Posted in Communication, Posts by Nick on Oct 13th, 2011
Lesson 2: Ice reports
We thought we were well prepared to get all the information we required at sea regarding ice, but quickly we found that this was not so. We had three ways of getting ice information, through sailmail, by weather fax and finally the Iridium Satellite phone.
When we approached the coast of Greenland we wanted to enter Prins Cristian Sound from the East but we did not know what the ice conditions were like as it had been a week since we left Iceland. The Danish ice services which were supposed to send updated ice charts twice a day through weather fax never came through. When we finally were able to pick up a signal and receive ice maps through weather fax they were for different regions then they were assigned to cover. We finally got on the satellite phone and called Ice services central in Greenland and they wereabrupt and unhelpful at first. The first time we called them while in ice they told us they were eating lunch and to call back in a couple of hours. Then when we called back for an update they asked the size of our boat and told us “its not for you, do not proceed” this told us nothing about our immediate surroundings and we were left in no better a situation.
We were able to contact a weather station through VHF and were given ice concentration information for our area but we were also told the information was unreliable because it was dated. After calling Ice service central again we were told we would be emailed an ice chart shortly. Unfortunately due to the sailmail size restrictions the chart was blocked but we saw that it was sent to several other sailboats in the area. We decided to email them and a few very nice sailors wrote back within minutes giving us the latest ice conditions.
We were still unsatisfied as understanding ice reports through descriptive text is possible it is hard to vis
ualize. Edvin texted a friend in Sweden to try and shrink some satellite photos small enough so that we could receive it by email but this didn’t work out either. Finally we hooked up the satellite phone and decided to take on the cost and tried to download some charts. We did not enjoy finding ourselves on the coast of Greenland depending on other yachties to give us their visual ice conditions and the descriptions we received by radioing local weather stations. While we felt very comfortable in the ice and tested the boat taking into 7-8 tenths for the fun of it we learned some valuable lessons for next year.
Sailmail: Next year we will sign up for a service that will allow us to download larger files, including color ice charts.
Weather fax: We need to find out why the Danish ice services charts were not being transmitted at their assigned times and can only hope this will not be an issue when relying on Canadian ice services.
Satellite phone: We will buy more minutes so that we can download not only ice charts but satellite images which provide much more detail and expose small opening in the ice.
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We will soon be leaving Sweden for Scotland and we are in the process of refining all our communication systems. Our website will continue to be updated throughout our voyage, as we sail along we will keep readers informed with all our latest adventures from out at sea.
We have several communication options we have one fixed VHF and two handheld VHF’s, an Icom HF ic-706mkIIg SSB with Pactor Modem set up to Sailmail, and we have a new Iridium 9555 Satellite phone on board. This allows us to send and receive emails while at sea from either our SSB Sailmail account or Iridium phone email. Furthermore it gives us several options for downloading grib files, ice maps and other passage weather information. If we have to we can even just use the SSB to receive weather facsimiles and ice chart facsimiles.
We are also excited to begin updating our website with actual pictures of our voyage. We have bought the latest state of the art video and camera equipment and hope to provide not only great photos but begin video blogs. We have two HD video cameras on board one being the Gopro camera which we can attach to a headstrap while we are sailing going up the mast, or attach to a mount on the radar arch, boom, pulpit etc. Most exciting is that we have bought a kite which we will attach the small Waterproof HD video camera to to take aerial photography and video of Belzebub making her way through the ocean and ice.
So stay tuned for as they happen visual updates!
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After entering Kannad Marine’s Adventure Competition last month we received word today that our expedition has been named the winner of the Safelink Solo PLB (EPIRB) giveaway! Northwest passage on a shoestring has been featured on the Kannad Marine website and press release which can be seen by clicking here.
Thank you for choosing our voyage in the Adventure Competition Giveaway!
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Posted in Boat, Communication, Posts by Edvin on Feb 26th, 2011
To ground the copper strip for the SSB into the encapsulated iron keel I had to drill two 10 mm holes beside the bilge. I drilled thru almost 4cm of fiberglass before reaching the iron in the keel. I drilled another 4 cm, threaded the hole and inserted two threaded rods. Then I poured epoxy to fill the gap between the plastic and the rod.
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Posted in Boat, Communication, Posts by Edvin on Feb 15th, 2011
To be able to continue the insulation of the starboard side I had to start running the copper strip for the antenna ground. From a bolt tapped into the keel I made one run of copper to the SSB radio and another to the antenna tuner. The strip is 3 inches wide and if there is two lines with 3 inches in between it will appear as 9 inches to radiowaves. Although its really hard to make it look good (think aluminum foil with adhesive) it´s quite fun to install. In the end the copper will be painted over and covered with insulation so it won´t show, I need to keep perfectionism in check in order to complete everything in time.
Question: The copper foil has adhesive on one side and if two strips are taped over each other there is no conductivity. Will that be a problem for RF or will there be a capacitive conduction if the overlap is good enough ?
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Posted in Communication on Jan 8th, 2011
Installation of the main unit is finished. I will wait to install the Pactor modem until I know which navigation computer I will choose. Since its not upgraded to pactor III I have to send it to Swedish radio supply for the upgrade.
Cant do much more until the rig is up so i can test the radio with the antenna.
Main unit is installed on the door to the navigationpanel.
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