Midwinter calling, day 30

Lights in the dark

The two saleswomen for underwear come to the B-mansion and introduce themselves and we chat a bit as they technically work for me but I leave it to Iselin, Ciara and Jane to talk to them about their experiences so far wearing the underwear etc. I happily let them handle it, and instead spend the time playing with the radio and testing antenna tweaking.

I talk with Kari over the radio and try the loop antenna, but the dipole is clearly better, although it can be a completely different main radiation angle and ionosphere condition as well. On the other hand, it is very good news that voice works with the loop antenna as well because it is a worse antenna. The dipole will remain here for future visits, so next time it is only a matter of bringing a radio and attaching the antenna leads, while the loop antenna will be brought home. Maybe try it on the ship?

The tests are over but we continue to talk, and I quickly understand why Kari asked me to use headphones and not the speaker. Radio communication isn't even a day old when it is first used for radio sex chatting, as Kari describe what she wants me to do to her when I returned to the island, and I think she is playing with herself. I did repeat that the chance of anyone listening is practically zero, but I think that tiny tiny chance is enough to entice Kari, while not enough to deter her.

She needs to get laid.

And I realise that is exactly what Kari is talking about and plans to be, in specific inventive ways.

The sky is gray and it is still morning, but somewhere above the clouds the sun is up and we board the ship and set sails. We need to take advantage of the available daylight, although the wind and direction is bad and Asta warns that we probably have to anchor and spend a night like that. The gray gloomy day brings up the subject of lighthouses, and it is a good idea, but it feels like there are simply too few ships for that to be practical. However, it has to start somewhere and I hope to introduce lighthouses and get people used to the concept.

I would like to have lighthouses on this stretch of the coast, but both Borgarsandr and Ackerek is deep inside an archipelago, so even two lighthouses for each location isn't enough to guide a ship in or out to open sea. The 60 kilometer route between Borgarsandr and Ackerek will require an awful lot of lighthouses, and that applies for both the archipelago route and open sea route, and going both ways would require even more lighthouses. Automation isn't an option, and although I can live with paying to have a lighthouse keeper on an island, there are so many islands, and so little boat traffic it's impractical. Most of the time it's just burning fuel for light that no-one will see or use.

As far as practical navigation go, the stretch from the open sea south of Tosra in to Lysesund and Ackerek will require about six lighthouses if they are used for navigation, and all but one can be on the mainland or a large island were finding a lighthouse keeper is manageable, but still too costly. There need to be harbour lights too. Borgarsandr is about the same, but may be worth it to King Asbjörn, to show that there is a safe passage in and possibly out in the dark when seafarers learn to navigate by lighthouse, because that trip in to the harbour or out to open sea take several hours and will extend the sailing day during the winter season at dusk and dawn. Lighthouses might attract more shipping and trade, and merchants going to other ports will spread the word about the system, and who to contact about lighthouses like those. I will bring it up with Asbjörn during the wedding feast.

When it comes to the practical side of how the lighthouses will work, I will basically copy how it works in Midgård to steer towards a light, where there are colored fields on the sides. Probably yellowish white light straight ahead, with side fields in green or red to inform of which side of the correct white path you are. So you steer and sail towards the white light until you see the next lighthouse and steer into its white area and stay there until the next lighthouse and so on. It is possible to follow a long route from lighthouse to lighthouse. But that route will be slightly complicated as it will have to be adapted to use places and islands where lighthouses can be and work, as well as someone to be the lighthouse keeper. In some cases it would be possible to build the lighthouse on the mainland or large islands and have someone look after them as part of their daily life. But only in some cases.

The light sources I have are also so weak, even if the lighthouse use the most powerful oil lamp with prisms or reflectors. The large reflector version can certainly work well enough for a fairly long distance if the weather is clear if the light is high, so proper lighthouse towers need to be built, and probably 8-10 meters. I believe a lighthouse light from about 10 meter above sea level can be seen from about 20km away, a few kilometers more if you climb higher up in the ship, but to reach 40km, a magnitude higher light height is required, i.e. 100m height. I can calculate it as I know the diameter of the Earth, but it is quite unimportant since I don't have a powerful light source, especially since weak light won't work in bad weather with low visibility. So more than 10 meters height is probably unnecessary, although a high tower will be a visible landmark during daytime navigation.

One navigation technique is to know at what distance the lighthouse begins to dip below the horizon. If you see the lighthouse light appear and disappear as the ship goes up and down in the waves, you know the approximate distance to the lighthouse, and with a compass bearing to the lighthouse, you get a decent position fix. Even refraction of the light can give hints of distance, but only with a strong enough lighthouse.

We didn't make it all the way and we anchor for the night before it becomes too dark. I would have to be an absolute idiot to argue with my Captain to keep on sailing in the dark, and it's really dark. The spinnaker helped, but if the wind is weak or from a bad direction, then the wind is weak and from a bad direction. I have jury-rigged the loop antenna on the back mast and try to use the radio. Again it works fine and even with voice, so I tell Kari where we are and that we'll be home early tomorrow. I have Caecilia ask Asta to come in and it is entertaining when she hears Kari's voice and when I let her talk to Kari. Asta speaks without introducing herself by name, but Kari recognise her voice and we can hear how pleased Kari is when she replies:

"Hello Asta, this is Kari talking to you from our mansion on Ackerek. Now you know what Robert is going to equip the ship with."

Kari and I show Norse code and who it is possible to transmit messages with tones, and she gets to try it too. I explained to Asta that I really plan to equip the ship with a radio like this, and a better antenna, but there will have to be some remodelling of the ship's rigging to attach the better antenna, and it is something they will do while we are in Laxlanda. I explain that if the transmission is at night or at dusk and dawn and the Gods wills it, far longer contacts can be made, and I hope Norse with a radio like this will work over the entire area she has ever sailed and show her on the globe. And it can sporadically work at much longer distances. But the equipment is extremely valuable, because only a few can be made. I cannot replace it if it breaks in some ways or is lost. Not unexpectedly, Asta wants to learn everything she can about radio and vows to protect it with her life.