I didn’t have an FM radio on board and it’s lockdown, what happens if the zombie war starts and my mobile phone is not working? How do I know what to do? What may still work? Something must be done! Can I get a radio on the boat with the lockdown and the marina closed? Where do I let them deliver it? I was looking for multi-function shortwave receivers but then I got a better idea…

A long time ago, in a country far away, there was a nerd who found a safe space in the ham radio club of his secondary school. It had the call sign PI1GOE and it was an amazing place to be. The stuff we were able to do without adult supervision most school children can only dream off (like cycling to school on a Saturday morning at 3 o’clock in the morning to meet a couple of other students so we could “work” the 80m and 40m bands where the propagation was the best at that hour, no teacher in sight.) Since we had no teacher with a radio-amateur licence I decided that I should get one (I was 15-16 years old). I got it and became PE1KOO. When I left the Netherlands to work in the USA I left my licence by the wayside but always wanted to reactivate my licence. In the last 3 years I managed to find the necessary paperwork but life was far too busy to do something about it.

So I will get a shortwave transceiver and put it on the boat. That way I can also use it for email when sailing and lots of other uses! After a lot of research I found the radio I wanted and an antenna to match it. And the company was willing to ship it to me and ask the delivery company to call me when they arrive at the marina…

(There was a problem with the phone number but fortunately the general manager was in on the time of delivery):

I unpacked it and rigged a temporary antenna:

It’s great! Almost back in business…