Ryk wrote in
:

On Sat, 19 Jul 2008 05:41:30 -0500, in message

mister b wrote:

On Fri, 18 Jul 2008 10:39:29 -0400, Ryk wrote:

In my neck of the woods (Eastern Lake Ontario) 16 remains the only
calling channel.

???!? 16 a calling channel in Canada for pleasure boaters? I don't
think so Ryk.

It is the calling channel endorsed by international convention and by
the Coast Guard. I understand that 9 is an alternate in congested
spaces in the US, but 16 is not congested up here.

Ryk



Just for information on the ICW and Charleston in South Carolina:

Everyone monitors Channel 16, including all marinas, switching to
working channels 68, 69, 71, 72 for comms.

Opening road bridges all monitor Channel 9 across SC, the pleasure boat
calling channel pleasure boats never monitor because of the bridge
traffic.

Shrimp boats and tourist cruise boats are on 10 or 11, but monitor 13
underway as well as 16 if they have the equipment.

Yacht Clubs scan 16 and 68 or 69 on the harbor. CG monitors 16 and 22A
but, as the S/V Morning Dew incident proves, do not respond well, even
if a ship confirms screaming in the waters at the jetties. The towing
companies usually have their attention better.

Call the ships on 13 if you are in the ship channels underway to plan
passing situations with the harbor pilots who are always very nice and
helpful. The pilot boat monitors 10, 13, 16, too. Dredges can be
found, generally, on 13 and 10.

SeaTow/Towboat US monitors 16, 22A in Mt Pleasant's office and on the
boats.

Race control for all sailboat races monitors 72 if you need them. The
boats in the race monitor 72 for instructions, but captains are usually
too busy screaming at their crews who just ran over the now-torn
spinnaker to answer the calls. That kind of cursing isn't permitted on
the radio, anyways....(c;

Cellular - The harbor and near offshore is well covered near Charleston
and the local barrier islands by Verizon on 800 Mhz A and Alltel on 800
Mhz B well offshore 5-8 miles. ATT and Sprint on PCS have much more
limited range on 1900 mhz, as does Nextel on iDen.

Alltel's EVDO high speed internet works very well out nearly 20 miles if
you are bluetooth tethered to the phone hanging from the mast in a zip
lock bag with bluetooth linking the bag to the PC or, in my case, Nokia
N800 Linux internet tablet on deck. Altitude is our friend!

FREE wifi is available at Ashley Marina and Charleston City Marina where
the ICW turns S off the Ashley River in front of the USCG Base
Charleston. They make up for it by charging you through the nose for
dockspace...ask Skip...$100/day for Flying Pig on the Megadock. Other
marinas have wifi, but I'm not sure how they work it. Hundreds of
unprotected wifi hotspots exist in downtown Charleston for you to use in
a wide variety of places. Help yourself...