaving in July for the trip on the Great Lakes that will lead to the Hudson River and the Atlantic.  He mumbled something about seeing us in Florida at a certain marina that allows liveaboards while on the hard.  Maybe, just maybe, we will see him there.

Our boat search continues and I will not say too much about that at this time:  I have hope.

Sunday, June 2, 2013

When I read of other friends out upon the high seas I am so jealous.  We are still looking for the boat we want to spend the rest of our lives upon.  As we reflect on this subject it does not seem like a task that should cause us much problems.  Yet, it seems to be for us.  I guess it is all in the emotional bond that seems to form with a new boat.

I spent the afternoon reading of the email at sea subject.  There is Pactor for a fast expensive solution to email and small attachments to email.  Then there is the Winmor modulation alternative and this is encapsulated into RMS Express which allows telnet and Winmor plus the Pactor variants as well.  I am using this now via my PC and it works well as a store and forward system.

Since I am a technical oriented bloke, I think the Winmor sound card modulation method makes more sense for me.  Really, who wants to spend $1200+ for a Pactor 4 modem:  The SCS group could embrace us all but they seem to be targeting the commercial segment of the market?  In the end, it is all marketing strategy and their strategy does not apply to me.

Right now all I want is a HF radio that reaches out to any of the nodes that could be reached and when the new boat occurs we can move the station to the floating platform.  Ok, that is all for this Sunday evening.  Send me an email at K9CWM@winlink.org as I like to meet new friends and just like to keep this active.