Radio Check, Radio Check, Radio Check.............

[mhouse]

And it is always the same boats .

 

[Appledore]

+1 Exactly! Then you check both radios in one go:encouragement:

 

[penberth3]

Drummed into my as a young person, turn your radio on, check you can transmit and receive as the day you don't Sods Law will haunt you...

Is there another law that says the press key will eventually fail due to excessive radio checking?

 

[Giblets]

I wonder how many of those folk requesting radio checks make a call from their mobile phone every morning just to make sure it is working!

As said we NCI bods are always more than pleased to help you check your radios. :encouragement:

 

[ghostlymoron]

I don't think there is a NCI station in Cardigan Bay. Are all the stations on Ch 68? I don't hear many requests for checks in our area so presume it wouldn't be a nuisance to the CG. As it's very important for it to work in an emergency, I test mine from time to time. Usually I pick up a bit of traffic which confirms it's ok.

 

[laika]

I can't recall ever doing a radio check except to a marina or another boat I know because I don't like to bother people but in the absence of bothering people (e.g. NCI who want to help or repeaters (for the aussies ) I don't see why the criticism. Last night in anticipation of a trip next week I checked all my nav lights (which I haven't used for 6 months) still worked. TO draw parallels with some of the critiques of radio checks that have been put forward here...does that mean they'll still work next week? Not necessarily but it's far more likely that they would have failed in the 6 winter months since they were last used than they will in the next few days and if they had been dodgy I would get to sort them out before leaving. Does checking my anchor/nav lights mean I also check my cabin lights? No. Aside from the fact that I use my cabin lights every day, unlike my nav lights it's not a safety issue if one fails.

So radio checks on 16? yes irritating. Radio checks as a concept, especially after the radio hasn't successfully transmitted for a while and going offshore? I probably should do it more and certainly wouldn't criticise others for doing it.

 

[jwilson]

The only time I do a Coastguard radio check is if I have disturbed or altered aeriel or DC wiring. It gets used regularly to receive, and occasionally to transmit to club launch or water taxi or marina. Thus done a specific radio check less than half a dozen times in last 12 years. I suspect many of those of us - like me - who grew up learning as they went and sailing without VHF radios are the rare radio-checkers, and the current crop of sailing-school-taught owners are the CG-botherers every weekend.

 

[pvb]

I love hearing the radio checks often carried out by middle-aged ladies with RP accents, usually spoken very slowly and with painful precision...

Long-suffering Coastguard, Long-suffering Coastguard, Long-suffering Coastguard.
This is Yacht Longname of Tunbridge Wells, Longname of Tunbridge Wells, Longname of Tunbridge Wells.
Over.

Followed by..
Long-suffering Coastguard, Long-suffering Coastguard, Long-suffering Coastguard.
This is Yacht Longname of Tunbridge Wells, Longname of Tunbridge Wells, Longname of Tunbridge Wells.
May we have a radio check please.
Over.

Followed by...
Long-suffering Coastguard, Long-suffering Coastguard, Long-suffering Coastguard.
This is Yacht Longname of Tunbridge Wells, Longname of Tunbridge Wells, Longname of Tunbridge Wells.
Thank you very much.
Over and out.

The whole thing takes ages. Coastguards must have the patience of saints.

 

[Topcat47]

I have a couple of thoughts regarding radio checks. At the start of the season if you're sailing locally, you will know if you can receive. Talking to your marina or the local coast watch will only tell you you're receivable at short range. Talking to the coast guard will tell you you're OK on an extended range, depending on where their antenna is. It was five years before I tested the "range" of my HH and was appalled how short it was. If I'm going offshore, I report into the Coastguard with my passage plan. That's effectively my radio check.

 

[Giblets]

I don't think there is a NCI station in Cardigan Bay. Are all the stations on Ch 68? .

If you mean NCI stations then they all monitor and respond on Ch65 not Ch68.

There is an NCI Station at Aberystwyth which covers a goodly amount of Cardigan Bay but only open on Saturdays, Sundays and Bank Holidays (Excl Christmas Day & Boxing Day). https://www.nci.org.uk/stations/aberystwyth

 

[[70521]]

Is there another law that says the press key will eventually fail due to excessive radio checking?

I use a radio in my job for over 20 years, never happened!

 

[Topcat47]

Since the closure of the coastguard station at Fife Ness, A friend sailing form the forth tells me he has never had a response to a request for a radio check. Aberdeen Port Control, however, are happy to respond.

 

[RobF]

Exactly. It’s a vital piece of safety equipment.

When out I often press the DSC alert. It’s reassuring to see the helicopter circling overhead and I usually give them a cheery wave to thank them for their vigilance.

They often wave back...

____________________________

This is great advice. I often check a number of other safety critical items, including routine 999 calls, emergency stops on motorways (need to have confidence in my brakes) and the sounding of the emergency alarm every time I board a train. I feel the world is safer and nicer place because I'm in it. Following on from the recent event in Hawaii, I think that regular Nuclear Warnings should be issued as well, just to keep everyone on their toes.

 

[ShinyShoe]

I've never understood the logic behind radio checks (if there is any logic). The fact that it works one moment doesn't mean it'll work a moment later. So why bother?

If it doesn't work you'll fix it... (or invoke plan B). It does concern me that there may not be a plan B.
Presumably you don't support testing fire alarms, smoke detectors, MOT tests etc?

Because if it doesn't work when the check is done then there is the opportunity to investigate at what might be a more convenient time. I would rather find out something is not working at a time of my choosing rather than when I actually need to use it.

Yes - better to check for the loose wire now than with 18inches of water round your ankles. But I do wonder how many will then still head out without it - in which case it might somewhat defeat the purpose.

Does anyone use the DSC capability of their vhf radio? Program the mmsi number of your nearest coastguard station into your set, then when you want a radio check select that entry, then ‘routine’, hit transmit and wait for them to call you on 67 when they’re free. No clogging up ch16. And it familiarises yourself with the less than intuitive use of DSC (why couldn’t they have made it more like a mobile phone?)

That is certainly the correct approach. But unless you have doubts about voice - you can use the DSC Test function. Tests sending and receiving the digital part.

my car radio fires up when turned on, so why is a vhf set any different

Receiving is far easier than sending
You can presumably put your boat VHF on and wait for someone else's radio check to know you can receive... just like your car...

Am I the only one who uses the DSC "Test" function to a CG MMSI? I understood the response was automatic.

It is. It doesn't test the voice component... but if the voice bit is broken and the red button still works you should get help...

Is there another law that says the press key will eventually fail due to excessive radio checking?

Possibly, every switch has a finite life. But unused switches also fail due to corrosion on the contacts. The buttons on my keyboard get hit far far more than the PTT... ...I expect a keyboard at work to last 5-7 years and probably type 10,000 words a month, so 600,000 words + in the lifetime. (the letters will have rubbed off E before then!) Thats at least 120,000 presses of a vowel. 600,000 presses of space bar. So 328 years of a once daily press...

I wonder how many of those folk requesting radio checks make a call from their mobile phone every morning just to make sure it is working!

My mobile phone does its own testing - it tells me which network it is on, what signal strength I have. It is doing that by communicating with the mast and the mast communicating back. It does't promise the mic is working etc.

If I'm going offshore, I report into the Coastguard with my passage plan. That's effectively my radio check.

Aye
And on 67 please!

Since the closure of the coastguard station at Fife Ness, A friend sailing form the forth tells me he has never had a response to a request for a radio check. Aberdeen Port Control, however, are happy to respond.

But the masts weren't moved were they?
Is it that the boys at Aberdeen hear it but ignore it?

This is great advice. I often check a number of other safety critical items, including routine 999 calls, emergency stops on motorways (need to have confidence in my brakes) and the sounding of the emergency alarm every time I board a train.

You don't need to test 999 calls. Your phone connects to the network (on a mobile you can see it does)... ...the 999 system self tests its self constantly, and has backup systems in place in case it fails.

You don't need to do emergency stops on a motorway - your brakes can't tell the colour of the road signs.

You test your brakes daily without doing it consciously. You then test them more formally at least once a year once they are > 3 years old and if you ever service your car.

Following on from the recent event in Hawaii, I think that regular Nuclear Warnings should be issued as well, just to keep everyone on their toes.

When we were at cold war - did we not test these things regularly? Just like fire alarms are tested regularly. Modern fire alarms have multiple testing systems build in, but in critical places ==> tested audibly weekly.

I certainly remember being at School when we had a spat with somewhere (Libya maybe??) and the school "bomb" alarm was sounded remotely...

 

[sailorman]

Do you transmit on your car radio?

very rarely on the vhf

 

[pvb]

If it doesn't work you'll fix it... (or invoke plan B). It does concern me that there may not be a plan B.

I think most of us have a plan B in the form of a handheld. But my comment was logical and relevant: the fact that a VHF radio works one moment doesn't mean it'll work a moment later. So in reality the radio check is pointless.

 

[Little Dorrit]

...If it doesn't work you'll fix it... (or invoke plan B). It does concern me that there may not be a plan ...

Unless your plan 'B' is to make sure plan 'A' works!

 

[steveeasy]

Hi,
I spent a few hours checking all my connections having done a failed radio check with a neighbouring boat just about to set sail to the Caribbean. It turned out his antenna was not connected !!. Mine was fine.

Made me chuckle.

Steveeasy

 

[jbweston]

I don't think anyone minds an operator carrying out a radio check at appproprate intervals. It's just that checking doesn't mean you have to clog up channel 16, waste the coastguards' time or sound like a contestant on Just a Minute while you're doing it.

What's an approprate interval is matter of personal preference. If you're the sort of guy that checks his flies are zipped every time before standing up, then that interval will be every time you leave the mooring. Personally I check once a season or after doing any work on the VHF installation.

And when making the check, call another yacht. That way you're checking her installation as well as yours. As a bonus, if you can pick one off your AIS that's 15-20 miles away you can reduce the risk that you have a weak signal that might be masked if you call a station very close to you.

In practice, usually my check isn't a special readio check call, it's a routine essential call to port operations for clearance or a ship to ship to another yacht I know when it pops up on AIS.

 

[ShinyShoe]

I think most of us have a plan B in the form of a handheld.

But my comment was logical and relevant: the fact that a VHF radio works one moment doesn't mean it'll work a moment later. So in reality the radio check is pointless.

But on that basis testing anything that has a binary state of "works" or "doesn't work" is pointless?
My point is if your result from a failed radio check is no change of plan what-so-ever that is pointless. If it is to lift the handheld out the grab back switch it on instead and check the battery is charged and maybe (don't freak out) - test it if its not been used in a while... ...well that might be fine. But that might depend where you are sailing and if reduced range causes an issue.
30-40 years ago only posh yachts had a VHF anyway - so you might just decide to go for it... ...but in reality you'll be dynamically risk assessing it even if the phrase has never come out your mouth before. In your head you are thinking... Its a bit rough today, the engine took three attempts to start it and it normally goes first time. I've got an inexperience crew. And I was planning to go somewhere with dodgy radio reception on handheld. Maybe I will tweak the plan a bit.

Unless your plan 'B' is to make sure plan 'A' works!

In which case you presumably don't leave the harbour. But do people not leave simply because the VHF isn't working?
I would normally take my mobile with me when I go shopping. If it isn't charged I don't say I'll stay at home and charge it instead. But I may tell her in doors I haven't got it so if she tries to call and say can I pick up some bread and milk she doesn't freak out if I don't answer...

having done a failed radio check with a neighbouring boat just about to set sail to the Caribbean.

Presumably having a working VHF is quite important on a venture like that. But also presumably you didn't test as you left the harbour...

I don't think anyone minds an operator carrying out a radio check at appproprate intervals. It's just that checking doesn't mean you have to clog up channel 16,
...
In practice, usually my check isn't a special readio check call, it's a routine essential call to port operations for clearance or a ship to ship to another yacht I know when it pops up on AIS.

Which I suspect is actually relatively normal...
...you don't hear a cruise liner doing a radio check. But they do call harbour control...