VHF gripes - more ..

Racecruiser

Racecruiser

Well-Known Member
Joined
13 Sep 2006
Messages
640
Location
Surrey
Visit site
As well as the recent airings on DSC alarms and low/hi power can I add to the debate:

Radio Checks - pleeeease, if the radio is on and receiving the chances are it will transmit so why do so many ask the coastguard for a radio check which only clogs up ch16.

Sea Aerials - are coastguard folk not aware the word is Area not Aerial? They all do it - let's have some proper spoken English. Or am I wrong, is it correct in the sense that aerial has a literal meaning as in the antenna of the coastguard station?

Over ............
 
Where are you sailing? Solent?

I always to a radio check when the boat is rigged and afloat - since I trailer sail and want to check the connections each time. In the Solent I probably wouldn't bother as there is traffic to listen to. In Pembrokeshire recently I only heard three calls on 16 in four days! My radio check call probably gave the CG something to do.
 
Ru88ell said:
Where are you sailing? Solent?

I always to a radio check when the boat is rigged and afloat - since I trailer sail and want to check the connections each time. In the Solent I probably wouldn't bother as there is traffic to listen to. In Pembrokeshire recently I only heard three calls on 16 in four days! My radio check call probably gave the CG something to do.
Click to expand...

Yes Solent and the Channel. I guess you have a point in your location and with a trailer sailer!
 
Racecruiser said:
Sea Aerials - are coastguard folk not aware the word is Area not Aerial? They all do it - let's have some proper spoken English. Or am I wrong, is it correct in the sense that aerial has a literal meaning as in the antenna of the coastguard station?
Click to expand...

Depends on what announcements you're talking about.

Do you mean the announcement on 16 about the regular weather and safety information broadcasts about to be given out on various other channels, where they used to say things like "Vessels in the Solent and south of the Isle of Wight, listen channel 23"? Then the word is indeed aerial - instead of describing the area it transmits to, as of this year they now seem to refer to the location of the transmitting antenna. As in, "for the Niton aerial, listen channel 23".

Pete
 
Racecruiser said:
Sea Aerials - are coastguard folk not aware the word is Area not Aerial? They all do it - let's have some proper spoken English. Or am I wrong, is it correct in the sense that aerial has a literal meaning as in the antenna of the coastguard station?

Over ............
Click to expand...


The CG now tell you which aerial to listen to. They are of course wrong - it's an antenna, not an aerial. An aerial antenna is one held aloft by kite, balloon etc.
 
I get confused by this as I don't know which one is the nearest/best for me. I revert to the Boatie app.
 
Racecruiser said:
..Radio Checks - pleeeease, if the radio is on and receiving the chances are it will transmit so why do so many ask the coastguard for a radio check which only clogs up ch16...
Click to expand...

Whilst I also abhor the constant requests for radio checks that you hear in the Solent (ask your mates on a working channel FFS), there is the possibility that a radio that can receive perfectly well fails to transmit. A bit of corrosion in co-ax connections can easily create enough impedance to upset the transmitting capability - not unusual in marine installations
 
RobbieW said:
Whilst I also abhor the constant requests for radio checks that you hear in the Solent (ask your mates on a working channel FFS), there is the possibility that a radio that can receive perfectly well fails to transmit. A bit of corrosion in co-ax connections can easily create enough impedance to upset the transmitting capability - not unusual in marine installations
Click to expand...

Call into your Marina on channel 80. You should have a reasonable idea for trips to other areas and calling for visitors berths, water taxi's etc to know if it's working / was working last time.

I think the problem in the Solent is the number of charters. If you're picking up a boat for the first time how do you know if the gear works??
 
If you want to get away from unnecessary VHF chatter go south of Cape Finisterre. You can call marina's for all you're worth and won't get a peep in reply. On a night passage you will hear fishing boat skippers yelling at each other on Ch16 with no thought of using a working channel. You'll hear the night watchman on some invisible freighter who has been on the tipple and decided to serenade everyone within range with some appalling singing blocking Ch16 for several renditions.
We're in the eastern Med now and in the past 5 years I've probably used my VHF no more than once a fortnight. The ambient VHF traffic is minimal until of course you come within range of a flotilla, then you're back on the Solent!!!
 
Borden said:
The ambient VHF traffic is minimal until of course you come within range of a flotilla, then you're back on the Solent!!!
Click to expand...

:)

Heard some classics here. It's often the kids who play with the radio to chat to their new-found friends, while mum and dad are on deck sailing the boat. My favourite one was the two little boys each trying to identify which of the crowd of white boats the other was on - in our family the line is still quoted: "Nimble Nimble, this is Nimrod Nimrod, we are signalling with our teapot lid, over!"

Pete
 
Coastguards dont really mind radio checks but it is just as good to do a check with a Marina or another vessel that you know or can see on the water on a working channel i.e. Marinas on Ch80. It only becomes annoying when Coastguards are casualty working and needless checks prevent more urgent calls coming in or being sent out. Some people call when Maydays or Pan Pan are being worked. I dont suppose people would be to impressed if in distress and trying to call it in only to be blotted out by a radio check. Common sense must prevail as remember Coastguards also receive distress calls by 999, mobile phones,dsc and normal lines so they are not sat there doing nothing but trying to help those in trouble. A little pre-maintenance would also prevent incidents at sea but listening to Ch16 may enable you to help someone in trouble. Next time it could be you!!
 
Presumably you have no objection to, for example, Stornoway CG asking Belfast CG for a radio check? (Which they often do).
 
Racecruiser said:
Radio Checks - pleeeease, if the radio is on and receiving the chances are it will transmit so why do so many ask the coastguard for a radio check which only clogs up ch16.

Over ............
Click to expand...

No.

There are parts of the radio that are common to the receive (Rx) and transmit (Tx) like power and some oscillators. However in the important RF end the Rx and Tx are kept as separate as possible to reduce noise in the receiver. I don't have stats for marine VHF radios but from my radio technician bench days I'd say that I had more Tx faults, usually the power amplifier, than Rx faults. For that reason I would not recommend that anyone rely on the fact they can hear Ch16 as any indication whatsoever that their transmit will work.

However, its a fair bet that if you can talk to a marina from some distance out then I'd say you can rest easy that CH16 will work although there is a chance it will be only low power.

Anyway, my pet peeve on this subject is people asking for a radio check repeating the coastguard name three times, veeerrry veeerrry sloooowly, then their boat name 3 times even slooooower and then using a paragraph of words to say "radio check, over". They clog up the channel for about 30 seconds. Also, I'm sure that the Coastguard don't give a stuff that you can hear them loud and clear from the position you happen to be in when making the radio check. Just say OK out or even OK, thank you, out and get off CH16.
 
SimonFa said:
Also, I'm sure that the Coastguard don't give a stuff that you can hear them loud and clear from the position you happen to be in when making the radio check. Just say OK out or even OK, thank you, out and get off CH16.
Click to expand...

Really? I would have thought that the CG would like to know that they could be heard from your position. Why else do they themselves ask for a radio check? It surely won't clog up the radio waves for too long, if you say, "Thanks for that, you're loud and clear also".
 
Part of the issue is that people call for radio checks on channel 16 which is a hailing and emergency channel. The working channel for Solent Coastguard is 67 and this is the channel that should be used for radio checks. If you use this channel you will get the Coastguards attention if they are not busy and you know you won't interrupt an emergency.

But best to use the Marina for radio checks as first choice if you can.
 
NormanS said:
Really? I would have thought that the CG would like to know that they could be heard from your position. Why else do they themselves ask for a radio check? It surely won't clog up the radio waves for too long, if you say, "Thanks for that, you're loud and clear also".
Click to expand...

But they don't know your position?

They ask for a radio check with a known position eg Stornoway CG asking Belfast CG because it gives them a benchmark over a long distance and therefore is an indication of their own radio's performance. There is no point in asking for a radio check with someone who is only 100m away as that would with the the antenna down.
 
SimonFa said:
But they don't know your position?

They ask for a radio check with a known position eg Stornoway CG asking Belfast CG because it gives them a benchmark over a long distance and therefore is an indication of their own radio's performance. There is no point in asking for a radio check with someone who is only 100m away as that would with the the antenna down.
Click to expand...

You may not be aware of this, but CG Stations have many transmitting sites. When Stornoway CG gets a radio check from Belfast CG, it may not be a long distance at all. They actually share some sites. If they get a transmission from a boat in a particular place, they then know that their signal can be received there, at least some of the time. With such a long, and convoluted coastline, there are many places where CG VHF transmissions cannot be received. Anything which can add to the sum of knowledge at a CG Station, would seem to me to be a good thing.
 
NormanS said:
You may not be aware of this, but CG Stations have many transmitting sites. When Stornoway CG gets a radio check from Belfast CG, it may not be a long distance at all. They actually share some sites. If they get a transmission from a boat in a particular place, they then know that their signal can be received there, at least some of the time. With such a long, and convoluted coastline, there are many places where CG VHF transmissions cannot be received. Anything which can add to the sum of knowledge at a CG Station, would seem to me to be a good thing.
Click to expand...

Fair point. But my original comment was that when you call in for a radio check they don't know where you are so they gain no knowledge of their coverage so there is no need to say they were loud and clear.

If you want to help out you could report when and where you tried to make a radio call to them but didn't get a response, then they can investigate. However with the sophisticated models* that are around now its a fair bet they know fairly accurately and can have tested suspect areas, hence the many stations you suggest.

(*We wrote a VHF propagation model on a BBC computer back in '85 and tested it around Okehampton and Torbay and got surprisingly accurate results with that simple model, so I would expect the accuracy to be much better now.)

.
 
As I always say, why should we bother the coastguard with our toy boats? A waste of taxpayers money and coastguards time. If your installation isn't reliable and well engineered, sort it out. Arrange a call to a marina, a departing boat or a handheld taken a distance away if you must. I think there's a certain amount of self importance at work with these radio checks.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top