An infuriating national obsession- radio checks

I usually perform a radio check at the start of the season, just to make sure I haven’t b......d anything up during the winter servicing. However I call the club, the harbourmaster or a local boat. I have used the C/G once when I received no response from any of the above. A quandary, if you don’t get a response is your transmit working, or is just that no-pne is listening? At least as a last resort you know that the C/G will be radio watch.
 
dolabriform said:
On Sunday it was the CG that left their mic open!
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It can happen - CG systems are either foot pedal or touch screen - the foot pedals are not unknown to jam, on the older ones at Portland we kept a stick in the ops room to poke them with to release.

The touch screen has to be held whilst transmitting, but I do remember someone sneezing hard enough once for the ...er.. debris to activate the PTT.

Either way, there's not really an excuse for not noticing that your big blue screen key is now bright red.
 
Robin said:
if you can receive, tx is probably ok also.
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Depends on what you mean by "probably".

The electronics in the radio itself are ultimately separate for Rx/Tx so it's entirely possible for one to fail without the other. Maybe someone who knows a bit more about RF can say if there are antenna faults that only effect tx/rx, but when you think of what the antenna is doing in each mode it feels to me like there absolutely would be.

I've never felt the need to try a radio check, and as luck would have it I have to call a marina lock almost every time I use the boat so I get a radio check for free every time. However, if I did feel the need for a Radio check, I suspect a call to someone who is known to be listening some distance away on 25 watts might be the only way (which for some people in the UK might be on Ch16). Maybe someone who understands the sorcery of RF comms can confirm that, or debunk it and demonstrate that a 1 watt exchange with a nearby passing boat is an adequate test.

No excuse for a Radio check on 25 watts on Ch16 in the Solent though, there are countless alternatives.
 
Spyro said:
It's not it's the same on the Clyde ......
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"Caladh of Rhu, Caladh of Rhu, Caladh of Rhu, this is Falls of Clyde, Falls of Clyde, Falls of Clyde; Over' repeated ad nauseam all bloody weekend, a good few years ago now (the names are made up). This type of transmission is more common than the radio check I find, on the Clyde. The original message was transmitted in a lovely female voice but it became grating after a while.
 
BlowingOldBoots said:
"Caladh of Rhu, Caladh of Rhu, Caladh of Rhu, this is Falls of Clyde, Falls of Clyde, Falls of Clyde; Over' repeated ad nauseam all bloody weekend, a good few years ago now (the names are made up). This type of transmission is more common than the radio check I find, on the Clyde. The original message was transmitted in a lovely female voice but it became grating after a while.
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Sounds like an ideal opportunity to take advantage of the coastguard's decision to discontinue direction finding ...
 
JumbleDuck said:
Sounds like an ideal opportunity to take advantage of the coastguard's decision to discontinue direction finding ...
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Be careful what you wish for. When I started working the young lady on the switchboard of the company's head office sounded absolutely stunning - six months later I actually met her!!! :disgust::ambivalence:
 
Ashman said:
SeaTow or TowBoat (the marine equivalents of the AA or RAC) offer a free automated radio check response service on several US VHF channels [...]
Perhaps the UK Coastguard could offer a similar service, it would move a lot of traffic away from channel 16.
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No it wouldn't. The numpties who do radios checks with the coastguard on ch16 would be blithely unaware of any new service.

NCI on ch65 already offer a similar facility here, albeit manual rather than automated. It seems little used.

Pete
 
Does nobody carry a handheld backup? It seems to me mostly an exercise in pointlessness and lack of respect for other users and the CG to waste time and air on pointless radio checks. Nobody knows their radio is working as the fault can occur after you have done your check but surely if you are so paranoid about this smallest of risks you can think of a better way to resolve it than by wasting literally everyone else’s time and airspace! A complete nonsense and selfish behaviour
 
I often wonder if those who make regular and repeated radio checks are actually using the facility to broadcast to all & sundry on Ch16 that they are "out and about". I quite often hear the instigator being called by another vessel within a few minutes of the radio check.
 
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pmagowan said:
A complete nonsense and selfish behaviour
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...also dangerous as it causes many people to turn right down, or switch-off their sets entirely. I often do on a busy Solent w/e.

The Coastguard should IMHO simply stop responding to these requests on Ch16, as I am sure others have already said.
 
In two seasons in the Baltic the only radio checks we ever heard on Channel 16 were (beautifully clear) southern English female accents. Red (and blue) ensigns were quite rare though, so perhaps heard one a week.

Interestingly however the big ships did use VHF a lot to confirm intentions when passing - with some quite scary conversations (eg. “negative, you will not turn to port, do you know the COLREGS?”)
 
pmagowan said:
Does nobody carry a handheld backup? It seems to me mostly an exercise in pointlessness and lack of respect for other users and the CG to waste time and air on pointless radio checks. Nobody knows their radio is working as the fault can occur after you have done your check but surely if you are so paranoid about this smallest of risks you can think of a better way to resolve it than by wasting literally everyone else’s time and airspace! A complete nonsense and selfish behaviour
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Exactly. The VHF is a fairly reliable bit of kit and having a handheld as a back up means bothering others who have better things to do is OTT.
 
capnsensible said:
Can anyone explain to me why it is 'infuriating' ?
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Infuriating is perhaps a little strong, however, when trying to enjoy time on the water and there is a constant repetitious stream of unnecessary radio traffic which monopolises the contact and emergency channel, (which we all should be monitoring) it is very irritating. The fact that several contributors to this thread have said that they have to turn down the radio rather proves the point.
 
MM5AHO said:
I have yet to hear the coastguard reply that the signal was inaudible.
Some people must use their radio very little. This year I've heard several calls to Oban Coastguard, and to Clyde Coastguard. Both haven't existed for long enough.

But on another tack...
I have several times heard the CG announcing that someone has a "open mic", and could they please check their sets. The problem of continuous carrier where someone sits on their mic PTT, or leans on it or something, effectively blocking Ch16 is real.
But transmitting over the top of it asking them to stop it is a bit futile. The one who is sure not to hear is the one at fault, as their receiver is deactivated while they are transmitting. But how should they cure this problem? What can be done?
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For somewhat obvious reasons really
 
GrahamD said:
Infuriating is perhaps a little strong, however, when trying to enjoy time on the water and there is a constant repetitious stream of unnecessary radio traffic which monopolises the contact and emergency channel, (which we all should be monitoring) it is very irritating. The fact that several contributors to this thread have said that they have to turn down the radio rather proves the point.
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Seems to me more like some people are easily irritated and should relax a bit more. :encouragement:
 
I suspect the number of calls for a radio check would drop significantly if the CG were to demand the user's licence details.
 
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