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The Marine Amateur Radio Flag
by Ron Drinkwater (VE7AIX) 2014
Marine Amateur Radio Flag (Photo from the Drinkwater collection. )
There is an interesting flag to be seen flying above the waters of the Pacific Northwest and over many oceans of the world. It identifies the waterborne amateur radio operators in much the same way as the call letter license plates identify the motoring ham ashore. I conceived and designed it and it was first offered to members of the British Columbia Amateur Radio Boaters Net.
The idea of the boaters flag caught on immediately and requests for the flag came from far and wide. To date it is flying in 15 countries of the world 33 U.S. States and nine Canadian provinces. So far over 650 flags have been sent to marine amateurs from the east coast of the U.S. Baja Mexico, the South Pacific, Australia and New Zealand and the Mediterranean.
The flag is unique in the world and readily recognizable. Flown from the mast of a ship, it quickly identifies the presence of an on–board ham.
Ham radio, as it is usually called, gradually developed into a worldwide hobby and allowed operators around the world to establish contact. As equipment improved voice communication became possible, compact transceivers were installed on yachts and Marine Amateur Radio became very popular. The use of Very High Frequency (VHF) radios and linked repeater stations greatly increased the range of communications. In the 1990s when I designed the Marine Amateur Radio Flag there were dozens of boats calling in to the VHF British Columbia Boaters Net held each summer afternoon at 5 pm. The Net is a meeting place for boats cruising coastal waters from Washington State to areas beyond northern Vancouver Island via, linked repeaters. With the increase in Cell Phone coverage most of the inner south coast the interest in Ham radio has diminished. Today there might be a dozen or so still taking advantage of the Boater’s Net but I doubt if there are any vessels still flying the Marine Amateur Radio Flag.
This amateur radio flag was flown aboard H.M.C.S. Haida during the time when the ship had an active amateur radio station aboard. (Photo from the Drinkwater collection. )
There is an amateur radio station on board. When it is operated it brings on–air attention to the vessel and her purpose.
This used to be the QSL card sent out by VE3CGJ while it was an active station. (Photo from the Drinkwater collection. )
Editor’s Note: Amateur radio stations successfully contacting the station on board HMCS Haida received a confirmation of the exchange afterwards as a souvenir. Parks Canada permits a special events station once or twice a year. Any confirmation certificate developed for a special event is the responsibility of the sponsor for the special event. VE3CGJ is the current call sign for H.M.C.S. Haida and Jerry Proc is the current licence holder.
To quote from this article please cite:
Drinkwater, Ron (2014) The Marine Amateur Radio Flag. Nauticapedia.ca 2014. http://nauticapedia.ca/Articles/Flag_Amateur_Radio.php
Site News: November 20, 2024
The vessel database has been updated and is now holding 94,591 vessel histories (with 16,203 images and 13,900 records of ship wrecks and marine disasters).
Vessel records are currently being reviewed and updated with more than 40,000 processed so far this year.
The mariner and naval biography database has also been updated and now contains 58,599 entries (with 3996 images).
Thanks to contributor Mike Rydqvist McCammon for the hundreds of photos he has contributed to illustrate British Columbia’s floating heritage.
My very special thanks to our volunteer IT adviser, John Eyre, who (since 2021) has modernized, simplified and improved the update process for the databases into semi–automated processes. His participation has been vital to keeping the Nauticapedia available to our netizens.
Also my special thanks to my volunteer content accuracy checker, John Spivey of Irvine CA USA, who continues (almost every day for the last couple of years) to proof read thousands of Nauticapedia vessel histories and provided input to improve more than 14,000 entries. His attention to detail has been a huge unexpected bonus in improving and updating the vessel detail content.