Stop Radio Checks

[jac]

i am new to sailing and i googled what channel to check if radio working and it clearly said 67 so i did and it worked and was fine so what channel do people actually test on as if someone goes out and does not test everything they putting their lives at risk i would have thought?

Never trust google unless you can objectively assess the voracity of the source.

In this case your source is wrong. you can do a radio check with anyone you like but that's not the question. If you operate from a marina with a lock then calling the lock and asking to exit proves that the radio transmits on ch 80 ( albeit only over a few dozen yards.) withouyt the extra traffic of a formal radio check.

Best advise would be to use your local NCI on ch65 before pestering the CG. And i believe that technically only Solent CG use CH67 as a standard working channel. Most others i think require you to call on CH16 and the tfer to 67

 

[ears media]

The radio checks I hear on 14 and 16 usually get answered - but so often what I hear is NOT reflected in the actual response. So somebody with really loud alternator hum gets told 'loud and clear', but so does somebody who is either too far from the mic, or talking into the back of it. Even worse, in the open 'loud and clear' means too often completely unreadable because of wind noise.

 

[justanothersailboat]

Perhaps we could start responding to radio checks on 16 with "Radio check failed, not transmitting on correct channel. Replace set or operator and try again. Over"

 

[fisherman]

I think you might find that asking for a check on 6, 8, 10 12 14 will get a response. Just say 'Radio check please, I'm at .....rough location', so you don't just get responses from 200 yards away. Try not to sound too plummy! It's what Fvs would do, and our preferred channel here is 8. Scallopers on 14, some others up around 69,71. If you scan you will quickly find some chat somewhere. We never used 16, only for watchkeeping, we would call each other on 8 and go to another ch.