When guests on board Boost your ego, call Chnl 16 !?

moomba said:
Yes but it is OFCOM that are in charge of VHF frequencies in this country , so I would be surprised that the CG can do anything legally , rather they advise people that the channel is for the purposes as stated in previous post,
I think out of some kind of Duty they take these calls , probably to get them of the air asap , the only reason for calling the CG in an no emergency situation , for us was to give them passage planning info if we we doing a long journey.
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The answer the calls because it expands the Empire. They have all these important calls to answer so they need the staff etc etc. It's also the thin end of a wedge toward more regulation.

In answer to those that say it isn't misuse. By Law it isn't but did anyone ever think the CH16, the safety channel, would be clogged up with nonsense propagated by idiots when the rules were drafted? What on earth do ship's maters think of it all? If these calls reduce the viability of CH16 then it is being misused.
 
savageseadog said:
The answer the calls because it expands the Empire. They have all these important calls to answer so they need the staff etc etc. It's also the thin end of a wedge toward more regulation.

In answer to those that say it isn't misuse. By Law it isn't but did anyone ever think the CH16, the safety channel, would be clogged up with nonsense propagated by idiots when the rules were drafted? What on earth do ship's maters think of it all? If these calls reduce the viability of CH16 then it is being misused.
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However, your opinion counts for nowt, in real life the rules & regulations still hold. BTW I love the idea of a ship having a mater, it sounds quite cosy and Victorian.
 
Due to some damage to my antenna and check to see what signal I could get by patching it to the AIS aerial, I anticipated, and had, a need for a series of radio checks. Because people on the forum have routinely ridiculed radio-check-junkies I phoned the coastguard and asked them what their attitude to this was. The answer was "Call us briefly on Channel 16 like everyone else. We're delighted to help."
 
Amulet said:
Due to some damage to my antenna and check to see what signal I could get by patching it to the AIS aerial, I anticipated, and had, a need for a series of radio checks. Because people on the forum have routinely ridiculed radio-check-junkies I phoned the coastguard and asked them what their attitude to this was. The answer was "Call us briefly on Channel 16 like everyone else. We're delighted to help."
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:encouragement:
 
savageseadog said:
Of course they do. They want to be in control and build the Empire up.
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I'm sure that there is a degree of that involved. It's no secret that the government has been trying to save money on the coast guard - there has been a significant reorganisation not long ago - and having all those staff sitting for hours doing nothing while they wait for the next emergency call does their case for continued funding no good at all. I often leave the radio switched on, tuned to 16, to see what is happening - and there is silence for long periods - and I'm sitting in Portsmouth! The trouble is that quite a few pleasure sailors seem to be seriously short of common sense and insist on making their radio check calls in the middle of serious traffic.
 
maby said:
The trouble is that quite a few pleasure sailors seem to be seriously short of common sense and insist on making their radio check calls in the middle of serious traffic.
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Some no doubt, but also bear in mind that depending on their location they might not be able to hear the distress traffic.

Pete
 
maby said:
I'm sure that there is a degree of that involved. It's no secret that the government has been trying to save money on the coast guard - there has been a significant reorganisation not long ago - and having all those staff sitting for hours doing nothing while they wait for the next emergency call does their case for continued funding no good at all. I often leave the radio switched on, tuned to 16, to see what is happening - and there is silence for long periods - and I'm sitting in Portsmouth! The trouble is that quite a few pleasure sailors seem to be seriously short of common sense and insist on making their radio check calls in the middle of serious traffic.
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The serious traffic was probably overspoken by a radio check.

At this time of year the leisure traffic will be much reduced. It's probably only experienced sailors that are going out and know they don't need to make radio checks or if they do they'll liaise with a club or Marina.

For those that doubt my point about the Coastguard, they keep a log of all calls. Blank pages in the log book don't look good for next year's budget.
 
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Elecglitch said:
..and some are also apparently arrogant (stupid?) enough to think that they know better that the professionals.
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Quite. A simple glance at a site like https://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/home/centerx:-1.4/centery:50.3/zoom:7 shows the scale of shipping activity around. To imagine that someone is sat about in a Coastguard Radio Station all day competing to fill in lines in an empty logbook is frankly rather odd.

To anyone who feels that part of their 'duty of care' of their crew is to confirm that their distress calling radio is functioning correctly, I would say 'fill yer boots'.

To anyone who moans about people using a radio because it 'disturbs' them, I would politely suggest a less stressful hobby may be more suitable for them. :encouragement:
 
capnsensible said:
To anyone who moans about people using a radio because it 'disturbs' them, I would politely suggest a less stressful hobby may be more suitable for them. :encouragement:
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:encouragement::encouragement::encouragement: (although I, of course, probably wouldn't do it politely)
 
capnsensible said:
To anyone who moans about people using a radio because it 'disturbs' them, I would politely suggest a less stressful hobby may be more suitable for them. :encouragement:
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Or just turn the volume button anticlockwise until it goes click ;);)
 
savageseadog said:
Which defeats the whole point of having it. Don't forget that it's others that might pick up your Mayday.
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See I agree with you. But on a busy w/e in the Solent the endless radio checks can become tiresome. That said for the reason you describe I sometime tun the set right down instead of off - I'm on AIS so there's nothing to stop the Coastguard pinging me and instructing as he/she so desires.

Got just such a call from the French Coastguard this summer asking me to alter course slightly and keep an eye out for a kayak off Port Blanc. Sensible stuff.
 
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