Radio check.

[jlavery]

Up in Scotland, as others have said, density of radio traffic reduces the annoyance to others.

And also, as others have said - once at start of season or after installation change.

Having said that, if I were chartering a boat, I'd do a radio check. I don't want to find out it's not transmitting properly only when I really need it.

Recent radio check I made (on my boat) was after repeatedly calling a large coaster on 16 and getting no response. We had engine problems in flat calm, and wanted to warn them we may stop without warning. I think my pointed radio check with the coastguard mentioning "Because I've been calling (name redacted) with no response." was not lost on the CG operator.

 

[Aja]

If you have one in your area coastwatch on ch65 is a better bet than taking up the coastguards time

We're talking about the west coast of Scotland. Due to the geography there are many thousands of miles. Area coast watch is just not available.

In my opinion, if you are concerned that the Coastguard may not pick you up due to the west coast geography, start with a call to them maybe once a month. If you are getting a positive response,do as I do and give them a call at the start of your season.

I assume that nothing is going to change unless I physically make a change to the vhf set up.

 

[jbweston]

How often is one issue. Another is who to call and where from.

If you want to do a check, there isn't much point in calling on full power someone close by, or a coast station with a whacking big antenna 5 miles away. A failed check there means that your VHF is totally unserviceable. Better to check with a buddy boat at long range (calculate distance from your antenna to the horizon from tables and add the other station's distance from antenna to horizon - that's approximately normal maximum VHF range). A test to a station at maximum range will show weak performance not just catastrophic uselessness.

If you'r not undertaking an epic journey, maybe no need for a dedicated radio check at all. Just use the VHF in a routine way to call a friend to see how his trip is coming along, or the next marina that you need to contact to ask for a berth. If it works, it's working. If it doesn't, it isn't.

I think radio checks reflect the personality and attitude to risk of the user. If you're the kind of guy that always checks your trouser flies before going out of the door, or does a dedicated check of his car brakes every time he starts it, then probably you'll want to do frequent radio checks. If you think you'll feel a draft soon enough if there's a problem (in the trouser situation) or you'll use the brakes at the first traffic lights (in the car situation), you'll probably not bother with a radio check unless the installation has been worked on or you suspect it.

On most coastal trips, in the unlikely event the VHF doesn't work, it isn't likely to be a disaster. That's specially so if you have an EPIRB or PLB, flares or in many coastal situations a mobile phone as backup. A working VHF is merely nice to have.

Other people's opinions may differ.

 

[Sandy]

If you have one in your area coastwatch on ch65 is a better bet than taking up the coastguards time

National Coastwatch is only in England.

 

[TwoFish]

If you're the kind of guy that always checks your trouser flies before going out of the door . . . . . . then probably you'll want to do frequent radio checks. If you think you'll feel a draft soon enough if there's a problem (in the trouser situation)

[/BeingCulturallySensitiveMode] Perhaps a tad Anglo-centric of you to assume TT would be wearing troosers. The possibility of other forms of Scottish below-the-waist clothing should not be excluded from consideration.

Your point about long(ish) range testing was also my learning point, though you expressed it much better than I did.

 

[dunedin]

If you have one in your area coastwatch on ch65 is a better bet than taking up the coastguards time

Doesn't exist where the OP sails

 

[Tigerthomson]

Thanks for the reply’s ..

 

[RivalRedwing]

Thanks for the reply’s ..

Forgive the follow-up question - do you have a Short Range Certificate for your VHF?

 

[Sandy]

Recent radio check I made (on my boat) was after repeatedly calling a large coaster on 16 and getting no response. We had engine problems in flat calm, and wanted to warn them we may stop without warning. I think my pointed radio check with the coastguard mentioning "Because I've been calling (name redacted) with no response." was not lost on the CG operator.

Why was that a 'radio check'? I'd be asking the CG to relay a message to the coaster.

 

[Daydream believer]

Up in Scotland, as others have said, density of radio traffic reduces the annoyance to others.

And also, as others have said - once at start of season or after installation change.

Having said that, if I were chartering a boat, I'd do a radio check. I don't want to find out it's not transmitting properly only when I really need it.

Recent radio check I made (on my boat) was after repeatedly calling a large coaster on 16 and getting no response. We had engine problems in flat calm, and wanted to warn them we may stop without warning. I think my pointed radio check with the coastguard mentioning "Because I've been calling (name redacted) with no response." was not lost on the CG operator.

Has it occurred to you that the coaster may have been listening on a working channel for the area? ie if one wanted to contact a vessel exiting the Thames one might do better calling on the relevant VHF working channel (14 from memory) . Similarly there are numerous VHF zones around the Dutch & Belgian coast as well as UK coast that vessels are required to monitor
Of course if there was no such area then 16 should have been monitored. Alterntively, AIS would help as one could wake the radio operator up with a DSC call using the info from the AIS screen

 

[jlavery]

Has it occurred to you that the coaster may have been listening on a working channel for the area? ie if one wanted to contact a vessel exiting the Thames one might do better calling on the relevant VHF working channel (14 from memory) . Similarly there are numerous VHF zones around the Dutch & Belgian coast as well as UK coast that vessels are required to monitor

Good suggestion, but not in this case I think. Open sea off the west coast of Scotland. CH16 is the right channel. Larger vessels are checking in and communicating with CG regularly on CH16.

 

[IanCC]

Up in Scotland, as others have said, density of radio traffic reduces the annoyance to others.

And also, as others have said - once at start of season or after installation change.

Having said that, if I were chartering a boat, I'd do a radio check. I don't want to find out it's not transmitting properly only when I really need it.

Recent radio check I made (on my boat) was after repeatedly calling a large coaster on 16 and getting no response. We had engine problems in flat calm, and wanted to warn them we may stop without warning. I think my pointed radio check with the coastguard mentioning "Because I've been calling (name redacted) with no response." was not lost on the CG operator.

Personally, i would do a radio check whenever you fancy, it will get you used to using it. Nobody is goung to laugh at you and frankly who cares. Up in Scotland channel 16 barely hears a squeak, apart from the 3 hourly, or whatever it is, invitation to listen to a weather forecast on a different channel. So i don't think CG are run off their feet. Different elsewhere i understand.

Edit: was meant to be a reply to the OP.

 

[jbweston]

[/BeingCulturallySensitiveMode] Perhaps a tad Anglo-centric of you to assume TT would be wearing troosers. The possibility of other forms of Scottish below-the-waist clothing should not be excluded from consideration.

Your point about long(ish) range testing was also my learning point, though you expressed it much better than I did.

Thanks.

The suggestion that line of sight is the limit of VHF range is a generalisation, as in practice there are other factors too: the transmitter's output power, the sensitivity of the receiver, the losses in antenna cabling even when working as well as the day it was installed, and interference because the same transmission can arrive at the receiving antenna several times by different length routes causing interference as it bounces off the sea and other objects.

James Collier has produced an excellent technical paper Checking that a VHF receiver is working correctly available to Cruising Association members on their website, explaining how all these factors affect range. To quote his summary:

'The conclusion from these plots [shown in his paper] is that if one is attempting to check that one’s receiver is working well one needs a weak but well calibrated transmit signal, from a very high antenna, a very long way away. This is not readily available, whereas a second best but entirely practical method is to transmit between yachts using low power. The disadvantage is that this tests both yachts simultaneously so it would be hard in the event of problems to discover which was at fault.

. . .

Another conclusion one can draw from [the graphs in his paper] concerns the information one can get from a ‘radio-check’ conversation with the coastguard. If calling within the Solent or in Falmouth bay where the distance to the coastguard antenna is probably only 5 miles, one’s receiver would have to be deaf to the point where it gets only one millionth (60dB) of the power it should do before one would notice.

Radio checks of this nature are, in my opinion, essentially pointless: there would have to be a gross fault before it would be discovered by such a test yet the ‘positive’ result gives a false sense of security.

A much better test is to call another yacht around 10 miles away, and switch to 1W power. If all is well, switching to the lower power should make little difference.'

 

[Mister E]

I recently heard a boat called Ruby do a radio check with Holyhead Coastguard.
I was so tempted to sing Ruby Ruby Ruby radio check please.

 

[Tigerthomson]

Forgive the follow-up question - do you have a Short Range Certificate for you

At the moment no. I’ve just purchased the boat.

 

[GEM43]

I’ve noticed a marked increase in Radio Check requests to Belfast Coastguard from Clyde based boats this summer. I find good reason to call others by VHF which then has duality of purpose - e.g. advise the marina we’ve departed our berth so available for visitors and when in the Clyde calling Estuary Radio for clearance.

Local to Troon I find commercial shipping very poor at responding to WAFIs, a local ferry particularly so, it doesn’t endear me toward them.

 

[Buck Turgidson]

At the moment no. I’ve just purchased the boat.

I was waiting for someone to ask the pertinent question as I read through the thread!

You shouldn't do one unless you and the boat are licensed. That's not to say you shouldn't use the radio in an emergency.

 

[Daydream believer]

I normally call the marina to let them know that I am leaving & when to expect me back. That tells me the set is working. If it has limited range it could be an issue as we have found on club cruises with fellow sailors boats. However, I also carry a hand held which gets me in & out of harbour to save going below to use the main set. Hence, I have a backup for the important bit. I leave the main radio on dual watch, (channel depends where I am), so can always hear conversations & I know that the radio is active.

 

[wonkywinch]

I normally call the marina to let them know that I am leaving & when to expect me back. That tells me the set is working. If it has limited range it could be an issue as we have found on club cruises with fellow sailors boats. However, I also carry a hand held which gets me in & out of harbour to save going below to use the main set. Hence, I have a backup for the important bit. I leave the main radio on dual watch, (channel depends where I am), so can always hear conversations & I know that the radio is active.

SWR (standing wave ratio) is not particularly important for reception so a radio will receive with almost any wire or wet string poked in the back. Where it falls down is transmitting into the same antenna which is why only a transmitted "radio check" will verify all is well. Except most people do it on full power to a local station which is fairly pointless for the reasons above.

I don't go around routinely testing all bits of equipment I use in my daily life so I don't understand the fascination with radio checks. With solid state gear, it shouldn't be necessary but possible if you're still running a set that uses a pair of Mullard QQV06-40As in push-pull config, then maybe. Once you'd warmed the valves up

 

[Andrew_Trayfoot]

Fixed vhf installations do have a habit of failing....
Water has a habit if getting into the cable connections however good they are.
So if you are not using the set alot a couple of tests a season will do no harm.

You should go on the RYA/MCA course and do the exam for your licence though.