Ocean-Pro, Capt Bob Cook
....Phones: 239-775-7435, cell 239-877-4094
....Office Fax: 239-775-7435
....Mail: 3012 Sandpiper Bay Cr. D-301, Naples, FL 34112
....HF SSB Private Marine Coast Station: WQCN860 aka "Ocean-Pro Weather"
....HF SSB Amateur Radio Station: Callsign: K9KKY
Emergency: (Scroll down to the bottom of this page for emergency contact info)
Conventional
email address: (Ashore): 
Radio email
address: (Aboard ship) - (Available as needed -
See below)
Conventional telephone and email: At our office in Florida, we maintain an 800 number for incoming telephone calls and a highspeed cable connection for internet access. When Capt Bob is away on a voyage an answering machine will answer incoming calls. During a voyage checking for messages on the answering machine while at sea is difficult. Hence, see the various below paragraphs for contact options when we are known to be on a voyage. When we are dockside or ashore and have access to a telephone on shore, (restaurant, marina, hotel, etc) we can make or receive calls and check for messages. But this is irregular. If we are on a voyage with a set destination or itinerary you may be able to get a telephone message to us by calling ahead to a marina or customs office, for them to pass along to us when we arrive at that port. We usually know our itinerary ahead of time and can usually provide our crew members, their and family and a business associate with our itinerary. For information on contacting local tourist offices and consulate offices in the Caribbean islands see our (Resources) page.
Cellular telephone: Having cellular telephone service at sea or internationally is very unpredicatable. Having cellular service is dependent on several factors. 1. The user must be within range of a working cell site. For today's pocket cell phones this is about five miles. 2. The cell phone itself must be compatible with the cell service offered in that country, (TDMA, CDMA, GSM, etc). And 3. The user must have a service agreement, (local or roaming), with that country's cell phone company. Seldom are all these factors in place during an offshore passage. Capt Bob sometimes brings a high power cell phone, capable of distances up to 20 miles but only for passages along the US coast. Crew members sometimes bring a pocket cell phone and may be able to establish a connection. Crew are welcome to bring them on our passages.
Marine Coast Station: Ocean-Pro operates an FCC licensed "Private Marine SSB Coast Station" at our office location in Southwest, Florida. The station and office are located at 26 08N, 81 48W, just east of downtown Naples, Florida. The station is licensed to operate on all marine bands from 4 mhz thru 18 mhz, with a power of 150 watts. From our south Florida location, we can provide ssb communications and weather and routing assistance for vessels over a wide cruising region, including the North Atlantic, the Gulf of Mexico, the Caribbean and the Eastern North Pacific. Our primary operating frequencies are: 6224, 8294, 12353, 16528 and 18840 khz, (simplex). We provide SSB comms by pre-arranged schedule only. If you would like to communicate with us by SSB, it's best is to email or call us by phone well ahead of your planned passage to pre-arrange the best times and frequencies.
Aboard ship: HF SSB (voice): When we are aboard ship we usually use a conventional HF SSB tranceiver for our long range communications. HF SSB stands for "High Frequency - Single Sideband". HF SSB equipment enables two-way communications at great distances (hundreds to thousands of miles). HF SSB communications can be by "marine radio" using marine frequencies, or by "amateur (ham) radio", using amateur frequencies. The two systems are quite similar. And the communication can be by voice or by email, ("radio email"). Radio email of HF email is described below. Either party (the party on land or the party aboard ship) can initiate the communication, but the land based party must be in contact, (usually by telephone), with a licensed marine or amateur radio station. The radio operator must first establishe radio contact with the ship and can then connect the parties. This is called a "phone patch" and usually requires a prearrangement as to the best time and frequency. Capt Bob has been a licensed amateur radio operator (lic K9KKY), since 1958. Aboard ship Bob is usually in contact daily with any one of several amateur radio marine nets, such as (WRCC, IATN and the MMSN). One may be able to get a message to us indirectly by radio by contacting a land based amateur radio operator, or USCG, (US Coast Guard), and asking them for help in establishing communication.
Aboard ship: HF SSB radio (email): We are an active user of Winlink and Sailmail, radio email. Capt Bob carries a laptop computer and a special radio modem and software on all his voyages. Used in conjunction with an HF SSB tranceiver, Capt Bob can have HF radio email capability aboard ship, anywhere in the world. The special modem is an SCS Pactor IIe modem with Pactor III firmware. Depending on signal strength and propagation it enables radio email data speeds of 500-5,000 baud. We subscribe to two worldwide HF radio e-mail systems. Our primary radio email service provider is Winlink, which is an Amateur Radio based system. We use Winlink for obtaining our daily weather information and for general personal email. Our secondary radio email service provider is Marine Net, which is a commercial service provider. We use marine net for business related uses. It is not unusual to be able to be in regular daily email contact with the ship wherever we are. For more info on using radio email and or Winlink, see the links below or our (Resources) page. There are US and international laws and procedures governing the use of HF radio e-mail. To send an HF e-mail to Capt Bob or a crew member aboard ship please follow these five simple guidelines.
Guidelines for using HF Email:
1. Be sure that we are aboard
ship and using radio email. If you are not sure use
conventional communications, telephone, fax and e-mail.
2. Keep it short. Limit the size and number of any HF
e-mails you send, (500 words max). Do not send large
files or file attachments.
3. HF email addresses are private. Be careful to avoid
sharing our HF email addresses with others intentionally
or unintentionally.
4. Do not send business or commercial email via our
Winlink HF email address. It is Illegal. Use our
commercial HF email address.
5. For more information on using HF e-mail see (Winlink
2000), the
amateur radio system, or (Marinenet) the commercial system.
Thank you,
Capt Bob Cook