Actually that is very important. My 2 friends both thought they had good VHF reception because they called up places like Ramsgate or Dover when close in & the CG from Bradwell aerial when only .5 miles away. However, when cruising in company to Le Havre, it soon became obvious that both of them had issues, as they could only contact the rest of the group by using their hand held VHF radios. The faults on both boats was due to the wiring to the antennae
Closely followed by the CG's appalling radio procedure ?
Does anyone really care?
Yes I think it's the right thing to do when putting to sea. I have to because I am a commercial vessel.
I skipper a commercial passenger boat occasionally, and I never call the CG for routine stuff. I leave pax numbers etc with a reliable office ashore.
When you step out into a storm with a challenging climb ahead of you, with a casualty with two broken limbs and was last seen three hours ago you make sure you do a radio check*.
Same here, but I think it's common courtesy to keep the cg in the loop, how long does it take?
I've heard precisely one in all the time I have been sailing on the West Coast of Scotland. Southern English accent.
Probably worried by the silence and wondering if his radio wasn't working!
Yes, but because they should be on low power although they might hear you, you should not be able to hear them reply! I never suggested the CG was the best option, just a convenient one.
If you think the CG would prefer people not to know if their radios work until it's too late then you may have misunderstood them entirely. I agree it's unnecessary traffic most of the time, but a quick and polite call on 67 to check once a year for degredation and after any major works seems reasonable. In the between times a quick call to your own marina to say good morning as you leave will suffice usually. It's one thing I liked at Port Solent, the Lock was a pain but did force some practice on the VHF
Solent CG used to end every reply on 16 with that. It seemed to stop when the call centre type reorg happened. Probably for the best as I got the feeling most people didn't understand what they actually meant.
Yes that's certainly how the story goes. In my experience though, most sets will happily transmit without an antenna, and won't go pop just because your connectors are dodgy. I certainly don't recommend it and was just saying it to make the point that it does work, you can transmit at short range that way and receive too, and that that doesn't prove your set will work long range. My new boat worked fine with Port Solent on every trip when I got it. Only after trying something further out did I discover the cable had turned to a greenish powder inside for several feet. Easily fixed but only if you know there's a problem!