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Blazys

Member
Joined
Jul 28, 2019
Messages
10
Location
United States
Vessel Name
Squeeze
Vessel Make
Mainship 400
I cruise the new England area. When the CG announces a alert to Mariners they do so too quickly to take notes. They will provide latitude and longitude once.
Has anyone else noted this and how can I notify the CG that boaters need to have a more time?
 
Which sector?


Call and ask to speak to the oerations officer.


Pretty sure not much will change.


If routine weekly notice, you can find them online, even get them emailed to you.
 
Sector southeast NE.

Will try contacting the operations officer
 
Keep a small hand held tape recorder handy?
 
We have the same problem with Sector Detroit. Unfortunately the CG teaches the watchstanders to get on and off the radio as quickly as possible. I have spoken to some OICs about it but it didn’t help. If you want to be efficient with air time then the message needs to be understandable the first time. They need to slow down and speak distinctly so that boaters are able to understand the message. Particularly since the boating population is getting older and are less able to hear what is said on the radio. Doint it right the first time is actually faster that repeating it.
 
It is that way all across the country. I have wondered why at the minimum in addition to the laborious lat and lon figures they don't also indicate an approximate verbal location like 5 miles south of Point X.


I can relate to the later and if I am in the area I will keep an eye out or come to help. But with just lat and lon figures, never. Could be 100 miles away.



David
 
I often wish my radios had a 1 minute rewind capability to be able to repeat the last transmissions for verification. Are there radios out there with a playback/repeat capability?
 
FlyWright said:
I often wish my radios had a 1 minute rewind capability to be able to repeat the last transmissions for verification. Are there radios out there with a playback/repeat capability?
Click to expand...

Just google "VHF Recording System." Plenty of them.
 
BandB said:
Just google "VHF Recording System." Plenty of them.
Click to expand...

That opens up a question. Is it legal to record in all jurisdictions. Many states have a one party recording rule which allows pretty much anything. However, the two party states require the consent of both parties of a conversation.

Are there special rules for VHF perhaps?
 
FlyWright said:
I often wish my radios had a 1 minute rewind capability to be able to repeat the last transmissions for verification. Are there radios out there with a playback/repeat capability?
Click to expand...

That is why I recommended a small tape recorder at the helm. Get to listen to it again and again, until it makes sense.
 
You can always call the back and ask them to repeat crucial info.


I use an old Army helo driver trick and keep a grease pencil at the helm. In an emergency just write as fast as you can on the window next to you.
 
djmarchand said:
It is that way all across the country. I have wondered why at the minimum in addition to the laborious lat and lon figures they don't also indicate an approximate verbal location like 5 miles south of Point X.


I can relate to the later and if I am in the area I will keep an eye out or come to help. But with just lat and lon figures, never. Could be 100 miles away.
Click to expand...


I complain a fair amount about Sector Puget Sound personel’s inconsistent radio performance. Often they speak too fast, and about half the time the speech isn’t loud enough or enunciated clearly enough. Some radio operators just aren’t as good as others.

However, something that Sector Puget Sound does well I think is give locations. They give lat-long but they also give a description based on local landmarks. Anyone familiar with Puget Sound knows that this is really important, since you might be with a nm of a lat-long location, but only in a straight line. You may be a very long way away by water.

There are occasional problems with that however. Last weekend a boat had a fire on board. They told the USCG that they were by Hope Island. The USCG operator gave that location when they made the first request for assistance call on ch 16. The only problem is that there are two Hope Islands in Puget Sound. One is SW of Harstine Island in the South Sound and the other is up near Deception Pass. The second radio call by the USCG not only had a lat-long but also the description “Hope Island near Budd Inlet” which would immediately let local boaters know what they were talking about. I’m sure they are a lot of South Sound boaters who aren’t aware of the more northerly Hope Island and visa versa.
 
psneeld said:
You can always call the back and ask them to repeat crucial info.

Maybe if enough people keep asking for a repeat because you could not understand it or it was too fast they will take notice and start slowing down and trying to enunciate better. Can’t hurt but I think that a lot of boaters are too intimidated to question the CG. But remember they are just people too.
Click to expand...
 
Just call them back on 16, switch back to 22A and ask them to repeat for you. BNMs are also included in the weekly LNMs. Very seldom is something critical involved, they cover those with securite or pan pan broadcasts.
 
The Pan Pans and Securities are also difficult to understand here.
 
BandB said:
That opens up a question. Is it legal to record in all jurisdictions. Many states have a one party recording rule which allows pretty much anything. However, the two party states require the consent of both parties of a conversation.

Are there special rules for VHF perhaps?
Click to expand...

There are no restrictions to recording a broadcasted public service announcement, nor are there any legal liabilities in doing so.

The laws you are referring to are in cases of private conversations, where an expectation of privacy is present from one or both parties.
 
I agree that Sector Puget Sound is hard to understand.

There was one women on during the day, in the past two months, who spoke slowly and was easy to understand. She had a very slight southern accent.

The rest was hard to understand

In comparison, the Canada Coast Guard Vancouver Island personnnal talks slow, enounciate well and very easy to understand. I really appreciate after a listening to a VHF mayday situation, that the Canada Coast Guard personnel often broadcasts an "all's well" announcement.

I was told by a Canadian friend that the Canada Coast Guard had more career personnel manning the VHF.
 
syjos said:
I agree that Sector Puget Sound is hard to understand.

There was one women on during the day, in the past two months, who spoke slowly and was easy to understand. She had a very slight southern accent.

The rest was hard to understand

In comparison, the Canada Coast Guard Vancouver Island personnnal talks slow, enounciate well and very easy to understand. I really appreciate after a listening to a VHF mayday situation, that the Canada Coast Guard personnel often broadcasts an "all's well" announcement.

I was told by a Canadian friend that the Canada Coast Guard had more career personnel manning the VHF.
Click to expand...


I believe I heard the same woman last weekend. She was very good.

I also have had the same impression with the Canadian Coast Guard, at least out of Victoria. They are easy to understand.
 
I have called them and asked for them to "say again" the message if I think it is applicable to me at the time.
They have always complied.
 
The CG broadcasts are nearly unintelligible in my area. The Navy is not any better.

I was once anchored on a reef, fishing, when the Navy was conducting operations in the area, perhaps 1.5 miles away. The naval vessel hailed me as the fishing vessel at a certain Lat/Long, with no other identifier. We eventually decided we were the vessel in question, and responded.

If I were hailed with my position, along with some helpful hints such as "vessel 1.2 miles southeast of the Beaufort sea buoy", I would have a much better chance of identifying myself as the vessel in question.
 
ABfish said:
The CG broadcasts are nearly unintelligible in my area. The Navy is not any better.

I was once anchored on a reef, fishing, when the Navy was conducting operations in the area, perhaps 1.5 miles away. The naval vessel hailed me as the fishing vessel at a certain Lat/Long, with no other identifier. We eventually decided we were the vessel in question, and responded.

If I were hailed with my position, along with some helpful hints such as "vessel 1.2 miles southeast of the Beaufort sea buoy", I would have a much better chance of identifying myself as the vessel in question.
Click to expand...

Does the Coast Guard monitor AIS and would they hail by vessel name if they knew it?

I believe they do a ton of stuff right but radio broadcasting to mariners usually ain’t one of them.
 
A bit off topic-

Offshore fisherman in our area use an old-school method based on Loran coordinates to identify their position. It's still useful, as you can configure your GPS to output Loran coordinates.

One set of Loran coordinates for a certain chain are perpendicular to the depth contours offshore of central NC. If you say "I'm at the 850 line at 50 fathoms," I can instantly get an approximate fix on your location without looking at a chart.
 
I find the coast guard to be inadequate in most cases. Its not like the old days before loran or even during loran when they maintained those systems. We see the local CG with the $400,000 boat tied up outside Leann's coffee shop and then later pulling me and my wife over in our Glacier Bay to do safety inspection. We were and easy mark to prove they actually did something that day on paper. I say sub out the buoy work and roll the safety stuff into the Navy,

Bud
 
Bud said:
I find the coast guard to be inadequate in most cases. Its not like the old days before loran or even during loran when they maintained those systems. We see the local CG with the $400,000 boat tied up outside Leann's coffee shop and then later pulling me and my wife over in our Glacier Bay to do safety inspection. We were and easy mark to prove they actually did something that day on paper. I say sub out the buoy work and roll the safety stuff into the Navy,

Bud
Click to expand...

You clearly don't see the same CG we do. Here they arrest illegal charters, track drug smugglers, inspect fishermen returning with illegal catches, handle those illegally going to or returning from the Bahamas, and deal with dangerous operators. Now they also do some training and routine safety inspections. Overall though I'd have to give them a very good grade.
 
BandB said:
That opens up a question. Is it legal to record in all jurisdictions. Many states have a one party recording rule which allows pretty much anything. However, the two party states require the consent of both parties of a conversation.

Are there special rules for VHF perhaps?
Click to expand...
Why would anyone care if there is a law against doing so? This is a safety issue. Plus, how would this "heinous crime" ever come to light, who would be damaged, and what prosecutor would waste valuable resources on something like this?
 
BandB said:
You clearly don't see the same CG we do. Here they arrest illegal charters, track drug smugglers, inspect fishermen returning with illegal catches, handle those illegally going to or returning from the Bahamas, and deal with dangerous operators. Now they also do some training and routine safety inspections. Overall though I'd have to give them a very good grade.
Click to expand...

Probably not. My experience with them was pretty regular in the Gulf of Maine as a commercial fisherman for 25 years. Then down here in the Florida keys for the last 10 years as a recreational fisherman. I could tell you stories.

Bud
 
I think they do ok in Long Island Sound and vicinity.
In my few experiences with them they have been courteous and professional.
 
catalinajack said:
Why would anyone care if there is a law against doing so? This is a safety issue. Plus, how would this "heinous crime" ever come to light, who would be damaged, and what prosecutor would waste valuable resources on something like this?
Click to expand...

Actually recording VHF quite legal as no expectation of privacy.

Now, recording phone and regular conversations prosecuted quite often. People present the recording to prove they were harmed and find themselves arrested instead.

I'd never done a secret recording until last week. Was in SC and a small town mayor wanted to speak to me. I thought him sleazy from the start so went prepared. SC is a one party state so all it needed was my consent. Based on what he proposed I'm very glad I did record.

That same recording would have been a felony in FL. Don't we just love having 51 sets of laws in one country?
 
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