Sunday, 28 June 2020

CQ from the Titanic's grid (or as close as makes no difference)!


RMS Titanic at Cobh Harbour, Ireland where the final 123 passengers alighted.

If there are two things I like about amateur radio, it's (1) the unexpected and (2) making QSOs with maritime mobile stations.

This afternoon, over on 12m, I saw YU2AX/MM suddenly appear on the 12m FT8 waterfall.  It's a while since I logged a /MM QSO, so I turned the antenna towards mid-Atlantic, where I guessed he may be, and indeed found him coming back straight away.

Luckily, YU2AX was very much ready for my request: 'PSE GRID 73' at the end of the QSO.  He immediately sent 'YU2AX/MM GN41'.


Looking GN41 up, I could see it was very close to the location of the wreck of the Titanic.  On further examination, it seems the Titanic is desperately close to, but just outside GN41.  Titanic actually lies in GN51ar, about 4km east of the GN41 boundary.  Not that it matters, because Maidenhead is just a grid, and YU2AX was definitely in the Titanic's general area.

Nearly, but not quite in GN41.  But who cares, really?

Someone was kind enough, following a QSO, to send me a beautiful, large stamp of the Titanic on the centenary of the sinking.  I've kept it safely ever since.