Some basic communication tips for people new to VHF marine radio

[MrB]

I do not believe there are any rules at JFK and routines only understood by regulars and heaven help a first time pilot with poor understanding of English

Missed this bit. To be able to hold a Pilots Licence and fly in international airspace you have to be fluent in English and first time pilots don't practice landing in JFK, it's too expensive lol. I think Ears Media is wrongly mixing up comms from Aviation and Boating/Shipping, very different animals. One "floats along" and one does it at 500kts. You have to be quick and precise with Aviation where as you have more time with boats. There aren't any fenders on a plane. Military comms are no different in day to day events, they have to obey by the same rules in controlled airspace, they just have cooler tags.

 

[fisherman]

Although I am used to the informal fisherman chat on odd channels I am a great believer in the use of the correct script for distress. There was a rescue here two weeks ago and the mayday relay apparently caused some confusion about the casualty position.

 

[paulears]

Yesterday - our port was chaos. A lone kayaker decided to paddle through the pier heads from the sea - our port control called and called but no radio - so all the leisure folk in the Yacht club had to be stooped from leaving, the imminent wind farm traffic slowed and some rather large vessels about to leave port warned to halt. On these busy saturdays for the smaller vessels it's an intricate two-way flow, but the kay wrecked it. In the end, they got a boat to escort him back out to sea. A simple radio could have made the day much safer for everyone. I could probably find him a working old one if I knew who he was. Whatever made somebody think you could paddle into a port like this.