"BOEING377" without a name, wrote
With all this talk about inability to raise USCG on HF SSB let me relate
my
experiences in two high seas emergencies. I was aboard a commercial tuna
boat
fishing between Midway Island and Japan. In the first incident a boat
nearby
had a crewman whose hand got caught in machinery and was severely mangled.
Too
far for helo medivac so what was needed was emergency medical advice and
clearance to put the injured guy ashore at Midway, several days away. No
answer
to calls to USCG on 2182, 4125 etc.
That's an unreasonable expectation to assume the USCG would hear a small
boat between Midway and Japan on HF, which is far from our area of
responsibilty. You're on your own out in waters like that, and 2182 or 4125
are for 20-200 mile coverage. Higher frequencies as you used to call someone
nearer to your locaton, are certainly better for long haul comms.
Although I am not a ham, I broke into a net
on 20 meters and was answered by a guy named Danny in New Guinea. He
immediately phone patched through to an emergency room doctor in the US
who
gave hours of guidance on how to treat the hand and save it
Thanks for the heads up that there are no Hospitals on the island of New
Guinea!
The lesson? Use all your resources, know HF aircraft freqs, etc. Know
ham
bands. Hams are generally very helpful in a true emergency. 5696 USB is a
USCG
aircraft channel. Its a good one to have in your freq list. Listen to it,
there
is almost always some traffic on it if you listen for 15 or 20 min. BTW,
all
the calls were made on an "illegal" Drake TR 7 modified to operate
anywhere
between 1.5 and 30 MHz. Our "legal" SSB was crystal controlled controlled
and
had only official ITU marine channels.
The lesson should be how unreliable HF voice communication is from a small
boat in the middle of nowhere. There were certainly better options available
to a commercial fishing vessel, or anyone who chooses to be a thousand miles
from civilization.
Other legal choices for boaters with only HF voice would be:
http://www.mmsn.org/ Maritime Mobile Net (14.300 mhz)
and from that group:
Other Maritime Nets
Baja California Net
7.238 MHz - Daily at 1600UTC
California to Caribbean
14.285 MHz. - Mondays at 2300 UTC
California to South Pacific
14.285 MHz. - Mondays at 2310 UTC
Caribbean Maritime Mobile Net
7.241 MHz. - Daily at 1100 UTC
Caribbean Net
7.158 MHz. - Daily at 0000 UTC
Chubasco Net
7.294 MHz. - Daily at 1530 UTC
Confusion Net
14.305 MHz. - Monday thru Friday at 1900 UTC
DDD Net-Pacific for Canada
14.115 MHz. - Daily at 0400 UTC
14.115 MHz. - Daily at 1730 UTC
Mariana Net
14.340 MHz. - Monday thru Saturday at 1900 UTC
Mariana-Guam
14.310 MHz. - Daily at 0700 UTC
Maritime Emergency Net
14.310 MHz. - Daily at 0400
14.303mhz. - Daily at 1800 UTC
Mississauga Maritime Net
14.122.5 MHz. - Daily at 1245 UTC
Waterway Radio & Cruising Club Net
7.268 MHz. - Daily at 07:45 ET
West Coast Admirals Maritime Mobile Net
7.190 MHz. - Daily at 2230
Caribbean Maritime Mobile Net
http://www.mayaparadise.com/mmfreq1.htm
The TransAtlantic Net: Held daily at 1300 GMT on 21.400. Net controller is
8P6QM - Trudi, assisted by G4FTO - Rudi and VE3AGS - George and others.
Weather on the half hour, and third party traffic where legal.
The U.K. MM Net: Held twice a day at 0800 and 1800 GMT on 14.303 +/- QRM.
Morning Net controller is G4FRN - Bill and in the evening you will find
G4YZH - Bruce, G0IAD - Tony or G4FTO - Rudi and others
The Pacific Maritime Mobile Service Net; on daily; 21412MHz at 2200 to
2300GMT. This is our 18th year on this Freq. Dr. Ernie, VE3EGM, is one of
our relay stations. Thanks, 73, Bob Corbin N2RSM
The Pacific Maritime Mobile Service Net; on daily; 21412MHz at 2200 to
2300GMT. This is our 18th year on this Freq. Dr. Ernie, VE3EGM, is one of
our relay stations. Thanks, 73, Bob Corbin N2RSM
DDD Net The DDD Net operates on a daily basis, frequency is 14.115mHz and
the warm up time is approx 0330z going formal at 0400z. We have relays in
Tasmania - VK7PR, Peter
New Zealand - ZL1ATE, Tony; ZL2FS, Jim and ZL1UE, Malcolm
Alberta - VE6LS, Al in Edmonton
Vancouver Island - VE7CZN, Jim and VE7KON, Ken.
Phone patch is available( where legal) and traffic is forwarded by Email (as
available). Info from Peter Thomas, VE7PT
This is just a sample, there are many others.
Jack Painter
Virginia Beach, Va