I Killed Somebody Today & Other News

Source - Graphics Fairy

EDITOR'S NOTE: This blog post was intended as a light-hearted, tongue-in-cheek take on writing a draft mystery novel as part of NaNoWriMo this month. It was published prior to the devastating and horrific attacks in Paris. This post will now always be a sad reminder of the atrocities that took place there. #JeSuisParis #PorteOuverte

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I killed somebody today. It was fun. A lot of fun. Surprisingly fun.

I should probably be concerned about how much fun it was. But, I'm not. I didn't like him very much. 

I almost killed Scott once. Accidentally, I might add. There was blood everywhere, but he survived. It wouldn't have been very much fun if I had ended up killing Scott. I'm pretty fond of him. Plus, I think the police might have asked some difficult questions. That would certainly not be fun. This, on the other hand, was a lot of fun.

I think if you had met the guy I killed, you would understand why he had to go. I don't think you would have liked him very much either. He was the worst kind of swindler and lowlife there is. A used car salesman turned boat broker. Trust me, we're better off without him.

Now, I'm trying to figure out who to kill next. There's the lady who runs the sailing school. She seems a bit dodgy. Or, the nosy busybody who lives on a houseboat and is just plain annoying. Who would you kill?

I've only got 17 more days to figure it out and around 35,000 more words to go. I may be woefully behind in my NaNoWriMo target, but, for the most part, it's been a lot of fun. Especially, killing off people. 

In other news, when I'm not thinking about killing people, I've been having fun getting to know people I've met through our blog and Facebook page in real life. Like Michele and Bruce of Sailing Wind Spirit who have their boat in the yard here at Indiantown Marina. Like us, they're also from Oregon and have an old Pathfinder. We had a great time over tacos and tostadas at the local pub the other day. You know you've clicked with folks when you end up talking about marine toilets and holding tanks (or PPBs as I like to call them). 

Tonight, I'm off to have dinner with Duwan and Greg from Make Like an Ape Man. We originally met through the blog and it turns out they also keep their boat at Indiantown Marina. Scott and I met them in real life earlier this year and had a blast with them. I know he's sad that he can't be there for dinner tonight. Next week, I'm going to get a chance to meet Susie and her husband from Life in the Slow Line in real life when they come to get their boat out of storage.

I'm beginning to think that Indiantown Marina is some sort of weird vortex which transports people from the virtual world to real life. What are the chances that I would end up meeting so many people I've gotten to know online here? It's a strange place, in more ways than one. No wonder so many people end up getting killed here. 

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The Risks Of A Nomadic Lifestyle | Health Insurance Quandaries

Source: Graphics Fairy

Yes, it's that time of year again. Time to think about health insurance for 2016 {groan}. Time to weigh up the risks of going without health insurance in 2016 {gasp}. Time to pour a very large glass of red wine {sigh}.

Of course, not everybody has to think about these things. My pals in New Zealand can turn their attention to reliving the All Blacks glorious victory. The Canadians among us can think happy thoughts about Tim Horton's. And the rest of you can ponder whether eggnog or pumpkin spice is better when it comes to your holiday latte. (By the way, the correct answer is eggnog.)

But, if you're American, of pre-Medicare age and don't have health insurance through a job, Medicare, Medicaid or another source, then it's that time of year again for you too. (Go on. I'll wait while you look for that corkscrew.) Yes, it's time to think about getting health insurance through the ACA (Affordable Care Act) marketplace.

Navigating the ACA marketplace is complicated enough to think about (go ahead and pour yourself another glass of wine), but imagine if you're a nomadic type. You know, the type of person who travels around by boat, RV or camel. Who might roam around the country or even leave the States for months on end during 2016. Then it becomes really complicated. Then you're going to need the entire bottle of wine, not to mention an extremely large bar of dark chocolate.

Scott and I struggled with this last year. Should we get health insurance? Should we say the heck with it, pay the penalty and roll the dice? Should we start buying wine by the case?

One of us was leaning towards not getting health insurance. One of us is more of a risk-taker than the other. I'll give you a clue who that might be. Scott is the one who came up with the idea of buying a sailboat, moving onto it and sailing across bodies of water where you can no longer see land. I'm the more sensible one of the two. I think about things like making sure we have emergency rations in our ditch bag, just in case.

In the end, after much discussion, we opted to get health insurance during 2015. My rationale was two-fold:

1 - We're getting older and have a higher chance of health problems arising.
2 - If one of us did develop a serious health problem while we were in the States and weren't in a position to leave the States for treatment, it would pretty much bankrupt us. 

So, basically, I won the argument through scaremongering. Ellen - 1, Scott - Nil.

Now, we're having the same discussion again this year and we have to factor in our plans for adventuring in 2016. We know that we want to sail to the Bahamas and then down to the Caribbean this season. We had hoped that we would be leaving with the rest of the migratory herd of boats making their way down south during December, but it's looking like it won't happen for us until early in 2016. That means that we'll be spending the beginning of the year in the States.

When hurricane season rears her ugly head in June, we're not sure what we're going to do. Will we hang out with the boat somewhere safe in the Caribbean? Will we sail her back to the States and make our way up the East Coast to Canada? Will we leave the boat at Indiantown Marina in southern Florida and take our travel trailer Scamper out for some adventuring on land? Who knows. That's the beauty of a nomadic life. You're not required to make too many plans.

Except when it comes to health insurance and weighing up your risks {sigh}. Then you have to start planning. If we knew for sure that we weren't coming back to the States during 2016, we could enroll for health insurance for the first part of the year and then cancel it once we set sail. Unfortunately, it's a bit trickier to sign up for health insurance part way through the year, unless you have some sort of life changing event such as having a baby, getting married, losing health insurance from your employer or moving to a new state.

In addition to not knowing what our plans are, we also don't know what plans the universe has in store for us. What if we need to come back to the States to take care of family matters? Would we want to risk being in the States without any insurance hoping that nothing catastrophic befell us and led us down the merry path of bankruptcy? Well, one of us might want to risk it. One of us might not.

Right now, we don't have a clue what we're going to do. We have until December 15th to sign up for a new plan. But it just isn't figuring out if we want to sign up for a health insurance plan, it's also deciding what that plan that would be.

Okay, this is where you're going to need a truckload of chocolate and a vat of wine. I'm not even going to try to explain how the ACA marketplace works. But Nina from Wheeling It has put together a great overview. It's well worth a read if you're in the same pickle that we are.

If you're curious about what our choices are, here's the scoop. To be honest, it will probably only be of interest if you're:

1 - Looking at getting health insurance in Oregon on the ACA marketplace.

2 - You won Powerball last week and you don't have to worry about these things anymore, but you want to make sure that you stay in tune with how the little people live.

3 - You want to commiserate with us and then rush out to the post office to send us more chocolate and wine.

HEALTH INSURANCE OPTIONS

Because Oregon was the last state we lived in before we moved overseas to Scotland and then New Zealand, that's our default state. It's the one we use when it comes to elections and it's the one we used when it came time to look at health insurance last year.

How much do you want to pay and what kind of service do you want?

We had to make two big choices when it came to health insurance for 2015 - what our favorite metal was and what kind of letters we preferred.

For some reason, they decided it would be helpful to imagine yourself in a jewelry store when thinking about what plan to get. Platinum, gold, silver and bronze are used to describe the level of costs that you have to pay and your premium. We opted for a bronze plan which means we pay a greater share of our health costs than someone with a platinum plan would. The upside is that we have lower premiums.

Premiums, by the way, are based on things like marital status (I've got a document that says we're married, but it's in Danish, so who really knows), number of dependents (we don't have any), age (let's just call it middle-aged and leave it at that) and where you live (when we say a sailboat, the IRS gets confused).

The other big choice we had was a PPO vs an EPO plan. Confused by the letters? Aren't we all. {Pause for more wine and chocolate. What?! We're out of chocolate. Top up my wine glass pronto.} An EPO (or Exclusive Provider Plan) would have only provided services to us if we used in-network providers. That means, that if something happened while we were traveling around the States, we would have been out of luck, except for emergency treatment.

A PPO plan (or Preferred Provider Plan) means that we could use both in-network and out-of-network providers throughout the country, although we would have to pay extra for the latter. As we knew we would be traveling around the States during the year, we opted for a PPO plan.

There were a few choices when it came to a Bronze PPO. We opted to go with a Standard Bronze PPO plan offered by Lifewise based on premium cost, the size of the deductible and the extent of their network nationwide. Our monthly premium was $502, which comes out to a whopping $6,024 a year. We had a hefty $10,000 deductible (you have to spend this much before health insurance starts to pay out for most stuff) and a $12,700 out-of-pocket maximum.

Was it worth it?

The short answer is no. The longer answer is that we were fortunate that neither of us had a serious illness which required us to really test out our insurance. Knock on wood - we still aren't through with 2015 yet.

I have had to go to the doctor in Florida to get a routine prescription for thyroxine. It's required lab tests and appointments with the doctor. Because we're still under the $10,000 deductible, I've had to pay for everything out of pocket. On the plus side, because the doctor and lab are in network, the costs are less than what they would be if I didn't have health insurance. But are they worth the $6,024 we've paid in insurance premiums. Nope, it would have been cheaper to have gone without insurance, paid the government penalty for being uninsured and just paid for the doctor and lab fees ourselves (around $600).

But, that's what health insurance is - a gamble.

Having said all that, keep in mind that our health insurance costs were without any tax credits. While we share how much we spend, we don't share details on how much we make. We do earn a little bit of money (otherwise we wouldn't be eligible to get health insurance on the ACA marketplace) and we may be eligible for some tax credits, but we won't know until we do our tax return this year.

So what are the choices for 2016?

Our current provider, Lifewise, has altered or replaced all of the plans it offered in 2015 (with the exception of one Gold plan) and they will not offer any PPO plans in 2016. The plan that Lifewise offers that's closest to what we had during 2015 is their Standard Bronze Exclusive Provider 5000. Here's the scoop:

• Monthly premium - $659
• Deductible - $10,000
• Out-of-pocket maximum - $12,700

The deductible and out-of-pocket maximum are the same as our previous plan. But, for those of you who like math, the premium is an INCREASE of 31% from 2015. Yes, 31% and that's for an EPO plan, not a PPO plan. Goodness, it's time to switch to hard liquor.

That's the big news in Oregon - premiums have skyrocketed with an average weighted increase of 24%. (See here for more details.) I think you can guess how things are headed. We will not be buying Lifewise's Bronze EPO plan.

I checked out other PPO plans on the marketplace. The cheapest one on offer is a Bronze plan from Oregon's Health Co-op. Here's how it looks. 

• Monthly premium - $626
• Deductible - $10,000
• Out-of-pocket maximum - $12,700

This one is looking better than the Lifewise plan. The monthly premium is lower than Lifewise, it's a PPO plan and the deductible and out-of-pocket maximum are on par. But the thought of paying $626 a month for health insurance is just way to mind-numbing to contemplate. Especially, as we won't be in the States for part of the year.

The cheapest plan on offer is a Bronze EPO plan from Providence Health:

• Monthly Premium - $582
• Deductible - $13,600
• Out-of-pocket maximum - $13,700

The deductible and out-of-pocket maximum are higher, but the premium is only 16% higher than our current plan. What?! Did I just say only 16% higher? See, how spending too much time on this befuddles the mind. Suddenly, you start to think a 16% increase is reasonable. Or, perhaps I've had too much red wine?

So, what are you going to do?

Well, I will be buying a Powerball ticket. Possibly two. Other than that, I don't have a clue. Procrastination is one of my favorite pastimes, so ask me on December 15th what we're going to do. We'll decide then.

What about you? Are you looking to get health insurance on the ACA marketplace? More importantly, do you have any dark chocolate and red wine you can spare?

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Around The World In 80 Books | Update #3

I've just finished up my third month of the "Around the World in 80 Books" challenge. The idea is to read books set in 80 different countries, effectively exploring the world from the comfort of your armchair. Over the past month, I've read books from 5 different countries - Canada, England, Kenya, Norway and Vietnam. That makes a total of 15 books since I started the challenge. 65 more to go!

You can read more about the challenge here, as well as check out Update #1 here and Update #2 here.

ANNE OF GREEN GABLES by LM Montgomery | Canada

I fell in love with Anne of Green Gables when I watched the series on TV. Who wouldn't love a spunky, imaginative, outspoken red-headed orphan? She's Canada's answer to Laura Ingalls and Little House on the Prairie. It's hard to believe I had never read this book, so when this challenge came along, I immediately knew what book I wanted to read to tick Canada off the list. Sometimes when you see a TV show or watch a movie and then read the book or vice versa, you end up being disappointed. Not in the case of Anne of Green Gables. They go perfectly together.

One of these days, we're going to have to make it to Prince Edward Island and see the magical countryside that LM Montgomery described.

"The 'Avenue,' so called by the Newbridge people, was a stretch of road four or five hundred yards long, completely arched over with huge, wide-spreading apple-trees, planted years ago by an eccentric old farmer. Overhead was one long canopy of snowy fragrant bloom. Below the boughs the air was full of purple twilight and far ahead a glimpse of painted sunset sky shone like a great rose window at the end of a cathedral aisle. Its beauty seemed to strike the child dumb. She leaned back in the buggy, her thin hands clasped before her, her face lifted rapturously to the white splendor above."

You can find out more about Anne of Green Gables on Goodreads.

INCONCEIVABLE by Ben Elton | England

This book made me laugh out loud in so many parts - it was truly hysterical! I had read another one of Ben Elton's books before and loved his sense of humor, so I was looking forward to reading Inconceivable. It did not disappoint. The book is written in the form of the diaries of a British couple, Lucy and Sam, chronicling their struggle to have a baby and the resulting challenges to their relationship. As an aside, that style of writing (letters, diary entries, emails etc.) is called epistolary - a term which I didn't know until last month - and a style of writing I'm trying to do as part of writing a draft novel during NaNoWriMo. It's definitely not as easy as Ben Elton makes it look.

One of the things I enjoyed about Inconceivable was all of the British pop culture references, terminology and descriptions of daily life. Having lived in Scotland for many years, I got most of them, but I'm not sure if non-British readers will connect with them as easily.

"Amazing! It's this worship of all things American, I fear. They have rude, smart Alec staff in New York so we poor Brits who no longer have personalities of our own must do likewise. The thing is that it works in America. Brittle, wisecracking chutzpah is part of New York culture. It's happening, it's buzzing. When we do it it just comes across as surly. Manners are now seen as totally out of date, a shameful hangover from our class-ridden pre-meritocracy past."

By the way, Ben Elton used to write for the TV show Black Adder. That's a little piece of trivia for my bloggy pals at The Little Cunning Plan. You can find out more about Inconceivable on Goodreads.

BILL BRYSON'S AFRICAN DIARY by Bill Bryson | Kenya

Bill Bryson was invited to travel to Kenya by CARE International in 2002 to see the work they're doing to try to eradicate poverty by working with local communities. He wrote a short book detailing his experiences in Africa, infusing his characteristic wry sense of humor into his descriptions of his time in Kenya. There have been a number of criticisms of this book - really short, not his best work etc. - but I thought it was an enjoyable read (albeit an extremely quick one) which gave some interesting insights into contemporary Kenya and its challenges.

I visited Kenya with my mother in 1985 as part of an African study tour which culminated at the United Nations Decade for Women World Conference in Nairobi. While there, I saw the poverty and despair of so many people, but I also saw hope and optimism in other folks, underpinning a belief that they could make a better future for themselves, their children and their country. Bryson saw some of the same when he was in Kenya. Sadly, much of what Bryson describes seems very similar to what I experienced so many years ago. Change takes a long time. Too long, in many cases.

"I talked to a bright young man named James Makuach, one of 357 students preparing to take the Kenyan Schools Certificate exam, a prerequisite for going on to higher education. He told me the school didn't have the facilities, in particular the scientific equipment, that would allow them to pass the test. 'You have no hope at all?" I said. 'Not much,' he said and gave me a heartbreakingly shy smile."

You can find out more about Bill Bryson's African Diary on Goodreads.

THE REDBREAST by Jo Nesbo | Norway

Lynn from Tales from the Mutiny recommended the Harry Hole series of Norwegian crime novels. The Redbreast was a great read. One of the reasons I like crime novels and mysteries is the suspense of figuring out who did it and why, as well as discovering all the little surprises the author has in store for you. Jo Nesbo nailed it. It was mesmerizing story and the characters were fascinating. I definitely want to read another one of Nesbo's books and find out more about what Inspector Harry Hole gets up to and what new crimes he solves.

I enjoyed the depiction of Norway, in particular the scenes describing Norway's Constitution Day (May 17th). Scott and I went to a May 17th celebration at the Sons of Norway once. It was quite a bit different from this description how it was celebrated by Pakistani-Norwegians in Oslo.

"Bjarne Moller, Halvorsen and Harry were walking side by side down Motzfeldts gate. They were in deepest little Karachi and the smells, the clothes and the people around them reminded them as little of Norway as the kebabs they were chewing on reminded them of Norwegian grilled sausages. A boy, dressed up for the festivities in a Pakistani style, but with a 17 May ribbon on his gilt jacket lapels, came skipping down the pavement towards them. He had a strange, snubbed nose and was holding a Norwegian flag in his hand. Harry had read in the papers that Muslim parents were arranging a 17 May party for children today so that they could concentrate on Eid tomorrow."

You can find out more about The Redbreast on Goodreads.

THE VIETNAM READER by Stewart O'Nan | Vietnam

When I set out to do the "Around the World in 80 Books" challenge, I had established a few rules for myself including reading things I wouldn't normally read and sticking with a book even if I didn't like it. The Vietnam Reader definitely ticked the box for genres I don't normally delve into and I almost stopped reading it at several points. I found it to be a tough read. It was poignant, it was painful and it was horrifying in parts. But it was also incredibly illuminating.

I know very little about the Vietnam war and this was actually quite an interesting way to learn something about this important part of American history. The Vietnam Reader is a collection of work from the American war in Vietnam including fiction, non-fiction, poetry, song lyrics, film excerpts and photos. There is such a range of writing included in this collection and so many varied perspectives. One of the ones that grabbed me in particular was Stewart O'Nan's short story, "The Names of the Dead" which tells of a medic visiting the Vietnam Memorial to leave offerings for fallen comrades.

"They moved to the flame and stood before it, holding hands. Larry didn't know the names he was seeing. They looked gray in the flickering light, separated by diamonds. They were small, and most had a middle initial. Someone had loved all of them - mothers, fathers, girlfriends. They had come from towns like Ithaca, from high school, leaving everything they knew. The waste seemed plain."

You can find out more about The Vietnam Reader on Goodreads.

Looking for something to read?

If you're looking for a new book to read, here are some suggestions that folks have shared on Facebook, the blog or email. I've added in links to Goodreads where possible so you can find out more about the suggestions.

• Lynn from Tales from the Mutiny - The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver (Mexico and USA), The 100 Year Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson (Sweden), And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini (Afghanistan), Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (Colombia), The Painted Veil by W Somerset Maugham (China), The Bone People by Keri Hulme (New Zealand), The History of Love by Nicole Krauss (Poland and USA), The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon (Spain), The Silence of Trees by Valya Dudycz Lupescu (Ukraine, Germany and USA)
• Melissa from Little Cunning Plan - The Nomad's Nomad: Intrepid Stories from the Road by Luke Armstrong (Guatemala, Iceland, USA) 
• My mom - Typee by Hermann Melville (Polynesia)

If you're participating in the challenge too, I'd love to hear what you've been reading. Even if you're not doing the challenge, let us know what books you've been enjoying lately.

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Just Call Me KG7YKC | Becoming A Ham Radio Operator

Yes, that’s right, I have a new name – KG7YKC. Sexy, huh? Some of you may know that I’ve been working on a secret project. This was it – changing my name from plain old Ellen to KG7YKC. It just rolls off the tongue, doesn’t it.
 
So, why did I keep it secret? Well, it’s pretty simple – fear of failure. You see, they just don’t hand names as glamorous as KG7YKC out like candy on Halloween. No, you have to take a test. In my case, not just one test, but two tests, all in the name of becoming a Ham Radio Operator. Yep, you heard me right - I’ve become a Ham. There’s something I never thought I would say in a million years.

Hams are folks who use amateur radio to talk to other folks down the street, across the country and even around the world. They know all sorts of things about antennas, coaxial cables, transceivers, radio waves, oscillators and other highly technical stuff. It’s a popular hobby on land and it can also come in handy out on the sea. Hams are also those guys and gals that save the day when it comes to communications during natural disasters and emergencies. 

Lately, I’ve been stretching myself way outside of my comfort zone (you might remember that I recently got promoted to Chief Sanitation Engineer), so I thought to myself, why not take the Ham test. That will certainly surprise the folks back home.

It’s been years since I’ve been in school and had to take a test. To be honest, I wasn’t sure if I was going to pass. And, it would have been so embarrassing to tell all of you about it, only to have to report back that I failed. It’s kind of like report card day in school. You’d go home, knowing that there was an envelope in the mail for your parents to open and you were just praying that it was good news. In my case, when it came to math and science, it usually wasn’t the best of news.

Unfortunately, the tests I had to take had a lot of math and science in them. Questions like these:

1 - What is the output PEP from a transmitter if an oscilloscope measures 500 volts peak-to-peak across a 50 ohm resistive load connected to the transmitter output? 

A - 8.75 watts
B - 625 watts
C - 2500 watts
D - 5000 watts

 
2 - What is the approximate SWR value above which the protection circuits in most solid-state transmitters begin to reduce transmitter power?

A - 2 to 1
B - 1 to 2
C - 6 to 1
D - 10 to 1

 
Fortunately, interspersed with all of this math and science nonsense, there were questions about secret government plans to counteract the threat of alien invasion. Don’t believe me? Why else would they have a question like this:

3 - When is an amateur station permitted to transmit secret codes?

A - During a declared communications emergency
B - To control a space craft
C - Only when the information is of a routine, personal nature
D - Only with special temporary authorization from the FCC

The correct answer is B – to control a space craft. Talk of secret codes and space crafts, it can only mean one thing. Fox Mulder was right – there is a massive conspiracy to cover up the existence of aliens! The truth is out there. Turns out these Ham Radio Operators are the people that we may owe our lives to one day. They’re the ones that are going to transmit the secret codes to the secret space crafts (which the government has been building somewhere in the desert) and end up saving the day by blasting those aliens out of the sky.

SERIOUSLY, WHY IN THE WORLD WOULD YOU BECOME A HAM?

That’s a great question. Why in the world would I torture myself with studying over 800 questions, lots of them involving math and science? Only one reason I can think of – to save money. We’re looking to get an SSB transceiver for our boat, which will enable us to hear weather reports and talk to people when we’re out of VHF range. When we were in the the Bahamas earlier this year, we discovered that it was really hard to pick up weather reports in certain spots. For those of you who have a boat, you’ll probably agree how critical it is to know what weather may be coming your way.

When I first started reading up on SSB operation, I saw something that led me to believe that, as an American flagged boat, if we got a Ham Radio License, we wouldn’t have to get a Ship Station License ($65 application fee plus $150 regulatory fee, good for ten years) and a Restricted Radio Operator License ($65 application fee, good for your lifetime) from the FCC.  I got all excited thinking I was going to save tons of money and I started studying for my Ham test. Partway through, I reread the article and realize I got it all wrong. By this point, I had already spent hours learning about Mr Ohm and his Law (he’s like the Sheriff of the mathematical world and if you resist arrest, you’ll get the high voltage electric chair*) and had already memorized a whole bunch of things, like the fact that the unit of measurement for capacitance is a farad.

I fell into a deep despair and almost tore up all my flashcards. All those hours wasted! Then I remembered that my blogging buddy Deborah (from Wright Away Sails Away) had taken her Ham test and I wondered why. Why in the world would she have gone to all that trouble? After chatting with her it turns out you can still save money if you have a Ham license! Hope was restored.

It all comes down to email. If you have an SSB and want to send email there are two ways to go about it – SailMail and Winlink. SailMail is a non-profit association of boat owners that operates and maintains a communications network for its members. I hear good things about it, but the catch is that it costs $250 a year to join the association and be able to use the network. Winlink, on the other hand, is free. It’s an all volunteer project of the Amateur Radio Safety Foundation. However, to utilize Winlink you need a Ham license to operate on the frequencies they use. I don’t know about you, but I’ll take free over a $250 annual fee any day of the week.

Thanks to Deborah, the Ham test was back on!

Just in case Winlink isn’t of interest to you, there’s also another good reason to become a Ham – you can contact the International Space Station! How cool is that! Of course, I didn’t actually learn anything about operating a Ham radio, so I don't know how to contact the International Space Station, but it’s fun to know that the FCC has given me the authority to do so.

WHAT’S INVOLVED IN BECOMING A HAM?

In order to be an amateur radio operator in the States, you need a license from the FCC. Licenses are good for ten years before you have to renew them. Anyone, regardless of nationality, can hold a license, unless you’re a representative of a foreign country. The best part of getting an FCC Ham license is that it’s free. Yes, free! You can even get a vanity call sign, if you want, for free!

There are three classes of licenses – Technician, General and Amateur Extra.

Technician License

The Technician license is the entry-level license for new Ham radio operators. In order to obtain the license, you first have to pass a multiple choice 35 question test on basic regulations, operating practice and electronics theory, with a focus on UHF and VHF operations. 

When I first read about the license testing, I thought to myself that it would be easy – all I had to do was memorize the answers to 35 questions. Unfortunately, it isn’t that simple. The 35 questions on the test are drawn from a larger pool of 426 questions. There’s a big difference between memorizing 35 questions vs. 426. My brain just hurts remembering studying for the test. It’s like an ice cream brain freeze, but without the reward of a creamy, delicious hot fudge sundae.

Once you pass the Technician test, you have Ham radio privileges above 30 MHz. If you had asked me before the test what was so special about the bands above 30 MHz, I might have been able to tell you. However, since my interest in getting a Ham license is more around free email, I have now removed this information from my brain in order to make room for more useful stuff, like the secret to baking the perfect chocolate chip cookies. The secret, by the way, is to get my sister to bake them for you. Guaranteed deliciousness.

General License

Once you pass the Technician test, you can upgrade to a General license by taking another 35 question test, which, of course means memorizing another 426 question pool. Fortunately, some of the material is a repeat from the Technician question pool. Not much, but some. Every little bit helps. The reward of passing the General test is being able use the entire range of operating modes and being able to operate on most of the spectrum below 30 MHz. The greater reward is being able to use Winlink.

Amateur Extra License

If you want to go one step extra, once you pass your Technician test, you can upgrade to the Amateur Extra level. This is serious stuff. A 50 question test based on a 702 question pool. If you pass this bad boy, you can operate on all the amateur frequencies that you want. Passing this exam isn’t necessary to use Winlink, so I didn’t even think about studying for it.

SO, WHAT’S THE TEST REALLY LIKE?

Various amateur radio clubs offer testing all over the country. You can find them listed on the National Association for Amateur Radio site, where you can also find copies of the question pools and do online practice exams. I went to a session run by the Palms West Amateur Radio Club in West Palm Beach, Florida. There were six examiners and four of us poor souls wanting to be tested (all blokes except me).

After I filled out a form with my details, they gave me a copy of the 35 question Technician test. There are different versions of the test and I lucked out with the version I got as I knew most of the questions and was only slightly unsure about two of them. Once you fill out your answer sheet, you take it up to the chief examiner (it feels a bit like being in school) and three separate examiners mark your test. I glanced up and saw them all smiling at me and giving me a thumbs up. Turns out I aced it – a 100% score! (You have to get 74% in order to pass.)

Then, they gave me a copy of the General test. This one was quite a bit trickier and there were a number of questions I wasn’t sure about. It was nerve-wracking watching the three guys mark my test, but fortunately I passed that one too! To be honest, they were a bit shocked that I passed that one. From what I gather, most people don’t come to an exam session trying to pass more than one exam. Then they all goaded me into trying the Amateur Extra exam, which I hadn’t studied for at all. I didn’t have a clue about any of the questions and just made a pleasing pattern on the answer sheet coloring in the various circles with my number 2 pencil. No surprise that I didn’t pass. But they gave me a round of applause for trying. Such sweeties.

Once you pass, they give you a certificate and send the details to the FCC. A few days later, your name and call sign shows up in the FCC database and then you can use Winlink, call someone in Germany or even the International Space Station.

Most of the testing sessions cost $15, which seems entirely reasonable to me as the examiners are volunteering their time and they have to print out the test materials. I imagine the fees go towards their club activities and equipment. I had my $15 ready, but to my surprise, the Palms West Amateur Radio Club doesn’t charge any money to take the exam. Sweet as!

NOW, HERE’S THE IRONY OF IT ALL

We’ve decided to hold off on purchasing an SSB transceiver this season. They’re pretty pricey (well over $2k for the unit and antenna) and, as you’ve probably figured out already, we don’t like to spend money when we don’t have to. Instead, we’re going to buy an SSB receiver this year (probably less than $200). It will enable us to hear weather reports, but we won’t be able to talk to anyone or send emails. We'll most likely will end up getting the full kit and kaboodle next year, so putting my Ham license to work is on the cards at some point in the future.

WANT TO KNOW MORE?

• Check out this Cruising World article on the process of getting a ham radio license vs. a ship station license and restricted radiotelephone license.
• Latitude 38 had an interesting Idiot’s Guide to Marine SSB
• Deborah from Wright Away, Sails Away describes the process of passing her ham radio license exams.

*Note: Sheriff Ohm is my little inside joke for those of you science geeks out there. 

Are any of you Hams? If so, what's your call sign? 
 
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4 Ways That Writing A Novel Is Like Being A Sailor

As some of you know, I'm participating in NaNoWriMo this month with the goal of churning out a 50,000 word draft novel by the end of November. I recently joined a great support group for insecure writers on Facebook. As I've engaged in conversation with the awesome folks over there, I've realized that writers and sailors actually have quite a bit in common.

1 - You're not quite normal.

Some people are driven to live a life a bit less normal. Of course, everyone has their own idea of what normal is. Some people chafe at the thought of conforming to whatever their community, family, school etc. told them normal is.  

"You want to write a novel? Are you out of your mind? You need to think about your future and get real job!"  

"You want to sell your house and move onto your boat? Are you out of your mind? That's no way to raise children!"

Some people are happy to let society's "normal ship" sail off without them. They create their own meaning of normal.
 
2 - You're constantly fixing things.

Anyone who lives on a boat knows the joys of having a never ending project list. There are constantly things needing to be fixed. Nothing ever works properly and everything requires constant attention and maintenance. It is a never ending battle. And an expensive one too.

Writers have to fix things too. They proofread, edit, rewrite, proofread some more, edit again, send their draft out for review, edit some more, proofread yet again, rewrite some more and the cycle goes on and on. Which kind of leads me to my next point.

3 - You're never going to get it quite right.

Margaret Atwood is one of my favorite authors and I just love this quote of hers. Simple and straight to the point. I should probably write this on the back of my hand so I keep it at the forefront of my mind. One of the challenges of NaNoWriMo for me is writing every single day this month. Even if what I've been writing is pure rubbish, I still have to keep writing. I need to remember that it doesn't have to be perfect, it's the doing that's important. I might not end up writing an award winning novel, but eventually I'll have written something. And that's more than many people can say about themselves.

Sailing is a bit like that too. I'm not the world's best sailor. I'm pretty sure that Team New Zealand isn't going to be calling me anytime soon to crew in the America's Cup. Honestly, I can never figure out how to trim a sail properly, but I need to remind myself that it's okay, it doesn't have to be perfect, I just have to try. Eventually, we'll get where we're going to.

4 - You're charting new territories.

Whether you're a writer or a sailor, you're charting new territories. You're exploring new places and ideas. Whether from a sailboat or from inside your imagination, you're experiencing something new. Sailors stretch themselves outside of their comfort zone, they conquer their fears and they set off into the unknown to create new memories and experiences. Writers do much the same - they stretch their imagination, they conquer those inner voices and demons and they set off in the unknown to create something new using the magic of the written word.

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Image Sources - The Graphics Fairy & LINZ

October In Numbers

Clockwise from upper left: (1) Nina and Bill's boat S/V Gypsy; (2) Cute kitten! Don't you just want to rub her tummy? (3) More cute kittens! These adorable girls live in the boatyard at Indiantown Marina; (4) All the essentials to change a joker valve in your toilet; (5) Starting to provision; (6) One of the stores I resisted buying stuff at when I was in Portland. Fun stuff I wanted, but didn't need.

It's time for the usual monthly recap in numbers. October was a bittersweet month - on one hand, it was great because I got to spend time with my family in Portland, Oregon, but on the other hand, it was sad because I had to say goodbye and come back home to our boat. Such a contrast in climate - the leaves were starting to change in Portland, very little humidity and pleasant temperatures. Once I stepped off the plane in southern Florida, I could just feel the muggy air seep into every pore of my skin, not to mention what the humidity did to my hair. Hello frizzy curls! But, it's good to be back on S/V Tickety Boo. Even better, to find that she was still floating.

Anyway, here's how the month went in numbers. If you want to see any of our other monthly updates, just click on "Month in Numbers" under labels on the right hand side of this site.

• 2 - The number of fellow bloggers I got to meet at their boat launch party at the beginning of the month. Bill and Nina are refitting their Cascade 36. Insane, I know, but someone has to do it. If you want to see what it's like when people spend every spare minute and dime on their boat, check out Bill and Nina's blog - GypsyKramer. The results are pretty impressive.
• 7 - The number of days I spent at the beginning of the month visiting my family Portland (plus some time at the end of September). Too bad they all don't want to live on a boat. Then I'd see so much more of them. We could take a flotilla of sailboats down to the Caribbean. Now, that would be fun!
• 13 - How old my nieces are now. I can remember when they were just tiny little things. How do they grow up so fast? How did they get so old? When did I get so old? 
• 427 - How many overpriced, useless items I could have bought when I was in Portland checking out various gift shops, bookstores etc. I was very tempted by a number of things, but stayed strong. When you live on a tiny boat, the last thing you need are lots of cutesy knick-knacks. Besides, all of your savings is pretty much dedicated to buying practical and very boring items.
• $30.25 - How much I spent on two joker valves (incl tax and shipping) for our Jabsco marine toilet. When your joker valve doesn't work, bad stuff happens in your toilet. Not just bad stuff, but gross stuff. Joker valves are the perfect example of boring, yet practical boat items. 
• 5 - Number of cats I hung out with last month. I got to play with my sister's new kitten while in Portland. I got to kitty-sit Georgie the Sailing Cat for a week, as well as feed the three feral kitties that hang out around MJ Sailing's boat while they were away. The feral kitties are adorable and looking for a good home. Any takers? Check out Jessica's post here to see how you can help out these adorable cats.
• 1 - Number of secret projects I worked on last month. If everything goes according to plan, I'll tell you about it later this month. If it doesn't go to plan, let's pretend we never discussed it. 
• $370.11 - How much I spent on groceries during the month. Quite a bit more than I would normally spend on just me in a month, but I've been starting to provision and build up our food stores. We know we'll be able to replenish our food stocks once we're out there, but we do like to stock up on stuff we can't easily get our hands on outside of the States, as well as stuff that's a lot cheaper at Walmart. Plus, I like having a couple of months of food stores on board, just in case the aliens do invade and raid all the grocery stores. I've got oodles of canned potatoes, tomatoes, kidney beans, black beans and sauerkraut - not to mention lots of pasta, granola bars, coffee and peanut butter. 
• 50,000 - The number of words I have to write during November as part of NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month). I'm kind of starting to regret signing up for this challenge. Yikes.

We hope you had a wonderful October with lots of treats (and no tricks) and have an even better November!

In case you missed them, here are some of our favorite posts during September:

• Cost of Living Aboard Our Boat | August & September 2015
• Commas Confuse Me | Confessions of the Grammatically Challenged Blogger
• The Free Table & The Not So Free Table | Thoughts on Consumerism

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