Ham radio operators help rescue sailors
Published: July 28, 2005
A shortwave radio enthusiast in Madison, Wis., is being praised for helping authorities rescue two sailors on a crippled sailboat off southern Mexico.
Ed Toal told the Wisconsin State Journal in an era of computers and the Internet, ham radio operators are often considered prehistoric geeks. But the 62-year-old hobbyist and retired communications manager for a cellular tower firm knew what to do when he picked up a Mayday message Sunday from boaters in trouble more than 2,000 miles away.
Their 35-foot boat was being battered by heavy swells after losing power and steering.
The sailors used a shortwave radio to send a distress call after their emergency marine radio failed.
Toal and fellow Wisconsin ham radio operator Ralph Henes, with help from a third ham operator in Los Angeles, notified the Mexican Navy. The sailors were adrift in the ocean 50 miles off Salina Cruz.
Toal said it was his first international rescue in 47 years as an amateur radio operator.
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