Mediterranean Cruisers Net (MedNet)

Created by sue. Last modified on 2008-07-25 11:53:41
Topic: Communications

The purpose of the Mediterranean Cruisers Net (MedNet) is to exchange information between cruisers and to give cruisers a point of contact. The Net has been running for 6 years.

The MedNet covers the entire Mediterranean. The majority of the traffic is from the Eastern Med simply because that area has the greatest concentration of cruising boats. We try to have someone doing relays from each side of the Med to ensure better coverage and to deal with radio skip zones.

The Net meets each morning at 0530 UTC on SSB frequency 8122 kHz and, if that frequency is unavailable, 8131 kHz is the backup at the discretion of the Net Controller.

The broadcast format is:
- A call for emergency, priority or medical traffic.
- A call for general announcements. Things that might be of interest to other cruisers: good/bad experiences, changes in procedures, etc.
- A reading of the 5-day German weather forecast broken down by about a dozen Med areas.
- Check-ins for vessels under way.
- General check-ins.
- The net is closed and the frequency is open for boat-to-boat contact. Once contact is made with another boat, the conversation is taken to another frequency to leave the contact frequency clear.

The 5-day weather is given for each of the following areas in this order:

• Golfe du Lyon
  - Balearic Islands
  - Ligurian Sea
  - W of Corsica and Sardinia
  - Thyrrenian Sea
  - Adriatic Sea - North
  - Adriatic Sea - South
  - Boot South (Italy)
  - Ionian Sea
  - Aegean Sea - North
  - Aegean Sea - South
  - Rhodes and Cyprus
  Optionally Black Sea West and Black Sea East can be given when there is a request.

The net is strictly in English and runs for about 30 minutes.

The MedNet is always looking for cruisers who are willing to participate as Net Controllers or weather readers. The weather readers receive the DWD broadcast beforehand from Hamburg in RTTY format on 10100.8 kHz at 0415 UTC and read it on the net. This requires a computer, a standard mini-mic cable from SSB headphone plug to PC line-in or mic plug and one of several freeware programs to convert the signal to text (a good one is MMTTY available at www.qsl.net/mmhamsoft).

For further information contact Fred Hoette (SV Escape Key) at svescapekey@yahoo.com