On Thu, 26 Jan 2006 01:03:27 GMT, Gary wrote:

They won't let the guy two miles off your starboard quarter
know you have a problem. VHF will.

Absolutely, just call mayday on channel 16. You'll get quicker
results in most places, and hopefully you already know your lat/lon.

wrote in news:1138217939.683622.314630
@o13g2000cwo.googlegroups.com:

Often as not... the bridge duty officer is preoccuppied with constant
paper work and on going questions that are generated over the air
waves by the charter much less the ship's owner. The VHF unit may
or may not be on...and if so... the squelch threshhold level is set
so high... that an outside party would have to be right next door...
to break through.



Thank you, Bill. That's precisely what I was talking about. These
boaters think the ships are like a WW2 destroyer with watches on bow,
stern, bridge wings and in the crow's nest. It's just not true, as you
say. It's why their sailboats get run down, occasionally and noone on
the ship notices it.

When I'm on a midwatch, bored to tears, and I see a ship on radar or its
lights, I try to call them on 16 or 13 just to see if anyone is really
listening. Once in a while I get a response, most times NOTHING....same
with fishing boats. Sure there's lots of boats close to shore within the
15 mile range of a VHF, but most of them aren't listening to 16, much
less the Channel 70 dream channel. We have two VHF DSC radios and the
Icom M802 on HF....I'd hate to think I had to find someone to answer my
distress call 100 miles S of the Charleston Jetties on the edge of the
Gulf Stream when I haven't seen a soul since we passed the Savannah ship
channel.

Those of you that think you're going to get attention, just try it. When
you're out there cruising along, switch to Channel 16 and just call for
any station to respond to see if anyone is listening. That's not an
emergency. Do what the boaters all do in the harbor, ask for a radio
check and see if anyone answers. I bet you'll feel very "alone"....

It's way time the world's governments, including ours, with ITU support
simply decided if you can't afford a working GPS-enabled EPIRB, you don't
belong out of sight of land. It's the least you can do for yourself,
your passengers and those poor *******s that have to look for you over
hundreds of square miles when you don't show up. Simple...No 406 EPIRB
with a current status sticker from the safety shop...no leaving the 3
mile limit into International Waters.

Like Bruce says and all his Alaskan fishermen know...406 EPIRB works
great. What I don't understand is this stupid reluctance to use it if
you're stranded "out there" and noone answers your VHF call. What's with
that? You don't have to be drowning to call for help, do you, when it's
too late?? This goddamned independence fetish lots of boaters have is
what's killing them.

Dave wrote in news:5uegt152h7stj7slpie2r1sk7el7s4e3tc@
4ax.com:

That was my Navy experience as well, though we didn't have that much
occasion to hail commercial ships.



Drivers keep a careful watch on the speedometer on the Interstate when they
know the cops are around, too, you know. No cops (Navy)...well, some let
it slide.

Of course, we are talking about a US-licensed containership with a licensed
captain, right?.....not some Liberian freighter with the crack crew of
illegal misfits in some rusty bucket with a cracked #2 cylinder wall
leaking lube oil into the bilge...that's never been inspected unless the
drug cops show up.

Peter Bennett wrote in
:

On the radios I've looked at, you also have to hold the button for a
few seconds, and/or do it twice, before the distress call is sent.


Y'all boys look under my berth. You'll find an old Motorola 3 watt AMPS
bagphone that plugs into the 6db cellphone antenna 55' up on top of the
mainmast. It's good to about 50 miles offshore in SC to call 911....(c;

I may know my position. My kids may know how to read it off the GPS.
But, if I should go overboard, we won't know until after it happens if
the lesson will stick in their minds when they are watching their
father disappear astern. I know that everyone in this newsgroup
always spends the first three hours when they take a guest sailing for
the first time on man overboard drills and lessons in how to use the
radio and GPS (right). I don't know whether those lessons will stick
under duress either. It isn't just going overboard. The outcome of a
fall, heart attack, stroke, getting hit by the boom, could be very
different. Even if I'm not disabled, being able to attend almost
instantly to the emergency while the micro chips call for the calvary
could significantly increase the odds.

I'm always amazed at how these threads get into "either / or" and
"which is best" spats. It's like arguing which is more important to
have in your onboard tool box, pliers, or a screwdriver. If I see
another boat and have time, I'll hail on 16 and avoid stirring up the
whole system. If I'm on fire and can't get it out, I'll push the
button and jump into the dinghy. If I'm sinking offshore, I'll have
and use the 406. It's a toolbox and DCS is a great new tool.

--

Roger Long



"Wayne.B" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 26 Jan 2006 01:03:27 GMT, Gary
wrote:

They won't let the guy two miles off your starboard quarter
know you have a problem. VHF will.

Absolutely, just call mayday on channel 16. You'll get quicker
results in most places, and hopefully you already know your lat/lon.

Ignoring all the other stuff already posted, I comment that my cockpit radio
has DSC - at 99 bux.

My nav table radio, with hailer, and DSC, was all of 169 bux.

Anyone who can afford to be offshore shouldn't be unable to buy one of these
straight up, never mind "upgrading"...

Now, I'm looking for the integrated handheld GPS/VHF with that feature :{))

PS the SSB has it, too - and that *isn't* reliant on LOS tx/rx...

L8R

Skip, off to water therapy; moveaboard is approaching!

--
Morgan 461 #2
SV Flying Pig KI4MPC
http://tinyurl.com/384p2 The vessel as Tehamana, as we bought her

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you
didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail
away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore.
Dream. Discover." - Mark Twain

On Thu, 26 Jan 2006 10:33:41 GMT, "Roger Long"
wrote:

I'm always amazed at how these threads get into "either / or" and
"which is best" spats.

It's a fallacious form of argument you see used in politics all the
time to push one agenda or another. "The money your want to spend on X
could be better spent on [insert speaker's favorite hobby horse]." The
fallacy is in arguing, not that it's a good idea to spend for [hobby
horse], but that we've already addressed whether to spend the money
and the only question is on what.

In article .com,
wrote:

The VHF unit may
or may not be on...and if so... the squelch threshhold level is set
so high... that an outside party would have to be right next door...
to break through.

If you were navigating a US Flagged Vessel...the above would be a DIRECT
Violation of the Bridge to Bridge Radiotelephone Act. Shame on you...


Bruce in alaska
--
add a 2 before @

In article ,
Wayne.B wrote:

On 25 Jan 2006 11:38:59 -0800, wrote:

Often as not... the bridge duty officer is preoccuppied with constant
paper work and on going questions that are generated over the air
waves by the charter much less the ship's owner.

Just curious whether you communicate via satellite or on HF radio.


Most all comms from SOLAS Required Vessels, (anything over 300 Tons)
these days is done via redundent INMARSAT Terminals with MF/HF Radios as
a backup.....

Bruce in alaska
--
add a 2 before @

In article ,
"Gordon" wrote:

Do those container ships ever carry passengers? Just curious.
Gordon

Most large commercial Cargo Ships are equipt to carry six, or less,
Passengers onboard during voyages. If they should carry more than six,
they would then be classed as a Passenger Ship, and would then need to
comply with the SOLAS Requirements for a Passenger Ship, which are
significanly more involved, that that of a Cargo Ship.

Bruce in alaska
--
add a 2 before @