Radio checks why oh why

[Blue Sunray]

Come on now its never that simple

Yes it is.

QRS?

ZBM2

 

[Sandy]

Would the ones that do a radio check every time they go on their boat also do a life jacket test?

Do you check your life jackets at all? Same thing really, but in a different way. All about mitigating the risk.

 

[rotrax]

Ooh ... I dont go out when its that windy ... or is that boat speed over the ground

Only for an Andersen 22 ?

 

[Rappey]

Do you check your life jackets at all

Yes I do, but around once a year rather than every time I go out on the boat

 

[MAGTRAD]

I definitely understand the need for Radio checks but agree with other comments that it should be done on Channel 65. The sheer volume of unnecessary chatter on Channel 16 means that you very easily "tune out" and could miss something important.

 

[lustyd]

I definitely understand the need for Radio checks but agree with other comments that it should be done on Channel 65.

By which I assume you mean on the local calling channel, where available. This is 67 in the Solent.

 

[MAGTRAD]

By which I assume you mean on the local calling channel, where available. This is 67 in the Solent.

Absolutely

 

[Sandy]

By which I assume you mean on the local calling channel, where available. This is 67 in the Solent.

CH65 is the NCI channel. CH67 is the usual CG working channel.

 

[prv]

By which I assume you mean on the local calling channel, where available. This is 67 in the Solent.

No, he means ch65, allocated to NCI all around England and Wales (not Scotland) and a much better choice than bothering the Coastguard. I get the impression the NCI chaps are delighted to have something to do, and very few other vessels will be on the channel to be disturbed.

I believe the Solent “initial call on 67” local procedure was discontinued by way of standardisation when Fareham took over. It’s still one of their working channels, but they expect initial contact on 16 and will send you to 67 or 73 as they see fit.

Pete

 

[lustyd]

Interesting, I thought the Almanac said 67 is now common all around the UK for calling since the call centre bit. Magtrad didn't mention NCI, just that radio checks should be on that channel which as a general statement is not correct. As I said, radio checks should be on the calling channel of whoever you're calling, and I agree that if you do one with NCI 65 may be the channel, but if Coastguard then it's not.

 

[prv]

You’re just digging now, Dave

Saying “do them on ch65” is shorthand for “Do your radio checks with the National Coastwatch Institution, instead of the Coastguard and everyone else who has to listen to them on ch16”. Obviously it doesn’t mean “use ch65 to try to talk to people who don’t listen on ch65” so it’s silly to answer as if that’s what Magtrad meant.

Using NCI (on ch65) is good advice for everyone who sails in waters they cover. Another benefit is that you know exactly where you’re talking to, if range testing is a concern. NCI Calshot versus NCI Needles, for example, or even over to NCI St Albans Head. You can’t talk to a specific Coastguard aerial site of your choice.

The NCI do generally go home once it gets dark and there’s no more watching to be done, so you might need to pick someone else then. But both they and the airwaves will be much less busy.

Pete

 

[lustyd]

I wasn't intentionally digging! It might be shorthand for those who know that's NCI, but many people don't. I've read the whole thread and somehow I still didn't I do agree NCI is a good place to do a check and you're right about location, it's a better test overall.

 

[Gary Fox]

By which I assume you mean on the local calling channel, where available. This is 67 in the Solent.

The above statement is wrong and potentially risky. 16 is the calling (and distress) channel, in the Solent and everywhere. 67 is a working channel.
Edit, as others have already said ^^

 

[prv]

Also it seems I might have been mistaken or out-of-date about NMOC deprecating initial calls on 67.

I definitely remember that change being promulgated when they took over, but the most recent almanac I can see still mentions 67. Maybe they promoted “standard“ techniques when they first took over, but then found that Lee On Solent had been doing it for a reason?

Pete

 

[prv]

The above statement is wrong and potentially risky. 16 is the calling (and distress) channel, in the Solent and everywhere. 67 is a working channel.

67 is a working channel, but for many years Solent Coastguard promoted a modified local procedure where routine traffic from leisure vessels was to be made directly on that working channel rather than via ch16. I thought they had changed that, but either they didn’t or they’ve changed it back.

There’s nothing unusual about calling direct on a working channel when the published procedures say so. Ships don’t call VTS on 16 first.

Pete

 

[capnsensible]

Yes, 'Minky minky' is a common one; also I've often heard something like, ' Diddikoy diddikoy', it can't be the same as the word used here for gypsies presumably, so it must mean something unforgiveable in Filipino..I wish the Solent was as colourful..

Twenty something years ago (swing the lamp) I was delivering a boat up the Adriatic to iirc Pula. We were overtaken by a fast US Warship and heard the best thing ever on VHF.

'Hey Yankee go home or we cut your throat and drink your blood' .

Kept us chuckling for days.

 

[lustyd]

The above statement is wrong and potentially risky. 16 is the calling (and distress) channel, in the Solent and everywhere. 67 is a working channel.
Edit, as others have already said ^^

Nope, 67 is the calling channel for routine traffic in the Solent, as Pete just confirmed. 16 is also available for calling, of course.

 

[Gary Fox]

67 is a working channel, but for many years Solent Coastguard promoted a modified local procedure where routine traffic from leisure vessels was to be made directly on that working channel rather than via ch16. I thought they had changed that, but either they didn’t or they’ve changed it back.

There’s nothing unusual about calling direct on a working channel when the published procedures say so. Ships don’t call VTS on 16 first.

Pete

Yes, if you know the channel you can call on it, eg VTS, Port Control etc. I'm going to look up the latest Solent CG channels.

 

[lustyd]

In my 2016 almanac it says "in this area make initial contact using call sign Solent Coastguard on CH67 to avoid congestion on CH16."

It might be different in the new Almanac but I'm pretty sure the 2020 one on my boat says the same

 

[Gary Fox]

Nope, 67 is the calling channel for routine traffic in the Solent, as Pete just confirmed. 16 is also available for calling, of course.

Who mentioned 'routine traffic'? Is this still about radio checks?
16 is the calling and distress channel everywhere, but yes, 67 is also available as a calling channel, for small craft routine traffic, in the Solent. As I have just looked up on the NCI website.