Mayday call off Mexico picked up in Hawaii

Sometimes being in the right place at the right time can make a huge impact. Randy was listening on the maritime net March 21st, and heard a mayday call. A boat in distress off the coast of Mexico, approximately 120 miles west of Ensenada was putting out a mayday call. Due to vessel problems his signal was very weak, and Randy - KH6RC - from his ham radio station here at Leilani Bed and Breakfast on the Big Island Hawaii, was the only person who was able to pick up the weak mayday call from the sailboat. Rex - KC5AGO , in Stonewall, Texas, was able to hear Randy's contact, and notified the US Coast Guard, with Randy acting as the relay for messages to and from the boat in distress. Here is a video of the man and dog rescue for those who want to see your Coast Guard in action.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/mar/21/coast-guard-rescues-man-dog/

The Coast Guard said that if Randy had not heard that call, the results could have been very tragic.

Rare DX Station

Around 5:30 pm Thursday November 29^th, Randy was on the ham radio, finishing up with the nightly role call on the pacific seafarers net. This amateur radio net caters to boats cruising near the Big Island or underway in the Pacific Ocean. Wile making the final call for vessels to join the role call he received a radio contact from a call sign that was very unfamiliar.

The call sign, XU7ACQ, belongs to operator John transmitting from his station in Cambodia. Although the distance between his QTH (location) and our bed and breakfast in Hawaii (we’re located between Kona and Hilo) is not the furthest distance, the excitement was that John is only one of two permanent ham radio stations in Cambodia. The other station is only involved with Digital operations.

John visits his family in Cambodia annually and has a permanent ham radio station set up for his 5 week stays. He has been having these extended reunions with his family for the past 5 years. While there he is trying to get an award for working all US states from his Cambodia station.

In all those years he had not previously made a contact in the Hawaiian Islands. Randy was happy to be his first Hawaii station, from the Leilani Bed & Breakfast DMX radio lab (a feature we offer to our bed and breakfast guests).

John and Randy had an "armchair quality chat” for over an hour during which time Randy called a couple of other HAMS on the Big Island to make contact with John.

While they were on the air we were joined by other stations in Guam, Tasmania, and later South Africa.

DXing from PARADISE can be interesting and a good test of radio equipment and antennas.

Considering this is the lowest cycle of propagation for "bouncing radio signals around the world"
in many years, it just goes with the saying that at Leilani Bed and Breakfast…

****BIG ISLAND = BIG SIGNAL****

Aloha, Randy & Lynn