Misuse of Ch 16

[Jean]

Sailing down the Atlantic coast of Portugal and Spain last month, I was appalled at the blatant misuse of channel 16. The further South, the worse it got; so bad infact that I had to turn VHF off as was a serious distraction. Talking to other yacht crews in Spain, they simply said they leave VHF off for the same reason! Main offenders seem to be fishermen (not many other “idiots” out there this time of year!) who seem to use channel 16 as a ship to ship channel and fight to stay on the air throughout their watch. Unlike here in the UK, no sign of anyone attempting to police the airways either.

 

[Guest]

It's just as bad in the solent, with constant 'Radio Check Please'. Better to leave it on Portsmouth or Southampton shipping channel - at least you get to know when a monster is due in

 

[Jean]

The Solent is extremely tame compared with what we had to put up with down there! I agree about the Solent radio check freaks, but do find them entertaining (most of them seem to have forgotten how to make such checks ship to ship or ship to marina, if they do really feel they are essential!). You have to hear what goes on further South to believe it, and all though the night too!

 

[Guest]

It as ever thus in that part of the world. With the advent of DSC on Ch 70 it does become less important I suppose.

 

[chas]

But my guess would be that the further south you go, the less DSS sets there will be. Discipline is quite good around the SW but I agree about the Solent!

 

[rogerroger]

and then you get prats you use the VHF to lock-out of a marina, then call the coast guard for a radio check.

I only bother the coast guard if I have reason to suspect a problem with the set - if it's receiving then the antena is obvioulsy still up there so chances are it'll transmit.

I sometimes go to an unused channel and check it against the hand held.

Roger Holden
www.first-magnitude.co.uk

 

[ccscott49]

Forget radio procedure, when you leave waters around UK. Anywhere elkse in the world, apart from maybe US nobody gives a damn! Now you see why people think GMDSS will never work in these areas, they just don't care!

 

[Twister_Ken]

Greece and Croatia

Greek waters Ch 16 is the fisherman's chat line.

Croatia, the observance seems pretty good, apart from the occasional bunch of Italian kids discussing - well who knows?

 

[Guest]

Given the impossibility of stopping the "Radio Check" squad, why can't an automated radio check channel be created?

David

 

[Peter_the_Grate]

I frequently listen with a smile to the gaffs on Ch 16 in the Solent as well, but I also specifically check Ch 16 using the handheld from time to time. I recently replaced my fixed VHF because I discovered that it was not receiving on Ch 80; everything else was OK. It drove the guys at the marina nuts because they could hear me but I couldn't hear them. I had assumed that all channels use the same circuitry - but it appears not to be the case. If you don't check Ch 16 sometime, how do you know that it works ... ?