Kon-Tiki, LI2B
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The LED The newsletter of the Livingston Amateur Radio Klub (LARK) Howell, Michigan October 2019 Who 8 Darrell’s Spicy Bacon W8DSB Welcome all. Well it’s September 30th (Deer Hunting eve) and for me it is time to not think about ham radio for a while. That said, many projects have come to an end. Projects include: Simplex hotspot Create codeplugs (FM,DMR,DSTAR) for 27 different types of radios MixedMode repeater DMR TalkGroup for Klub Electronics Class for Klub CAT 800 upgrade then downgrade of the 146.680 repeater Completely move and upgrade our county EOC Install and test our second and third GMRS repeater Duplex hotspot AllStar & Echolink Controller upgrade for the 146.680 AllStar Nodes (kickstarter like project) I am happy to report that all the above are complete. Are there projects on the radar, well yes, yes there are. Move the SNAPPER repeater to the Fire Station Install a remote receive site (south end of county) for the 146.680 Rebuild a 60 amp rack mount power supply Install our 440 FM repeater (but where?) Rebuild and install our 220 FM repeater (but where?) I would still like to see the Klub & family have a Holiday party this winter None of the above completed projects or upcoming projects can happen without volunteers. I personally want to thank all of those that have stepped up to help. Net Controllers, Repeater Trustee, Technical Groups, Skywarn Nets and Spotters, CERT members, Board Members, Active Members are just a few. Some quick math says we have totaled nearly 4000 hours of volunteer time and I want to thank each and every one of you. 73, Darrell, W8DSB Ham Radio History: Kon-Tiki, LI2B Kon-Tiki Thor Hyerdahl, a Norwegian “ethnologist”-- and somewhat of a dreamer-- developed a theory that ancients from South America had the capacity and did in fact migrate from their homeland to Polynesia. The prevailing theory had been that migration must have come from the west, but Hyerdahl became convinced that Pacific currents from the east enabled South Americans to sail to the west. To test this theory, Heyerdahl and a crew of 5 other Scandinavians constructed a balsa wood raft using only native wood and techniques gleaned from old Spanish conquistador descriptions and set sail from Peru in April, 1947. One hundred one days later, the raft was wrecked on a reef in the Tuamoto Archipelago in French Polynesia. The raft had travelled over 4,300 miles! Hyerdahl wrote a book about this adventure entitled Kon-Tiki: Across the Pacific by Raft, which became a best seller throughout the world, and was turned into a documentary which won an Academy Award in 1951. Bjorn A. Rorholt, LA1GA Ham radio played an important part in this saga, and a comprehensive article was written describing the expedition in “Kon-Tiki Communications- Well Done!”, QST, December, 1947, from which much of this article is based. It started in late 1946, when Captain Bjorn A. Rorholt, LA1GA, an assistant military attache at the Norwegian Embassy in Washington, DC and the former commander of Heyerdahl in World War II, contacted the ARRL seeking assistance in organizing amateur radio communications with the planned expedition. In his book, Heyerdahl managed to butcher up the name, referring to the “Radio Amateur League of America”, but we know what he meant. Incidentally, Capt. Rorholt had been active in World War II assisting the Secret Intelligence Service of the U.K. (later, MI6) in operating clandestine radio stations in Norway. Capt. Rorholt had proposed the use of not only maritime frequencies for the Kon-Tiki project, but also the amateur 40-, 20-, 10- and 6-meter bands. Both CW and phone were specified. On board the Kon-Tiki would be two Norwegians who had radio experience in World War II, operating behind the lines against the Nazis, with notable success, Knut Haugland and Torstein Raaby. The Norwegian government had authorized an experimental callsign to the project: LI2B. Knut Haugland Torstein Raaby After numerous discussions, the ARRL selected a handful of amateurs, to assist in communications efforts. The raft itself presented some difficulties, both as to possible antennas and to the selection of transmitters and receivers. The raft was constructed of nine balsa wood logs, the longest of which was approximately 45 feet long and 2- 3 feet in diameter, lashed together with inch and a quarter native hemp ropes, with cross pieces of balsa logs approximately 18 feet long and one foot in diameter. Small lengths of pine were wedged between the logs and were used as centerboards. The main mast was made of mangrove wood approximately 29 feet tall. Smaller masts fore and aft were constructed. The raft had a bamboo thatched enclosure approximately 14 feet by 8 feet, and about 4-5 feet high. Steering was from a nineteen foot long oar. A large square sail with a hand drawn depiction of the god Kon Tiki provided the raft's only thrust. See the detailed descriptions in Heyerdahl's book and Kon- tiki, Wikipedia. It was far from watertight. Because of the expected moisture issue, it was decided to make the transmitters sealed and watertight. Two hams at the National Company, Inc., of Malden, MA, Calvin F. Hadlock, W1CTW, of Arlington, MA, and Harry A. Gardner, W1EHT, of Stoneham, MA, were assigned the tasks of designing and building these rigs. Three transmitters were decided upon: a 20- and 40- meter transmitter based upon a design from “A Versatile Portable-Emergency Transmitter”,QST, July, 1941; and a 10 meter rig and a 6 meter rig, both patterned after “Mobile Rig for 50 and 28 mc”, QST, June, 1946. Each rig used 2E30 tubes, providing 10 watts of RF input. Interestingly, no meters were used on any of the transmitters, the thought being that they would not survive the wet conditions, so all tuning was done using neon bulbs and lamp loops. The power supplies also presented problems, and after some discussion it was decided to use dry batteries and hand crank generators. The receiver used was a National NC-173. National NC-173 receiver Additional equipment included a hand cranked “Gibson Girl” emergency set for 500 and 8280 KHz and a special VHF set for contacting aircraft, both provided by the U.S. War Department. Gibson Girl In addition, Kon-Tiki carried two British 3-16 MHz Mark II transmitters, used extensively as clandestine transmitters during World War II. British Mark II spy transmitter Both balloon and kite supported antennas were tested, but ultimately, it was decided to use an end fed wire supported by the Kon-Tiki's main mast. The operators managed with this array of equipment and a variety of problems, including having to jury rig the batteries when they got wet, and dealing with the crystals used in the transmitters which fractured. The QST article says that for the first 22 days following departure, the Kon- Tiki could only make contact with the Peruvian Naval School, due apparently to a known “dead spot” in the Pacific Ocean. The first amateur contact was made on May 20, 1947, with Harold Kempel, W6EVM, of Los Angeles, CA, on 14142 KHz. By mid June, LI2B had made contact with a number of US and Canadian hams, and as the weeks went by, regular long haul contacts were established with stations in North America, Canal Zone and Norway. Nightly schedules were kept with W6EVM, who would then contact Gene Melton, W3FNG, of Silver Spring, MD, who would relay messages to the Norwegian Embassy in nearby Washington, DC. In one instance, QST reported, a message was sent by the raft and relayed to W3FNG, who then telephoned the Norwegian Embassy, got a reply, then sent a message back to LI2B, all in the space of only 35 minutes! Another reliable traffic station was W3YA, the Penn State Amateur Radio Club station, whose operators included faculty and students at the college, and who maintained a nightly schedule to deliver traffic. Thor Heyerdahl Thor Heyerdahl's adventure seemed to strike just the right chord with folks around the world still coping with the destruction of World War II. The Kon- Tiki story is an unusual one. Most of the book describes efforts to obtain the necessary balsa logs, building the raft and taking it down the river to the Pacific Ocean, and detailed descriptions of the aquatic life the crew encountered. And yes, there are a few tense moments such as when a crewman wandered too far from the raft or when huge sea creatures were attracted to it. The discussion in the book about radio is somewhat sporadic, and it seems clear that Heyerdahl did not have a good grasp of the technical aspects of the equipment. In fact, the longest episode in the book about radio communications comes near the end of the book, when the Kon-Tiki raft struck the reef off Raiora Island, part of the Tuamoto Archipelago. Just before the reef wreck, less than 100 yards away from the reef, and with disaster impending, one of the two radio operators was in a CW QSO with a ham on Raratonga, G. W. Hitch, ZK1AB, who agreed to listen for LI2B every hour, with the admonition that, if in 36 hours he had heard nothing, he would contact the Norwegian Embassy to begin a search and rescue operation. Heyerdahl says that when the reef was struck, the team was careful to first rescue the wet radio equipment before anything else and get it to the beach of a tiny island, and then spent three days drying everything out.