Boating Ham passing along knowledge to others.

Victor Poor has been boating for thirty years. He was a “Live-aboard”
for ten years, and a seasonal boater for the other 20 years. He and
his wife have done extensive long distance sailing including cruises
to Europe, the Caribbean, the east and west coasts of North America,
and Alaska.

Now, he will host a workshop for boaters about marine communications.
He will start with the basics of marine radio installation, moving
through wiring, battery maintenance, and including solar power. He
will cover VHF marine radio and the long distance single sideband
marine radios. In the second half of his presentation, he will also
discuss the method to send email while underway using radio, while out
of range of commercial internet providers.

Victor’s talk is titled “Marine Radio- Putting all the basics together
to communicate safely on the water.” This simple, yet insightful talk
will be held December 5, 2009 at the Manatee Civic Center in Palmetto
Florida. The two hour talk is part of a Radio Festival held there
every year on the first weekend in December. For workshop times,
complete Radio Festival details, and advance tickets for $7, go to
www.fgcarc.org

Topics in the first half of the workshop will apply to skills needed
to install ANY radio in a boat, and will include basic topics like:
• Choosing a location to mount the radio
• Choosing the right wire, connectors, fuses, and battery
• Routing the cabling
• Locating and mounting the antenna
• The difference between Marine VHF, Single Sideband, and other radio
services

Recently when talking about the necessity of having reliable
communications, Vic quoted the author of Mainers Guide to Single
Sideband Radio Frederick Graves: "The safety of your vessel and the
lives of those on board may depend on the proper use and functioning
of your marine radios." Vic agrees saying “It’s awfully lonely out
there when you need help and your radio won’t cooperate”.

Victor Poor was Vice President of Engineering for Frederick
Electronics, a manufacturer of telegraph and data transmission
systems, and also served as Executive Vice President and Chief
Technical Officer of Datapoint Corporation, a manufacturer of computer
systems.

Active in ham radio since 1950, Victor holds Amateur Radio call sign
W5SSM. He has served on two digital planning committees for the
national association for amateur radio- ARRL. As a published author he
was written about amateur digital modes and maritime operation.

In article
,
Will wrote:

Boating Ham passing along knowledge to others.

Victor Poor has been boating for thirty years. He was a ³Live-aboard²
for ten years, and a seasonal boater for the other 20 years. He and
his wife have done extensive long distance sailing including cruises
to Europe, the Caribbean, the east and west coasts of North America,
and Alaska.



Read the whole Blurb, and can't see ANYTHING that qualifies this guy to
lecture on Marine Radio Systems Design, Installation or Maintainance....
So he was CTO for Datapoint, (which were great computers in their day...
heck, I had one of the original "Cynthia" Drives on a Datapoint 1500,
and completed the "Cynthia Drive" School in San Antonio) where does that
qualify him in RF Design or Installation of Marine Radio Gear? So he
designed some Telegraph and Comm Gear, back in the day.. That still
doesn't mean he knows diddly, about LF/MF/HF Marine Radio Antenna
Systems Design and Installation. Does he posses a General RadioTelephone
License? Did he ever posses a 1st or 2nd Class RadioTelegraph License
with 6 Months Sea-time Endorsement? Does he posses a GMDSS Maintainer
License? Radar Endorsement on any of the forgoing? He may actually be a
qualified Sailor, and even a Ham of some repute, but again, that doesn't
qualify him to lecture on Maritime Radio Installation, and Antenna
Systems... It just means he "MAY" be an adequate Marine Radio Operator.
Heck, from what you posted the guy can't even WORK on his own Licensed
Marine Radio's.... If he is charging money for these lectures, someone
should run his ass in for fraud, and if he isn't, well you will get
exactly what you paid for it......

Me one who has ALL the above Licenses, and a few more, that are even
more obscure, and have been in the biz for 45 years.....

"If he is charging money for these lectures, someone
should run his ass in for fraud, and if he isn't, well you will get
exactly what you paid for it......"

Cool down. Give this guy some slack. The money is not going in his
pocket, it is a benefit lecture. He may not have all your
qualifications but you don't really know what he can do and cannot do.

I grew up in commercial fishing. I fished in many areas including
between Midway Island and Japan which is pretty isolated. We'd go
weeks without seeing anbother vessel sometimes. When your life
depends on radio comms you learn how to do mission critical technical
things even without licenses and degrees. I know some fishermen who
did not even finish high school who can do a very good job at
installing an HF SSB. They understand antenna theory, grounding, DC
power sag, all the tricks. In the old days before autocouplers these
same guys knew how to move coil taps and adjust variable caps to get a
good match on any freq. They replace magnetrons in radars and do some
board level repairs on autopilots, especially the older types like
Sperry model 8T and all the Wood Freemans. They unsolder components
and test them with a multimeter and mine parts from less critical gear
if they dont have spares. it's usually a bad electrolytic cap, If you
are out for a month or more you NEED a working autopilot and will
spend a lot of time to fix a broken one. You sometimes don't have the
money to hire experts so you just improvise. At sea, you HAVE to do
the stuff yourself, there are no other options.

I have an EE degree with honors from UC Berkeley and an extra class
ham license which was my first license. I don't look down my nose at
anyone unless they are obviously selling BS. I truly respect you
licenses and experience, but you should realize that there are people
without them who actually are competent.

73,
Mark