"Roger Long" wrote...
I just made a quick stop at West Marine during my son's guitar lesson and
it appears I was led astray the first time I looked at the new radios.
None of them (according to the story this time) show the Lat Long on their
display so a GPS receiver without a display wouldn't be a back up except
for the distress signal.

The salesman also told me that the USCG is not currently receiving
position information on the channel 70 calls, at least in the Northeast.
Does anyone know the status of the Coast Guard system?

Here are some links:

*"...The U.S. Coast Guard will not be equipped to respond to Digital
Selective Calling (DSC) distress calls on Channel 70 until 2006..."



http://www.uscg.mil/hq/g-o/g-opr/emergencies.htm

http://www.navcen.uscg.gov/marcomms/gmdss/dsc.htm

http://www.navcen.uscg.gov/marcomms/gmdss/dscresp.pdf

http://www.seatow.com/boatingsafety/...SCbrochure.pdf

http://www.navcen.uscg.gov/enav/ais/default.htm