VHF: what gets on your nerves?

[ QUOTE ]
Oh, and Over and Out, peeps repeating things three times, when reception
is good. Saying "Yacht" Saucy Sue etc.

[/ QUOTE ]

I was specifically taught on the VHF course to differentiate between sail and power when calling CG, a "big ship" or a marina as they would need to know. Boat's name three times is for distress, boat's name twice on starting communication and once thereafter as id. Intership on a general comms channel or if by DSC directly then skipper/radio operator's name or boat name once comms established pretty optional but don't chatter.
 
For me it's the boats that repeatedly call up another when the other boat clearly isn't listening. At the risk of being flamed, this seems predominantly a female habit in the Solent

Unnecessary verbosity. Listen to the pros and you'll hear how few words are needed to establish a working channel and pass on a message. Key info is repeated back for confirmation

You won't hear 'Over' or 'Out' from the pros either and both words should be struck from your VHF vocabulary at the earliest opportunity
 
[ QUOTE ]
Wretched DSC alarms going off all the time.

[/ QUOTE ]When sailing in company, I'm told calling up another boat this can give hours of harmless pleasure, particlularly when they can't find the instruction book, or remember how to respond.
 
[ QUOTE ]
You won't hear 'Over' or 'Out' from the pros either

[/ QUOTE ] Except for:
"Call the marina on channel 80; Solent Coastgaurd out."
 
Over = I have finished speaking
Out = I am leaving this channel
Standby= I have finished this exchange and will moniter this channel

People having conversations on vhf annoys the hell out of me. It's for messages, not chit-chat.
Why do folk in Lake Solent switch them on anyway? Even the safety arguement doesn't wash, if it's that big emergency there's always a dozen boats around to respond to a flare.

Why do boats on Lake Solent have
 
What gets on my nerves are really stupid boat names! Such as a charter yacht called 'Fleasiwease' I was invited onto for a week years ago and cringed everytime I had to announce the name! /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif
But what I do miss from the days before mobile phones is the hours of fun we used to have listening to boats calling Niton to be connected to a phone number ashore and being able to listen in on their 'private' telephone calls!
One classic was during a round the island race when somebody was put through to somebody ashore who it seems was the boat owner, for instruction on flushing the heads! Took the chap onboard the boat nearly half an hour of instruction to get it right! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
Also the chaps who rang their wives and girlfriends back home to apologise that they were running late and would not get back in time for the dinner or party or whatever had been planned and listening to the upset ladies ashore having a go at the man! /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif
 
>>>
What gets on my nerves are really stupid boat names! Such as a charter yacht called 'Fleasiwease' I was invited onto for a week years ago and cringed everytime I had to announce the name!
>>>
I have heard, more than once, of a vessel by the name of "Kinky Black Underwear" and how she ran aground on Ryde Sands. Someone took considerable pleasure, after she was rescued, in announcing on Ch16 "Kinky Black Underwear is off".
 
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[rant]

For me it's people saying: Over and out.
I know they use the phrase in Yank movies, but that does not make it right.

Over = talk to me
Out = done talking now, shut up

You can't say "talk to me and shut up"

[/rant ]

[/ QUOTE ]

Heard a racing control boat doing this ALL Saturday morning on 72
 
Bloody contstant Radio checks

It has to be the single most annoying and unneccasary commonly occurring chatter. What I want to know is who suggested it in the first place. It is not part of any VHF course or book. And I hate to say it but it is also predominately wimmin who are doing them.
 
Re: Bloody contstant Radio checks

Fishermen discussing their catch, the weekend they had, the wife's operation how Bill got plastered and they've not seen him since etc etc so no-one else can get on the channel. In the same league the long conversations in (I think) Polish between two radio operators on the big ships.

The whatsit who leaves his radio on ch16 permanent transmit and no-one else can get on.

Conversely I quite enjoyed listening to the 2 young girls who were arranging for their families to meet up at lunchtime: the radio procedure was pretty good for what sounded like 12 year olds but they occasionally lapsed into a quick chat about their parents. Don't laugh - it might be you they were referring to!
 
The Flemish accent????????????????????



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Re: Bloody contstant Radio checks

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It has to be the single most annoying and unneccasary commonly occurring chatter. What I want to know is who suggested it in the first place. It is not part of any VHF course or book.

[/ QUOTE ]

It most definitely IS part of the VHF course (or was when we did our VHF courses a few years ago). We couldn't pass the course until the instructor had heard each of us speak on the radio and we all did a radio check with the instructor playing the role of the coastguard. We were told to always make sure our radio was working correctly by doing a radio check each time we went out.

And as a double whammy, one of the jokers on our course decided his boat name was going to be "Overand"....
 
Re: Bloody contstant Radio checks

A radio check once every season I can understand - but every time you go out? /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

It worked last time you switched it off - why would it not work next time you switch it on?
Do you call the AA every morning when you start your car?
 
Re: Bloody contstant Radio checks

[ QUOTE ]
A radio check once every season I can understand - but every time you go out? /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

It worked last time you switched it off - why would it not work next time you switch it on?
Do you call the AA every morning when you start your car?

[/ QUOTE ]

Don't ask me, that's just what we were told! Personally, I never do a radio check. If I can hear people nattering (we use Ch12 as well as Ch16 when coming off our mooring in the Itchen), then it's receiving and if I see a Tx when I press the button, presumably it will attempt to transmit. You find out soon enough if it's transmitting when calling a marina, though admittedly we usually anchor so rarely need to call marinas.

We also have a handheld on board and usually at least two mobile phones so plenty of backup for the Solent.
 
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