Eric Griffin was ham radio operator while serving in Kiribati
T 3 0 E S
Mauri! Greetings!
[Excerpt]
OUR RADIO CONTACT
The Bethel Educational Amateur Radio Society, the BEARS, has started over 675 hams on their radio path. Some students become active, in others, the radio seed lies dormant until conditions come together later in life. Eric Griffin, N1JSY was one of those students. After graduating from Penn State, he decided to spend two years with the Peace Corps, before entering Medical School. During the summer of 2000, he upgraded to become a General class operator, hoping that when he received his assignment, amateur radio could be a link to the outside world.
THE CARA CONNECTION
CARA is the The Candlewood Amateur Radio Association. In support of CARA’s mission, as a general service club, a group formed to provide amateur radio support for the little activated island of Butaritari. This project would not only benefit a local ham, in one of the poorest countries on earth, but the amateur community worldwide. Many CARA members immediately volunteered elements of a station. Jim Ritterbusch-KD1YV an antenna, John Ahle-W1JMA an antenna and log books, Barry Connolly-KA1JDD an antenna tuner, Frank Etzler-N8WXQ & Rosty Slabicky-N2FEX QSL cards and Pete Kemp-KZ1Z a TS-430 transceiver and a box of ham things, such as plugs, patch cords, radio books and hand tools. Eric made contact with the local authorities and was assigned T30ES for a callsign. Power is limited. Eric has a car battery in his hut, that he can charge during the day via solar collectors. Being new to HF and DXing, CARA members will help by providing Net Control assistance in the beginning and act as a QSL manager for this operation.
BUTARITARI
Butaritari is an island in the northern part of the Kiribati Group. It has an area of 13.6 square kilometers and an estimated population of 3.164. Butaritari is well known as the island where Robert Louis Stevenson lived in the late nineteenth century. Besides Tarawa and Abemama Atolls, Butaritari can boast to have one of the best harbors in the Gilbert Group.
Butaritari is one of the larger atolls in the Gilberts chain of Kiribati, located just south of Little Makin at 3° north of the equator. The atoll is roughly 4-sided and nearly 30 km across in the east west direction, and averages about 15 km north to south. The reef is more submerged and broken into several broad channels along the west side. Small islets are found on reef sections between these channels. The atoll reef is continuous but almost without islets along the north side. In the northeast corner, the reef is some 1.75 km across and with only scattered small islet development. Thus, the lagoon of Butaritari is very open to exchange with the ocean. The lagoon is deep and can accommodate large ships, though the entrance passages are relatively narrow.
The south and southeast portion of the atoll comprises a nearly continuous islet, broken only by a single, broad section of interislet reef. These islets are mostly between 0.2 and 0.5 km across, but widen in the areas where the reef changes directions. Mangrove swamps appear well developed in these latter areas as well as all along the southern lagoon shore. Narrow islets are somewhat characteristic of Kiribati atolls running E-W.
Bikati and Bikatieta islets occupy a corner of the reef at the extreme northwest tip of the atoll, bordering what may be a second small lagoon to the north of the main lagoon. Larger Bikati (2 by 0.5 km) harbors a village. The main village is Butaritari, population now probably about 1800 to 2000. This is the largest village outside of Tarawa.
