ARLA/CLUSTER: Contacte: ND9M/VQ9JC Maritime Mobile Satellite Operations

[João Gonçalves Costa]

Jim, ND9M/VQ9JC plans to operate the amateur radio satellites from his merchant marine ship presently enroute from Diego Garcia (grid MI62) to Charleston, SC (FM03) via the Pacific Ocean. 

Jim says he has an FT897D and an FT817ND with an Arrow-2 antenna. He plans to be active from quite a few wet grids along the way. His ocean route will take him through grid fields include MI, NI, OI, OJ, PJ, PK, QK (24 hours at Guam), QL, RL, RM, AM, BM, CM. and DM.

Jim's job is seven days a week for four months straight and he will not generally be available during the normal daytime working hours so operating opportunities during these times cannot be predicted.

The majority of passes he can be on will be in the late afternoon and early evening, so AO51, FO29, and AO7 Mode B will be the focus. Early morning AO7 passes will occasionally be available. Operating during late evening passes will be likely once the ship crosses the International Date line and enters the eastern Pacific. Jim's portable satellite station will be setup on the ship's helicopter deck.

The ship will be off the coast of southern California by the end of February and should be there for about 10 days before resuming the voyage towards Charleston via the Panama Canal, then northward around Cuba towards Jacksonville (EM90) for another stop at the end of March.
The voyage will finish in April in Charleston, SC.

Jim says he has applied for an IARP permit for Panama so that, barring unforeseen regulations, he will be able to operate whatever passes occur as the ship transits the Canal.

E-mail contact for Jim is via  james.t.clary.civ <at>msc.navy.mil. 

He plans to post regular updates on his trip's progress to the AMSAT-BB.


Jim ND9M/VQ9JC

Amsat website