TEST CRUISE OF OH10X/MM ON BALTIC SEA
Kristina Cruises Ltd with Radio Arcala, OH8X are in the process of testing whether a permanent
amateur radio station will suit the maritime environment and serve DXers in their leisure time, whether cruising in the Mediterranean or off West Africa or just doing island-hopping in the Caribbean.
The objective for the first run is to look at potential interference issues both ways - from the
amateur radio station to the ship’s navigation system and from the ship’s advanced PC networks to the reception of amateur radio transmissions.
But while testing, with Martti, OH2BH at the helm, another target is to contact all continents and
achieve WAC to celebrate the occasion of signing a possible permanent agreement for the station to be available for guests with an amateur radio license.
The onboard station will be active at the peak propagation hours to various continents on 14.267 kHz from June 20-24, 2012 and the test cruise will take the ship to Estonia (ES), Gotland, Sweden (SM1), Aland Islands (OH0), and back to Finland.
The ship M/S Kristina Katarina is a 138m long vessel and has a cruising speed of 15 knots, with a maximum number of 450 guests and a crew of up to one-hundred. The ship is owned by a private Finnish company with a Finnish crew sailing under the Finnish flag. Two Finnair jetliners are backing the operations for change of passengers at a variety of ports along the way.
Martti OH2BH
