Holyland DX Group Web Site

4Z0J Jesus boat

Jesus boat 4Z0J 3-4 Nov 2006

We decided to operate this time from a different site that will be attractive For many Ham’s all over the world. Some details about the operating point. Two brothers discovered the Galilee boat known as “The Jesus boat”, On the muddy shores of the sea. It is a 9 Meters long and 2.5Meters wide. The discovery of the boat caused a stir throughout the world, especially After it was conclusively dated to the fatefull first Century A.D – the Time of Jesus and the great revolt of the Jews against Romans. After pre-meeting with Yigal Alon Moseum manager and getting his green light The HOLYLAND DX Group decided to Operate during the weekend of November 3-4. The team members were Shalom 4Z4BS, Mark 4Z4KX, Ilya 4Z1UF, Ruslan 4Z5LA, Reuven 4Z5FI ,Jan 4X1VF and three gusts Ziv 4Z1UK, Arthur 4X4DZ and the real youngest operator in Israel Lidor 4Z5RL 15 years Old. One week before the operation all the team members met to discuss and finalize all the details, including equipment, food, logistics in order to insure a smooth operation. Friday morning the team arrived to Ginosar (it’s a Kibbutz) . We installed two complete stations. One IC-746 with a 600W Linear AL811 (Was donated by W8HC to IARC) Second station IC-728 with a 500W Linear FL2100B. We erected four antennas. An A3S with the 40-meter kit, An R5 to cover the new bands, Verical for 40-meters with Radials And a dipole for 80-meters .(worked nicely on 30M as well) We arranged the operator shifts among the team and started to run the pile-ups. Conditions was fair for this time mainly on the low bands. The Holyland square of 4Z0J is M05KT. On the second day of operation we went out to the north to activate a Mobile Station for the HOLYLAND award program hunters. We operated from 10 different squares with many hams following Our operation (330 QSO’s). We returned to the fix station and continued the activity till 1400 UTC. We ended with 3300 QSO’s Most of them in CW ! I would like to thank Joe 4X6KJ and all the HDXG team to make it happen. We are starting to plan our next destination………..

Qsl Via Shalom 4Z4BS.

73/Jan 4X1VF

Here is the story from internet about the boat:

The Man in the Galilee museum where the boat is housed has become a popular destination for tourists who come by the busload in order to view the craft and learn the extraordinary story of its discovery. Many of those who come are Christian pilgrims, for the Bible records that Jesus often made use of boats during his years of ministry on and around the Sea of Galilee. It was in the winter of 1986 that two brothers, Moshe and Yuval Lufan, second generation fishermen who lived at Kibbutz Ginosar, were strolling along the muddy shores of the Sea of Galilee. The water level was low that year due to drought. Yuval says that growing up on the Kinneret, (the Hebrew name for the Sea of Galilee), he used to tell his younger brother, "maybe one day, we will find treasure in the lake," but other than a few old coins, they'd never discovered anything of much significance. Until this day. Looking down, the brothers could see the outline of a boat in the mud. "We said, 'Wow! We find boat!,'" remembers Yuval in his Hebrew-accented English. "We are jumping, we are dancing. Yes, we are crazy because we find what we are dreaming of," he relates. Within two minutes the weather changed. It became stormy and rained hard, Yuval remembers. But the rain stopped quickly and a double rainbow appeared in the sky. The Lufans saw the rainbow as a sign that their discovery might turn out to be an important one. According to the vessel's web site, www.jesusboat.com, the double rainbow heralded to the brothers, "that this boat had been given to them as a gift-binding them to the boat, the water, the earth for everlasting time." It took 12 days and nights for members of the Kibbutz, the Israel Antiquities Authority and other volunteers to excavate the vessel, and ten years of testing, conservation and preservation before the boat was ready to be displayed to the public. Made of 12 different kinds of wood including, cedar from Lebanon, sycamore, laurel and tabor oak, the ancient craft measures nine metres long by 2.5 metres wide and 1.25 metres high. A series of radiocarbon tests have determined the boat dates to the first century. Scholars believe the boat was used as a ferry or a fishing vessel. "I not touch the air [for] one year!" Yuval exclaims adding, "I fly!" Today, almost 20 years after it was first discovered, Yuval says he and his brother call the ancient vessel, "the peace boat," because since it has been found, the entire area has changed. The boat has drawn tourists. The tourists have left behind their dollars, thus creating jobs. "All the sea has changed. People are laughing and singing and feeling good," Yuval says. In thanksgiving, Lufan worked with 38 other local Israeli and Arab artists to create a totem pole to peace. It's lovely carvings tell the story of another ancient vessel; Noah's Ark. It stands beside the sea, says Yuval, like "an antenna to God."

source: http://www.biblenetworknews.com/europe_middleeast/042005_israel.html

---