The Edmund Fitzgerald: A True Story about Mortality and Mother Nature.

Lake Michicago, on a cold November morning.

I once had a friend from another country who looked upon Lake Michigan, and said "That's not a Lake, it's a Sea!". 

Of course, they were right! People of the Great Lakes region already know that. Everyone from Minnesota to Montreal knows that. 

We love our fresh-water Seas, and most of the time, those Seas love us back. 

From beaches on the metropolitan skylines of Toronto and Chicago, to fishing off of Little Bailey's Harbor on the finger-tip of Wisconsin, the Lakes are a gift from Mother Nature to us. 

From fishing, casual boating, swimming, and importantly transportation, the Lakes bring us not only joy, but wealth. The Midwestern United States, and its neighbors in Canada, would not have been able to build the great industrial society we live in today if it were not for the Lakes. Freighters from all corners of the Midwest, forged by the best ship-builders, and manned by the toughest of men and women, moved taconite (commonly known as iron ore), grains, and other raw materials across the Lakes commercially. And they still do this for us today. Regardless of where you live in the world, it's very possible that you've eaten bread sourced from grain that once traveled on a Great Lakes freighter, or used a tool or item made with steel forged from the taconite that those freighters shipped. 

Taconite documented with other samples of materials shipped on The Great Lakes

Even, all-the-way in Hamburg, Germany, they have an exhibit commemorating the famous ships and crews of the Great Lakes at the International Maritime Museum.  

Models of Great Lakes ships in Hamburg

But, no matter how much ingenuity and technology we humble humans invest into our endeavors, Mother Nature reminds us that it can all be gone in an instant. In Ohio, we have tornadoes that can rip though a small town in seconds. Along the Ohio and Mississippi Valleys, rivers can flood and destroy entire communities. In California, an earthquake can hit at any time and create unimaginable terror an chaos.      

And on a windy November evening in 1975, a similar natural disaster struck the SS Edmund Fitzgerald as it was on a routine journey to move taconite from from a supplier in Superior, Wisconsin to Detroit.

In a cold windstorm, the SS Edmund Fitzgerald sank in heavy waves along with all 29 men on her crew. 

The story was big at the time. In 1975, we had modern Radar, and ways to predict weather. Not only that, no one expected for anything terrible to happen to such a big vessel on such a small fresh-water Lake.

Even, the Edmund Fitzgerald itself was a bit of a local celebrity. It was the largest ship on the Great Lakes when it launched, and people would bring their kids to the ports of Duluth and Superior just to see giant ships like her enter and exist. 

The late Captain of the Fitzgerald, Ernest M. McSorley, was known for delighting the small crowds by honking the ship's horn, and waving a friendly "Ahoy!" to everyone who stopped to watch the great ship pull into port. 

There's a famous song about what happened after that Gargantuan, modern, metal-hauling ship set sail for the last time. Many of us remember the lyrics by heart... 

But, Mother Nature and the Great Lakes humbled all of our ingenuity and technology. 

The winds of Lake Superior created waves strong enough to flood and sink that ship. As Gordon Lightfoot sang in his famous song, "The Gales of November Came Early." And the The Edmund Fitzgerald, and her 29-man crew were doomed. 

I was not alive to remember the actual ship's sinking. 

I was born more than a decade later. But, even I knew about that horrible disaster. To this day, it lives on in memory and song. 

To me, the story of the Edmond Fitzgerald is a story about both the labor and the hard-work that workers do, and the risks they take each day when they go to work. 

It is also a story about the fury of Mother Nature. 

The 29 sailors on that ship may not have known it, but they risked life and limb everyday, for nothing but a humble wage... just enough to feed the family, and keep a house over their head. If they were feeling sick or depressed, they didn't call-off work, they boarded the ship just the same. Because, at that time, that was what was expected of them. 

But, no one expected them to drown in the freezing ice-cold seas of Lake Superior. No one expected that Wives, Sons, and Daughters would have to hear from the US Coast Guard that their loved-one is not only, not coming home, but has perished in a terrible storm. 

That portion of the story speaks of not only the sailors, but also the truck drivers, machine workers, warehouse workers and constructions workers, etc. who on every continent, and take risks every day to bring home a tiny, rice-grain, fraction, of what billionaires hoard for themselves every minute. At any point, at anytime, a work accident can happen, and a life could be erased from this earth- at no fault of the worker. 

One day you're here, the next day you're gone.  

The story of Mother Nature is much simpler. AT BEST, we humble humans can prepare for or avoid Mother Nature. But we cannot defeat her. 

When the winds blow, and the rivers rise, it's best to just get out of her way. We have a beautiful planet, with fresh water-lakes, seas trees, and animals... but it's important to realize that a hurricane, tornado, earthquake or cold November storm is always on the horizon. We need educated, trained, professionals to keep us safe. And, to help navigate us safely into port. But even the most experienced navigator knows, Mother Nature can strike at any time.   

Captain Paul Berger and Relief Captain Vince Hagman command a ship similar to the Edmond Fitzgerald (Photo credit to GreatLakesNow.org).

Around this time of year, I listen to Gordon Lightfoot's famous song about the Edmond Fitzgerald. And, it's both beautiful and sad. 

It's sometimes important to reflect on sad things. 

I suppose it's why I hum Gordon Lightfoot's "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" at this time of year. 

It's not just a tragedy, but a true story about 29 talented, hard-working men, that made an honest day's wage, and also made little kids happy when they sounded their great ship's horn in little Lake towns like Cleveland, Conneaut, and Erie.

There is not one single memorial or fund to honor the SS Endumd Fitzgerald and her crew. But if you're moved enough to look into the story, and learn about the ship and it's crew, visit WashburnHeritage.org.    

A full list of the crew can be found here.               

The Joys of the Library

The idea of a "library" may conjure images of dusty bookshelves, and a mean old lady yelling at you to "Be Quiet" just for opening up a gum wrapper. But I feel like the local library may have gotten a bad-wrap ;), so to speak...

Libraries are excellent places these days!  

I don't think of libraries like that anymore. 

Libraries are fundamentally a place where I get to do work (in my own quiet space), and hook up to the Internet for free! But not only that, Libraries are where you can solve mysteries, explore far-fetched philosophies, and even be a space cadet. Some Libraries even have padded rooms where you can practice a musical instrument, without hurting your neighbors' ears. 

The Joseph Regenstein Library

Let's start with the basics. Libraries are by-and-large designed as a place to solve mysteries. Do you need to write a book report on ancient Egypt? Do you need to learn how "Amyloid plaques" impact elderly people who may be susceptible to Alzheimer's disease? The Library is your place! 

Even the smallest library, in a small town, is probably networked with other libraries nearby. So whatever mystery you're solving, the good librarians at your local locations should be able to order in a book or a document that covers everything you need to you know. 

Some older Libraries are beautifully designed. Even if you don't need to solve a mystery, they are beautiful places to explore, or just eat your lunch in!

On my lunches, at the prestigious University of Chicago, I'd often visit the Regenstein Library just to walk around. And I eventually found the Regenstein Library to be just the place to explore far-fetched philosophies! 

My eccentric girlfriend (at-the-time) recommended Georges Bataille's "The Accursed Share Vol. 1". Well that was a weird and wonderful French Language, philosophy book... But, I wanted the sequel, "Volume 2". But, even on Amazon, Volume 2, was like $50.00... That was a bit too much.

But, The Regenstein Library at the prestigious University of Chicago had it. I even got to find it in the stacks. It was pretty fun, searching that library. I got to search many floors, and many selves, and feel like a real philosopher while I was doing it.  

The Kent Free Library

And lastly, a Library is a place where you can be an honest-to-god Space Cadet! I remember being a kid dressed up in a full-blown Star Trek outfit. I was an Ensign, in the Engineering Division, on a Star Fleet Space Ship! 

I never had more fun in my life! 

We even made protector-boxes, to protect eggs, while we threw them off a ledge...

All of the eggs stayed safe. Because we were doing an experiment, and we were very experienced Star Fleet Space Cadets. We knew how to protect those eggs from a fall.

And that was all thanks to the wonderful people at the Kent Free Library.

Going Long-range with Transequatorial Propagation (TEP)

I just sent a radio message that was heard 5622 miles away, in Chile! 

I didn't use an Internet provider; no smartphone, no satellites... I didn't even have a big antenna (though, I want one).  

How did I do it? 

Contact with Chile

Well, I've got a nice HAM radio rig connected to a pretty low-tech antenna. But, what really helped was something called Transequatorial Propagation (TEP). TEP is a phenomenon that allows radio signals to travel much farther than expected when communicating across the equator. 

"Propagation" is the term used to describe how radio signals travel. 

Sometimes propagation is more direct. Signals are radiated from a transmitter and, for a certain distance, they are received clearly, provided there is a line-of-sight between transmitter and receiver. This is similar to how my UHF/VHF rig, and scanner, work. Regardless of the conditions, day or night, I can use my UHF/VHF rig to contact others within about 50 miles in all directions. Radios used by the Police, Fire, and Civil Service in my area do the same thing. They are very reliable within a certain range, but cannot propagate farther than that. 

The great thing about "HAM" radio is that we can experiment. We're not emergency workers or broadcast stations, so we can chat, or call out "CQ" to check if anyone is out there to talk to. In doing so, we can actually use our modest radios and antennas to communicate MUCH FARTHER than a standard commercial radio, by using propagation.

FT8 Contact with Chile

I've written other articles about propagation, but I have yet to really describe Transequatorial Propagation (TEP)... Perhaps because I didn't quite understand it when I was using it. 

But it all makes sense now. I've been able to regularly contact, through both phone/voice and digital messaging, South America -Argentina, Brazil and Chile- with relatively low power. 

It's all because of Transequatorial Propagation! 

Transequatorial Propagation (TEP)

As I have mentioned on The Cublical Ruins before, radio propagation is often assisted by ionization of molecules in the upper atmosphere. Ions in the "F" region of the atmosphere, in the right conditions, will reflect radio waves, and send them cascading over a much larger range than the original transmitter can send on its own. 

Night and day, Winter or Summer, there is always more Ionization near Earth's magnetic equator. It's receives the most sunlight year-round, and creates an equatorial field of ions and charged particles. This field creates a mirror (of sorts). It can amplify, and reflect, radio signals going directly across it! 

So this is why -on an otherwise bad day for radio- I can send a low-power signal, and get a response from Chile or Argentina! I used the Sun, sub-atomic particles, the ionization in the atmosphere and Transequatorial Propagation, to send my signal... 

Science is pretty cool!               

Introducing the HAM Radio Widget

Now you can check in on my HAM radio adventures!

In keeping with the goals of The Cubical Ruins: to write, practice web development and provide readers with some insight into my life and experiences, I added a new widget to the homepage... 

Check out the new "HAM Radio Contacts" widget, on the right-hand navigation menu of the website. Like the "What's Up There" widget above it, you can click and drag the HAM radio widget to see where I've made recent contacts with my radios.

 

HAM Radio: Improving Range with Antenna Design

My new antenna design

I have two "HAM" radio antennas on my house currently. One is very obvious. The other is hardly noticeable. The obvious one (the big white pole out front) is my VHF/UHF antenna for transmissions in the 2 meter and 70 centimeter range- a potion of the HAM radio spectrum similar to AM/FM radio, which most people are more familiar with. 

The not-so-obvious one is a wire-system fixed to the side of the house which is hidden from the street. 

To a lay-person, the capabilities of these antennas may be misleading. 

My "big" antenna system; the VHF/UHF transceiver is very useful. However, at its highest power, it can only transmit roughly 60 miles in all directions. Meaning I can talk to northeast Ohio, western Pennsylvania, and maybe West Virginia and Ontario on a good day. Still, there are advantages to the fast-wavelength UHF/VHF bands. Day or night, I can use my ICOM IC-2730 transceiver to connect with people clearly in my region. Neither weather, solar, or atmospheric activity will interfere with my UHF/VHF signal. This is why FM radio stations (and most police and fire departments) communicate on the UHF/VHF bands: Because signal strength is guaranteed within the local region no matter what. In an emergency, I'm happy to have my tried-and-true VHF/UHF rig, because I know I can use it to get in touch with people close enough to my location to help if needed. This is same reason FM radio uses similar wavelengths; because they want their music, news, and programing to be available to everyone within a certain distance, no matter the conditions. 

My existing UHF/VHF antenna

But as an amateur radio enthusiast, I don't simply want to talk to people in the next town over. The fun is contacting people world-wide! (even when it's not an emergency).

So, I set up my "HF" rig with the Yaesu FT-891 and a very simple end-fed antenna that should be able to get my signal farther than Pennsylvania. I wrote about it in this blog! 

In the hands of an experienced radio operator, HF radio waves (which have a lower frequency than VHF/UHF waves) can travel world-wide, if propagation and conditions are right. However, sometimes atmospheric conditions simply aren't conducive for HF signals. And, even if a signal can be heard thousands of miles away, it takes two talented radio operators to send/receive the signal. Interference from weather, solar activity, nearby electronics and genuine randomness, make HF radio a challenge even for the most experienced operator. So, while an HF wave can bounce across the world, it's never as reliable as the UHF/VHF waves we rely on to listen to FM radio, or critical emergency communications. 

However, there are many ways to improve HF propagation and make world-wide amateur radio communication more reliable. One, is antenna design. 

My new HF antenna

My first HF antenna, which I documented here on Cubical Ruins, was about as simple as an antenna can be. In HAM radio, we call it an end-fed "random wire" antenna, because it's basically just that. It's a copper wire strung as high as you can get it. And, it worked! On a good day, when conditions were perfect for global propagation, I actually used that antenna to speak with a gentleman in Southern England from my station in Ohio. I heard him clearly, and he heard me. I was using only 40 percent of the available power on my transceiver. So, it's very easy to make an HF antenna. Basically you just need a metal wire, and a radio! (but, an antenna tuner like the LDG Z-11 Pro and network analyzer like the NanoVNA do help A LOT). 

Eventually it was time to design a new, more permanent, HF antenna. I had a design in mind for a while. I just needed the weather, and time, to set it up. I would go from an end-fed "random wire" antenna, which transmitted from the basement window where my rig was, to as high as I could hang it (about 17 feed up the side of the house), to a horizontally-aligned dipole. 

Unlike the old "random-wire," the dipole would uniformly transmit at a height of about 12 feet above basement window, and from two points at the far sides of the northern end of my house. This means that total the total radiating and receiving portion of the antenna would be both longer, and higher-up, than the previous antenna.  

The result looks like a "T" shape with the radiating antenna crossing horizontally across the house, and the "unbalanced" coaxial line that attaches the antenna to the transceiver making the "stem" of the "T", which terminates at the basement window where my radio is. The entire system, like the UHF/VHF system, is now grounded to reduce electronic interference and to mitigate lighting damage to the home -yet another improvement on my old "random wire." 

At the very least, the new design is more permanent. It's solidly fixed to the house, and has survived two major thunderstorms with significant wind-gusts already. Plus, it now has a lightning arrestor, which definitely makes it a safer long-term antenna than the previous one. 

Contacting Azores with the new antenna

PLUS, it looks like the performance of the the new dipole has improved as well. On the first day I tested the new deign, I made contact with stations in Venezuela and The Azores! And, Los Robles, Argentina, a whopping 5.5 thousand miles away from my location using only 60 of my available 100 watts of power.   

Like any scientific inquiry, it will take a while to truly determine if my new set-up is success. But, transmitting, receiving and collecting data is part of the fun of HAM radio. It's an experiment to see if my new design is an improvement... or if I should go back the drawing board (so-to-speak). 

For now my new antenna works! And it seems to work well.    

Berlin: Reflecting on The Topographies of Terror

I recently had the pleasure of visiting Germany this past May, which may account for why I haven't posted on here for a few weeks. Like Chicago, Paris or New York, Berlin is a city unto itself, so I thought my first post since my return should focus on one aspect of Berlin's past. 

One man refuses to salute Hitler

I haven't traveled overseas since I was a kid. I did spend a lovely three-day weekend in Mexico City (on Cinco de Mayo, no less!), and also visited Quebec (the part of Canada where they speak French!), so I have used my passport before. But this... was a big one. 

So, why Germany? And of all cities, Berlin? The sexy tourist spots are typically elsewhere... Italy, Paris, or the the Mediterranean coast. Within Germany itself, most would pick Munich or a charming Castle-clad village in Bavaria that looks like a Renaissance festival. And, I might want to visit a place like that in the future too! 

But, while castles, mountains and beaches seamed nice, the Spy in me said Berlin... 

When you board an international flight to London or Paris, everyone knows you're just a tourist. When you say your destination is Berlin, people might think you're a spy, an important businessman, or both. 

Due to it's history, and location, in the flat river plains on northern Europe, Berlin is kind-of considered a typical "big city." It's not super stylish, and a-bit dreary and boring. 

Its a political and business center that was bombed-to-hell during World War Two, then walled-in by the Soviet Union during the cold war. 

Anyways... Most photographs of Berlin before 1991 make it look like it sucked. 

But, Berlin's history is what made me want to visit! 

To be honest, I didn't want to go on vacation and be sad about all of the terrible things humans have done to one another in the past. But, at the same time, I didn't want pass up the opportunity to reflect on important pieces of history as well. 

Our teachers and schools in Kent, Ohio did a remarkably good job in educating us youngsters about the The Holocaust: the systematic murder of more than 6 millions Jews, and thousands more ethnic minorities, disabled people, LGBTQ people, and political dissidents. We read the Diary of Anne Frank and learned about the terrors and injustices. 

I myself studied aspects of these events in graduate school, and honestly cried myself to sleep some nights after learning what had happened at the hands of the Nazi regime. So, I didn't really want to spend my vacation re-visiting such terrors. 

But, I did want to respect the history of Berlin and what happened. I figured I'd go to the Topography of Terrors exhibit to get the "Sad Part" over-with on my first full day in Berlin.   

The Topography of Terrors museum is in a unique location that really enhances the experience. It's indoor gallery is built atop the remains of the Nazi regime's SS headquarters, and outside is one of the only remaining sections of the Berlin Wall. Of course,"The Wall" is simply there for posterity, and you can walk right around it now, if you wish. 

This museum focuses on the everyday people who were swept up into Nazism, and ultimately betrayed their fellow humans by helping to commit the largest mass murder in history. SS officers, prison guards, executioners, and functionaries of Hitler are pictured and documented here... lest anyone forget that people just like you and I are capable of horrible things. 

A model of Berlin during the war

My most memorable encounter was seeing the model of Berlin during World War Two. Hitler and the Nazi's were in charge of Germany for a decade before war broke out and used the opportunity to completely rebuild Berlin into the capital city of a "Thousand Year Reich". I was standing right in the middle of what, before the war, would've been a fantastically modern city capital. Naturally, being the center of the Nazi Regime, this entire city center (similar to Washington DC's National Mall) was, bombed into oblivion, and will never be seen again. In the photo of the model above, the clear sections are buildings that were completely destroyed during the war, giving you an idea of the price Berlin paid for the crimes of the Nazi Reich. 

Something about that had an impact on me. This was once a campus of beautifully designed and planned public structures. Now, I am standing in a Museum that showcases how and why they were all destroyed. 

I was not far from the the "Führerbunker," the last hideout for Hitler and many more of his loyal followers, who, rather than walk up to the surface and face surrender to the Allies, shot themselves or ingested poison. 

Did they do that because they regretted what they did, or because they feared the punishment? Either way, it was a hard thing to think about.  

Perhaps the best photo I saw at the Topography of Terror was of one man who refused to salute Hitler.