Ship to Ship VHF

If you use 77 or what ever we tend to use a none identifiable call sign so eves droppers can’t tell whose talking .
“ Broadsword to Danny boy over “

In a don’t tell them your name Pike kinda way :)
 
Suprising some people hardly ever need to use the vhf so past training probably long since forgotten.
Out sailing with a friend at the weekend and he didnt have the vhf switched on. Also no vhf at the helm which seems normal for a yacht. There were other boats moving including tugs, a safety boat for work on an oil terminal and a very large ferry.
Also note you can be day skipper or en higher and not have a vhf certificate.
 
MartynG said:
Suprising some people hardly ever need to use the vhf so past training probably long since forgotten.
Out sailing with a friend at the weekend and he didnt have the vhf switched on. Also no vhf at the helm which seems normal for a yacht. There were other boats moving including tugs, a safety boat for work on an oil terminal and a very large ferry.
Also note you can be day skipper or en higher and not have a vhf certificate.
Click to expand...

They are still essential pieces of kit in my view
 
Bigplumbs said:
They are still essential pieces of kit in my view
Click to expand...

Agree
Three pieces of kit I would install if I bought a vessel which was bereft of kit
A Compass a VHF and a Radar
Compass to kow which way to go
VHF for obvious reasons
Radar if visibitily was poor
Modern radios will give a Lat and Long
Radars obviously
As long as you know where you are
Lat and Long transfered to a paper chart and there you can 'see' where you are
Today I was out doing a Sea Trial for a Guy and then some boat handling stuff
We were 10 miles out
A mist came in
Visibilty was about 2 Cables (work that out, tee hee:eek: ) out
The Skipper was a bit worried
'Snow sweat' said I
As He struggled zooming in and out with His Plotter to see where we were
The Plotter was new to Him
Cost loads no doubt
He had not done 'RTFM' however
Read The F5ckin Manual!
My hand held stand alone basic Garmin gadget gave me a lat and long anyway!
So transferring that to the chart I had brought along 'fixed' us where we were
So there was no drama or issue
Even if we had no plotter etc
A call to the coastgaurd would have been an answer
They can still 'fix' where we are from the VHF signal
'Oh , I have my mobile phone if the mire hits the fan' peeps say to me
Yer right says I
It ike eekin t th cos gard threw th ikrphone on t da it int ter ferince s not ood and the ignal is if ee and the anic sets n the eception is ike omedian on the elly who issed alf is words!!
:D
VHF is essential
 
A call to the coastgaurd would have been an answer
They can still 'fix' where we are from the VHF signal

Not sure if this actually possible anymore or even if it actually ever was in the real world
 
Daverw said:
A call to the coastgaurd would have been an answer
They can still 'fix' where we are from the VHF signal

Not sure if this actually possible anymore or even if it actually ever was in the real world
Click to expand...

Well it was a while back
Helped Me once
I must admit though it was the 80's!
The Form was back then
After the 'voice' communication one would depress the 'PTT' button (press to talk) and the Coastguard would obtain a kinda three point fix as to where you where/are
Maybe now obsolete considering most VHF are 'DSC' capable today
 
Nearly 40 years ago then probably, vhf is line of site so direction finding antennas would have to be relatively close
 
Daverw said:
A call to the coastgaurd would have been an answer
They can still 'fix' where we are from the VHF signal

Not sure if this actually possible anymore or even if it actually ever was in the real world
Click to expand...

Coastguard got a good enough fix on my position (12 years ago) from my VHF to save my neck, when I was hard aground and taking in water fast. They used offshore drilling platforms to get it, apparently. In fact one of them relayed my mayday to the coastguard, because I was in a blind spot, beneath very high cliffs.
 
You were probably lucky, the platforms ive been involved with never had any directional antennas on so a radio fix would not be possible
 
Daverw said:
Nearly 40 years ago then probably, vhf is line of site so direction finding antennas would have to be relatively close
Click to expand...

Yes agreed, I know VHF is line of sight
'Very High Frequency' does not 'bend' as it were compared to others
The Coastgaurd has, if this is the correct Term 'Booster Arials (ariels spelling?) even on a hand held VHF I have managed to communicate with Holyhead Coastgaurd for 'Routine Traffic' and Mayday Relay situations from a hand held VHF on more than one occasion. Just three or four weeks ago whilst on a 'jolly' with 9 passengers on a Coded vessel I was involved in a 'Mayday' and whilst talking to the Coastguard via the RIB'S 'spike' A crew member alerted a larger vessel 4 nautical miles away to render assitance too by way of the 'reserve' hand held VHF I carry. Yes, 'Line of Sight' you are quite correct. In theory two small vessels will struggle to communicate carrying hand held VHF's with antenna 7ft above sea level further than purported however in practise over the last 40 years I have found it to be the 'range' can be (not always) a damm sight further than we beleive
 
The coast guard have carefully tuned high gain antennas with very good grounding, also the low loss cabling and low noise kit

They also have height advantage and multiple locations linked together so huge gain in distance both transmit and receive.

Line of sight for RF is often further than we think, but it is still a straight line with a bit of bouncing around.
 
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