Solstice: A World Cruiser on Blogger

http://voyageoftheyachtsolstice.blogspot.com/  Check them out.  We were there when they left Saugatuck, MI on their adventure and what an adventure it has been and continues to be.  People hear a lot about the high profile crusisers but this couple is for real.

A Cruiser's Luxury: HOTSPOTs

A real luxury we have is a smartphone hotspot.  No matter where we are in the USA, if there is cellular service of 3G or 4G or LTE we have internet.  Ok, so you have a hotspot and have internet. To most that means cruising the internet and port 80 is the only port you need to have for normal internet browsing. However, if you want more that is where the problems start.

Most providers do not allow the user to open ports on the cellular system.  For one particular ham radio system, IRLP, you need to have several ports opened up.  For FTP you need port 21 and for SSH you generally need port 22 but these are shut down by the provider and they open them only if they want to open them and that is never.  Other special applications require a multitude of other ports from 1 - 50,000+.
There is a solution and it is called VPN (virtual private network).  You can make this system yourself or you can lease one by the month or year (nominally, $15 per month).  If you make your own you will need a "VPN Server" and a fixed IP address from which to generate the tunnel that has whatever ports you want open and this is beyond the casual lay persons efforts. Here is a list of 5 options and even an intro on a DIY but if this link goes bad just Google VPN Service Providers.

If you really need help then you can contact me via my Facebook link. I will add several more articles on what to connect with your new tunnel under the banner "A Cruiser's Luxury".

Lots going on: June

A lot has been going on in our lives.  There were the two trips to Texas, planting the garden, launching Little Yellow, our play around 16' sloop, and re-rigging her plus a few mini trips. Finally, I have been spending too much time with Amateur Radio.

We just returned from Kenosha, WI where we looked at a 1979 30' Catalina.  She was based at South Port Marina and was pretty sweet.  SAM then asked the question -  What will we do with her?  The plan was to sail her around Lake Michigan and then at some point in the future take her down on the first half of the Great Loop.  This is where the boat acquisition became tangled.

It seems that this particular boat had an Atomic 4 that was raw water cooled.  I am sure all you sailors know what that means:  Everything would be fine until we hit the saltwater of the Gulf.  After entering saltwater how long will an Atomic 4 engine be viable?  We do not know ourselves - maybe 10 years, 20 years or maybe only 2-5 years.  Even if it lasted the full time we were in the near shore gulf or Atlantic, the value would be way less upon return to the Great Lakes.  So this effectively curtailed looking at this boat which was fairly priced and in reasonably good shape.

While on the way to Kenosha, we stopped by Goshen and Elkhart to look at some RVs' that we liked.  We found one we loved but it was twice the price we had set as our target so that ended that too.  The Class A RV's we like are Winnebago, Tiffin, Monaco, Newmar and Itasca (in no particular order).  You would think there would be tons of them available but this is not the case.  Each one we liked, when we called had been sold.  Bummer - either it is a giant conspiracy to keep Charlie from getting an RV or it is a real hot Boomer market.

Bad Antenna?

Well, I received my tuner and it does tune but I am not getting too many good calls nor receiving to well - according to my friend down in FL.  Since I have no reference of what a good antenna really is I guess I have to take his word for that I have to put it up higher in the air, like lots higher say to 50'.

Anyway, we made our trips to Texas and got the niece and grandson married so we may be set for a while.  Now we are looking at class A motor homes in the 30-34' class and brands of Winnebago, Itasca, Monticello and Tiffin.  I drove one today and found it ok to drive but not as marshmallow as I thought it would be.  I can see why RV'ers only drive 250-400 miles per day.

Time was short today but we found time to go to Doris's house and I spray some weeds with brush killer while SAM weeded some of her flowerbeds.  We spent 2 hours on this and headed home.  After that, we did and "advanced' search on some RV's and selected the ones we would like to call on.

Now I am listening to the TechNet on reflector 9050 and typing this blog out.  BFN - Moore later.

A Visit to Texas

We are on our second visit to Texas in a month.  This time it is for the marriage of my grandson Jacob.  The two day trip was fraught with overcast skies, rain and a horrific accident that closed I-40 for two hours.  Now the rain is coming down here in College Station in large quanties and is supposed to persist until late tonight.  We are just hanging in the La Quinta after having lunch with my son who works nearby. The sound of thunder constantly peals in the background as I write.

We ate lunch at a place called Freebirds Burrito and it was good.  I had the box size and you get to chose what goes on it.  I went light on the beans and had no cheese but went heavier on the corn, sauteed veggies and fresh veggies.  It was good & I would like to return.  SAM had a traditional burrito and so did my son but they were custom made to each individual's specifications.

Moore later.

IRLP 9050: Tech Net

I spent the day in the Amateur Radio room moving over the radio gear from the previous spot to the new "Ham Shack".  All is working ok as of this afternoon.

The big deal is my new installation of the HF radio which is a Icom IC-7200 with an AH-4 tuner.  I had a lot of work, beyond the cosmetic issues, to add an earth ground and wire halo around the shack. Also was populating the GE cabinet with the IRLP 8891 and Allstar 42119 nodes.  As of 1600 hrs today all was operational. Yea!!

I am now listening to the TechNet on reflector 9050 and the ham radio stations all over the world.

My HF Rig

The weather here in NE Indiana has been cold, overcast, dreary and wet.

Right now I am waiting for the rain to stop so I can mount the Icom AH-4 long wire antenna tuner on the tower.  Today I connectorized the RF cable and added the 4 wire control cable for the AH-4 antenna tuner.  Tomorrow is supposed to be good so I will bring the feed lines and control cable into the radio shack.

I just finished the connector that will go to the inside of the radio shack and connect to the HF radio.  The HF rig is an Icom IC-7200 and is more or less ruggedized and spray proof.  I think it will work on the boat pretty well since the tuner can connect to the long wire backstay or a halyard that has a wire embedded in it.

The only thing I don't have to make a viable sailboat HF rig is the KISS counterpoise and that I can get at the last minute.  In the mean time I will run soe tuned radials out on the ground under the antenna tower. Perhaps I will make a block diagram of the setup and attach it to this blog later.