Museum Ships Weekend Event - 1-2 June 2013

[akula65]

The Battleship New Jersey Amateur Radio Station is sponsoring the Museum Ships Weekend Event on 1-2 June 2013 (GMT/UTC). The goal of the event is to get as many museum ships on the air on amateur radio frequencies as possible worldwide. Ninety ships/museums are scheduled to participate so far. Information concerning the event is available here:

http://www.nj2bb.org/museum/index.html

Clubs and organizations participating in the event may be looking for additional hands to assist in various ways, so if you live near one of the participating vessels you might be able to participate regardless of whether or not you are an amateur radio operator. If you don't have an amateur radio license, find someone who does and encourage them to let you participate.

Even if you are not interested in the event itself, the event announcement has an interesting list of vessels (along with websites) that you might want to visit.

Good hunting!

[Red October1984]

Is it something we'll be able to listen to somehow?

[akula65]

Is it something we'll be able to listen to somehow?

The web page I indicated lists suggested frequencies of operation at the bottom of the page. Participating stations will likely be within several kHz of the suggested frequencies, but they could be anywhere within the allocated amateur radio frequency bands for the country where the ship/museum is located. Permitted frequencies and bands do vary somewhat from country to country.

The suggested frequencies lie within the High Frequency (HF aka shortwave) and 6 Meter (50 MHz) amateur radio bands. So if you just want to listen, you would need a shortwave receiver that is capable of receiving Single Sideband (SSB) and Morse Code (CW) transmissions in order to hear participating stations. A shortwave receiver that receives only AM shortwave (broadcast) stations would not be sufficient as a general rule (although there are a few AM frequencies listed at the very bottom of the page). Consumer grade portable shortwave receivers may or may not have sufficient sensitivity and selectivity to hear participating stations even if they can tune SSB/CW stations. Also, the better your antenna, the better your results are likely to be. An external long wire antenna may provide better results than a built-in telescoping whip antenna on a consumer grade receiver, and some consumer grade receivers have jacks for the connection of an external antenna.

An amateur radio operator or club with 2-way HF (shortwave) equipment will likely be able to transmit and receive on one or more of the bands that will be used in the event. That is part of the reason that I was suggesting that folks interested in participating find an amateur radio operator (or amateur radio club) to provide necessary equipment and information on how to tune the stations.

One other thing to keep in mind is that your ability to hear or communicate with participating stations will hinge on solar or space weather conditions during the event since we are talking about HF or shortwave communications. We are at the peak of the solar cycle and conditions are extremely volatile. The last few days have been quite poor in this regard, but matters may be quite different during the event. Check out the latest space weather conditions here:

http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/

Indications of geomagnetic and solar radiation storms and radio blackouts are generally a sign of poor conditions, although there are some exceptions to this rule.

[Red October1984]

So I guess that's a no unless you have access to a shortwave radio that is able to pick up the transmission.

Is it going to be transmitted over the internet or will it be just a radio-specific thing?

[akula65]

Given the fact that the thrust of the event is for amateur radio operators to establish two-way communications with the ships, it will likely be just radio-specific. However, there is no reason why the individuals and organizations that are participating could not be streaming audio or video of their activities during the event. Amateur radio communications are not protected with regard to privacy, so they can be re-transmitted. I don't know offhand if any of the ships/museums are planning on streaming during the event.

If you are really keen on listening and don't have access to radio equipment, but you do have Internet access, then you might consider using one of the online receivers that are available. Some generous individuals and organizations make computer-controlled receivers at various locations throughout the world available to anyone via Internet interfaces. Here are two sites that provide such access:

http://www.globaltuners.com/
http://www.websdr.org/

Note that many of the bands covered by the receivers on the websdr site are the same bands that will be used for the event. If you plan to use the online receivers, I would recommend setting up an account well in advance and getting accustomed to using the interface before the event as it may initially seem to be a bit overwhelming. You will have to adjust and tune the radio just like you would a real physical radio, and there are limitations in terms of what you can do and how long you are allowed to dominate a particular receiver.

[Red October1984]

I understand.

I don't even know if I'll be available on the 1st and 2nd of June to do this. It might be interesting though.

[akula65]

The event just kicked off, and I have already heard four ships within a ten minute span:

0009 UTC NS7DD USS Turner Joy 14255 kHz USB
0010 UTC W5BII USS Orleck 14260 kHz USB
0012 UTC K8M SS Daniel J Morrell 14267.5 kHz USB
0017 UTC K8B SS Carl D Bradley 7254 kHz LSB

USB and LSB signify Upper Sideband and Lower Sideband transmission modes respectively.

I also came across an interesting November's Fury PDF graphic for three of the participating vessels at this site:

http://www.novemberfury.com/

Have fun!