If you are a fan of Icom amateur radio equipment, you may be interested in new ICOM Users Reflector established on the Internet. It's the work of Al Walker, K3TKJ. The reflector is described as a generic ICOM oriented Internet remailing service for those wanting to exchange information on all Icom ham radio gear.
If you want to subscribe, just send email to majordomo@qsl.net. In the body of your message type “subscribe icom”. You will be automatically added to the list.
(Source: Amateur Radio Newsline #1028)
While aboard the Queen Elizabeth II for an around-the-world cruise earlier this year, Larry Amodeo, W2AX, of Manhasset, New York, found his CW ability suddenly in demand. On February 5, while operating /mm from the ship's ham radio shack--which is located in the QE2's radio room--the ship's radio operator called him over to see if Amodeo could copy what he thought was a distress call on 500 KHz--the old maritime emergency frequency. Amodeo said the ship's operator told him he did not copy CW much above 10 WPM, and there was not a telegraph key in sight (although Amodeo said he later found out there's one hidden away in case it's needed).
"We were about two days out of Fiji," Amodeo said. "At the time, I was working JAs on 20--a pileup." By the time he got to the ship's radio, the signal was gone. Amodeo went back to 20 meters, but the ship's operator called him over again after a few minutes when the distress signal reappeared. "It quit by the time I got there," he said. But the third time around, Amodeo managed to copy "4X" out of the noise. He surmised the vessel might be of Israeli registry, but he was not able to copy anything further. The next day, however, he learned his hunch was correct. An Israeli freighter had run aground off Fiji. Another ship intercepted the call and, fortunately, there were no casualties.
Amodeo has been a ham for 45 years and was a merchant marine shipboard radio operator himself in the late 1940s and early 1950s, but he'd never heard a distress call before. "When I sat down at that receiver, I was hit by a wave of nostalgia," he said.
(Source: ARRL Letter Vol 16, No. 17)