Sail-World.com will stream the 0735 Sydney Hobart Radio sked and Radio relay traffic on 6516kHz courtesy of Peter Bye, who operates VK2MPJ from North Nowra, on the NSW south coast.
Daily position reports (skeds) will be conducted on the race frequency (6516 kHz)
The next radio sked will be at 1705 tonight (AEST) They are in fact at 0735 and 1705 hours each day and as at other times as may be advised by the Radio Relay Vessel JBW.
During the race, boats retiring will report to JBW on this frequency as did the boats making their Mandatory Green Cape declaration *** (details below) and emergency race traffic will also be directed to JBW who will maintain a listening watch 24 hours per day.
Boats will report wind strength over 40 knots. (although that is unlikely to happen today, as the fleet sails down the Tasmanian coast.
The main voice you will hear again today on JBW, the relay vessel is David Kellett, ISAF Treasurer and former Commodore of the CYCA.
Peter Bye who has put together this HF streaming facilty together for Sail-World.com is a volunteer member of the NSW Rural Fire Service and at this time of the year could normally expect to be on bush fire fighting standby, but with ex-cyclone Lawrence heavy dumping rain across NSW, there is no immediate bushfire threat. Peter explains 'I hope you are enjoying the streaming feed.
Peter comments 'By the way everyone, the NSW Rural Fire Service is constantly looking for volunteers, so if you feel you might have the time to help look after the community go to www.rfs.nsw.gov.au'
Providing more detail on his equipment, he explains
'The joys (or pitfalls) of HF are that it relies heavily on atmospheric conditions, so perhaps there has been some improvement that has worked in my favour. I am also led to believe that marine HF is 'interesting' at the best of times.
'Certainly interference from foreign broadcast stations on a nearby frequency after 2000 hrs doesn't help.
'I am using an Icom IC-7000 Transceiver connected to a home built antenna.
'I have also set up my old faithful Yaesu FRG-7 Shortwave Receiver. This radio is possibly older than I am, and uses old school analogue tuning technology, unlike the Icom which is fully digital and only 12mths old.
'The FRG-7 (or Frog 7 as they are known) requires a different approach and 'touch' to operating, but the results are very rewarding.
'To myself and many other radio enthusiasts, the old technology simply sounds better.
'The main reason I stuck with using the Icom as the main radio though, is it has the ability to 'filter' out some of the interference in order to hear the desired signal, whilst sometimes this does not work as well as we would like, it is far better than having to listen to ear piercing squeals and the like!'
by Sail-World.com
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