Stephen Trapani wrote:

mr.b wrote:
On Sat, 10 Nov 2007 12:38:47 -0500, Wayne.B wrote:

As long as you are calling someone and keep it brief, there is no abuse of
16.

bzzzt! Oh sorry Wayne, but thanks for playing.

The handout we got from the Coast Guard recommends contacting boats (for
any reason) on 16 and then immediately switching to another channel.

True. But even the CG can't adhere to this all the time. They will
try to switch someone who is having a problem to channel 22Alpha, and
won't be able to do it.

If you contact someone, about passing in the ICW, you have to have at
least ONE response from them in order to do that "immediate switching"
to another channel. It's quicker, and easier, and ties up the channel
LESS, if you contact them briefly and state your intentions in one
short transmission, and they acknowledge.

If they don't acknowledge, you don't know if they have heard you. And
some radios are not very easy to switch from one channel to another.

We were called by someone in Norfolk on Channel 16 - they had been
traveling along the ICW at about the same speed as we were. The
wanted to tell us that there was a tug and barge coming up behind us
that wanted to pass who had been calling us on the radio, but we
hadn't heard them. We didn't need to switch to talk about it. They
called, we answered, they told us to move over and that was it.

And if you switch to another channel, you have to have someone to
operate the radio (or you have take time to change the channel
depending on your setup) and then make contact again - all to say what
you could have said in one short transmission and answer.

Which ties up the channel less?

A: Wet Dreams, Wet Dreams this is Blythe Spirit - stay close, go slow
and we will shift back to neutral as you pass. Over

And then either
- OK Blythe Spirit Out
or (more likely) no answer.

B. Wet Dreams Wet Dreams. This is Blythe Spirit - shift and answer
channel 69..

Wet Dreams, Wet Dreams this is Blythe Spirit on 69. if you give us a
nice pass we will shift to neutral as you pass.

(no answer)

Wet Dreams this is Blythe Spirit on 69

Wet Dreams this is Blythe Spirit on 16

and by that time Wet Dreams has caught up and the whole thing becomes
moot.


If you are talking to someone on a regular basis and at length, then
yes, you ought to contact and switch. I don't need to hear all the
fishermen discussing their catch or that kind of thing. In that case
you probably already have an agreed on channel to switch to.