Shearwater
Well-Known Member
...do you check a particular intership Ch is clear before reverting to caller or just stab a gues. If the former, how long do you expect caller to hang around for yr answer before going off to do something else?
Choosing an intership Channel when called on 16....
- Thread starter Shearwater
- Start date
sailorman
Well-Known Member
always check the Ch is clear & its easy & quick on my Icom Euro 56
Seajet
...
Always worth a check if an intership channel is clear, not ' a Clarissa, what did you do with the curtains ' chat going on before calling, but sometimes one can't avoid such a chat springing up, hopefully the person you've called can wait a little while then have a chuckle, but if the Clarissa in question hogs the radio for too long, worth an interjection on the lines of ' use your bloody mobiles ! ' 
Pye_End
Well-Known Member
I don't bother - because -
You may well only be picking up half a conversation, so would have to listen for a bit of time to check it is clear.
It may sound clear at your end, but still be busy to the person who is calling you.
By the time you have checked a working channel, and gone back to 16, then back to a working channel, it could be busy in that time.
So checking a cnannel is clear is no guarantee that it is.
But then I rarely use intership - if I do I avoid 06 as this is often busy with fishing boat chatter, and the other intership seem rather more free.
You may well only be picking up half a conversation, so would have to listen for a bit of time to check it is clear.
It may sound clear at your end, but still be busy to the person who is calling you.
By the time you have checked a working channel, and gone back to 16, then back to a working channel, it could be busy in that time.
So checking a cnannel is clear is no guarantee that it is.
But then I rarely use intership - if I do I avoid 06 as this is often busy with fishing boat chatter, and the other intership seem rather more free.
prv
Well-Known Member
If called, I'll have a quick check of 08 (tends to be the one that springs to mind first) and nominate that if free. To be honest, a ship-to-ship call on 16 is such a rarity for me that I think it always has been free, but if not I guess I'd try one of the others. There ought to be enough time to do this before whoever it is calls again.
When I call somebody else (again, not an especially common event) I do the channel check myself first and include "suggest channel 08" (or whichever) in my initial call. This seems the more sensible way round to me (caller has time to find a free channel) but because it's only a suggestion it's still technically compatible with the rule that the receiving station chooses. They can answer quickly ("Ariam, Nonsuch, yep 08") and we've confirmed the channel between us with the minimum of chat on 16.
Pete
When I call somebody else (again, not an especially common event) I do the channel check myself first and include "suggest channel 08" (or whichever) in my initial call. This seems the more sensible way round to me (caller has time to find a free channel) but because it's only a suggestion it's still technically compatible with the rule that the receiving station chooses. They can answer quickly ("Ariam, Nonsuch, yep 08") and we've confirmed the channel between us with the minimum of chat on 16.
Pete
Seajet
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Around the Solent, the fishermen use Channel 10; a friend used to tune into it and play ' count the naughty words ' with his young teenage kids !
johnalison
Well-Known Member
The advantage of the modified procedure is that now the calling vessel nominates the channel, so that the answering station doesn't have to rush to find a channel. Similarly with a DSC call.
Round our way it is not uncommon for people to nominate the "usual channel", which is a crafty way of trying to stop people listening in, presumably in the hope that use of the less well known channels doesn't become more popular.
Round our way it is not uncommon for people to nominate the "usual channel", which is a crafty way of trying to stop people listening in, presumably in the hope that use of the less well known channels doesn't become more popular.
nigelmercier
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I've always thought it was the wrong way round. Is this an official change?
trapezeartist
Well-Known Member
That seems a good scheme. I'll bear that in mind, though I can't remember the last time I called on 16 with a view to changing to an Inter-ship channel.
[2574]
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Although DSC is much maligned hereabouts I always use it to call another boat if possible as there is then no calling traffic on 16 and also my DSC allows me to preview the proposed working channel for traffic whilst setting up the DSC call. Best of all worlds.
Tony Cross
Well-Known Member
Interesting what you say about 06. On our way back to Crete a few weeks ago we passed through the fairly busy (and fairly narrow) shipping channel north of the island of Kithera. We heard several of the big ships calling each other (to agree on how they'd pass in most cases) and all of them chose 06 as the working channel. I guess it's ingrained?
ghostlymoron
Well-Known Member
Has the procedure been modified?
Pye_End
Well-Known Member
One of the recent RYA teaching book has this in - ie 'suggest channel...' when calling. However it goes on to say that the called party still has control over channels in the normal way. This led to some confusion on my DSC refresher a year or so back, to the point where the the instructor suggested we ignored the 'suggest channel..' part of the book, and rightly so in my view.
prv
Well-Known Member
Rowana
Two steps lower than the ships' cat
In the past 8 years of ownership of Rowana I've been called by another vessel once, and I have called another vessel once. I'm not exactly going to wear out my VHF any time soon!
Pye_End
Well-Known Member
I forget the context of the discussion at the time, but it seems rather daft to teach that the station called controls the working channel, and then to teach virtually the opposite.
In practice, it also means that the station called does not have confirmation that his reply has been received, so one party may move whilst the other is still on 16 - presumably the reasoning behind the correct rt procedure.
Billjratt
Well-Known Member
I quite often do it. The last time I just chose 06 as I knew there were people on 77 (my preferred channel in the middle of the SWR band) but then I was very close to the ship in question and knew I was not going to be overcalled by a distant station (but may have blitzed them as I forgot to reduce power - slapped wrist)
Shouldn't we be using 13 in a colregs negotiation anyway?
Shouldn't we be using 13 in a colregs negotiation anyway?
nigelmercier
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But the official procedure where the called vessel picks the channel is stupid.
The calling vessel knows he is about to make a call, and has plenty of time to find a vacant channel before making it. He can specify (or suggest) this in his initial call.
The called vessel may be engaged in other things, not focussed on the VHF, or indeed anywhere near it. Under the current scheme he has to answer then start looking. Ridiculous.
prv
Well-Known Member
Earlier this year I called a ship for the first (and so far only) time while crossing the Channel lanes. No response on 16, so I tried 13 and got an immediate answer (he had indeed seen me, his CPA by radar matched mine by AIS, and we agreed we were both happy for me to cross under his bow at that distance). So the "bridge to bridge safety of navigation" designation does indeed work.
However, when I hear ships questioning each others' intentions, they usually seem to follow the standard procedure of calling on 16 and then moving to a working channel (nominated by the recipient
).Pete
prv
Well-Known Member
It does seem back-arsewards, but as a point of order I'd suggest finding a working channel before answering. The caller isn't supposed to call again for a whole minute, if I remember rightly.
Pete