Doug Dotson wrote:

I don't know the actual answer to this, but it seems to me that
the CG has clustered its monitoring stations for HF/MF along the coasts.
What is the rationale behind this? It pretty much limits comms to
groundwave in the covered areas. It would seems that a few stations spread
out around the country would vastly expand coverage via skywave. Is it
because the CG is limited in it's jusisdiction and can't establish
stations inland? One of the advantages of using the ham bands is that
station are stread out all over the world. At any given time day or night
some station either via groundwave or skywave is going to be listening.

Coastguard stations around the world are generally blessed with
serious antenna farms and excellent professional receivers. They
are therefore well equiped to hear you if there is a signal to be
heard.

Always try the official stations first, they are the professionals
and have the training and experience required as well as usefull
stuff like direct links to rescue facilities.

HF communications are, however, subject to atmospheric influence so
it is possible that there may be no direct signal path. In most cases
another vessel or aircraft will respond and be able to relay your
distress call. Once you have exhausted all of the "official" channels
it is certainly worth giving the Ham frequencies a try, the operators
are in different locations and a good signal path may well exist
to someone who can help.

It is important to note that you should not be reliant on HF which
is being rapidly replaced by more reliable satellite services.


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