When we had the mast off of Samadhi V, we installed new wiring for a loud hailer. The hailer is made up of a marine grade P.A. horn speaker located on the mast about 27 feet above the deck, and a 35-watt amplifier built into our VHF radio. Unfortunately, we lacked a proprietary connector for the radio to hook up the loud hailer speaker, apparently lost during the radio install. Since we didn't have the proper cable, the hailer was left disconnected.
Imagine my surprise while cleaning out a wire raceway when I found the special connector! I don't know how the connector ended up in there, but no matter, I was very happy to have finally found it. I grabbed the heat shrink tubing and soldering equipment. In five minutes, the loud hailer wire was connected.
The next step in the process was a test of the loud hailer... Just how loud is it? Well, before I answer that, let me state that today is International Talk Like a Pirate Day. So I hit the "Hail" button on the radio, keyed the mic, and proceeded to let loose a slew of pirate "Aaaarrgh"s, "matey"s, and other various silly sayings. I couldn't hear much and I wasn't sure that the hailer was working, so I hit the mic button again and announced to the world that "Today is International Talk Like a Pirate Day, AAAaaarrrggghhhh!!!" (emphasis on the arrgghh). Once again I heard very little from above decks, so I sent Kelly to the kids cabin (under the loudspeaker) to see if she could hear. I made a brief click in mic, and Kelly reported back that the speaker was "really REALLY loud!!".
Oops.
Then the VHF came to life. It was Alexander, calling in from his study location in the computer center. Alexander was studying more than 1 mile from us, inside of a concrete building with the A/C going next to him. Alexander reported that he had "heard some sort of pirate speak, probably coming from the pool area". He called on the radio since he thought the pirate speak might have been me calling him on the radio. Kelly and I were rolling on the floor with laughter. It was hard to stop laughing long enough to respond to Alexander.
The hailer works.
The hailer is LOUD.
Remember, it's important to test your safety equipment.
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3 comments:
I just wanted to leave a comment saying HI, or hola. I met ya'll in Antigua briefly in the morning at a coffee shop on the main square. I was the semi-smelly biker who was riding to Tierra del Fuego. My blog is here.
Anyway, I thought I´d leave a comment because I know I like to get comments and know that people actually read my ramblings. It is fun to read about someone else´s trip which has a few similiar destinations but a very different means of traveling.
I´m in costa rica right now, going to spend a couple of nights at a gringo resort living it up, all inclusive style.
Nice post, Daddy! The beginning is kind of boring, but the rest is really funny!
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