radio checks (again!)

[andyball]

Having done the vhf course/read various books etc.....the general opinion seemed to be that radio checks on 16 were just for "old dinosaurs and those who know no better" (a quote from memory, from one book).

So, having recently bought a vhf, we noticed yesterday that the solent cg must pay someone to do almost nothing but answer ch16 radio checks on busy afternoons. On quieter days, they politely suggest using ch67 for routine calls.

Who's right ?...the recent books/courses?.....the 100's of yachts using ch16 for checks yesterday?......the cg don't complain publicly, so what's their view?.

 

[Guest]

The ignorance and abuse on VHF in general and Channel 16 (emergencies only) in particular knows no bounds. Yachtsmen are prime offenders; professional fishermen are worse.
I can remember also a Spanish Navy vessel, which should have known better, blathering away on 16.

 

[Guest]

The coastguards in Solent area must have the patience of Job.
Modern VHF sets are such that a radio check on one channel means that they all work. So why not ask a pal, your marina office - anybody except the CG - for a radiocheck on any channel except 16? And don't forget to report their signals after they have reported yours! It is not only good manners but is a report to them that you have heard them, too, so that they know their Tx works as well as your Rx.

 

[Guest]

Channel 16 emergencies only? Not sure about that. Surely it's the normal channel used for making contact between vessels before moving to another channel. If it were for emergencies only no one would listen to it, which would defeat the purpose.

I don't have anything against people making radio checks except that in the Solent the constant noise from the vhf in general is a big incentive to switch the thing off. This "problem", if indeed it is a problem, is confined to (a) the Solent and (b) the summer. I haven't noticed a stream of radio checks anywhere else, or out of 'season'.

The last radio check to Solent coastguard I remember hearing was from the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise. I thought of telling them off for cluttering the airways, or complaining that they should have made a call on another channel to a friendly warship. But, seeing all the hardware arrayed on their deck, didn't.

 

[BlackSheep]

I can't speak for Solent, but up here at Clyde where there's plenty of open space and a lot fewer yots we're happy to give radio checks on ch16. However, we monitor 14 aerials from the Mull of Galloway to Ardnamurchan point, so while it may be quiet at one end of the district there could easily be an incident going on somewhere else. If you're just in the marina, checking whether the set works, it's as well to call a neighbour on a working channel (particularly at Kip, which is a notorious blind spot anyway). Ch 16 is not just "the emergency channel", but is for all initial calls. If the call is routine, the best way to call is: "Clyde (or whatever) CG, this is Yt *****, routine traffic" or "request local forecast, over" etc. & you'll then be allocated a working frequency & asked to standby, so that we can then initiate the response. This is 'cos you may be in a queue. If it is a safety or emergency call of any sort, just get on with it on 16... not like one chap (a singlehander) who called up and very politely asked for a working channel, only to inform me (in amongst a lot of heavy breathing!) that he was taking water and was pumping like mad whilst calling on the VHF!!!
(these are of course my own observations as a coastie & a yottie! & not necessarily ofiicial policy etc. etc.)

 

[Mike_Martin]

Hear! Hear!

From my own meetings with personnel from both Falmouth and Solent they would rather that people asked someone else BUT consider it their duty to respond if request is received.

There isn't really any reason to bother the Coastguard just for a radio check especially when there are lots of other craft around to call.

It seems to me that possibly some people feel that it makes them look important to less experienced boaters, just a thought.

Mike.

Manager,
Aeronautical & Maritime Section,
Radiocommunications Agency