Flares? What flares?

[boomerang]

Hey PSN, was the CG using night vision instruments when you were flying? Serious question. I'm not making fun of your age...I mean advanced experience.
Just curious.

 

[Blissboat]

The SOS flash is kind of silly. Even HAM radio operators don't need to know Morse anymore.

Yep. Occasionally I think of those precious hours of my youth, spent trying to get proficient at Morse Code . . .

 

[psneeld]

Hey PSN, was the CG using night vision instruments when you were flying? Serious question. I'm not making fun of your age...I mean advanced experience.
Just curious.

USCG was just getting started on NVGs when I retired. I helped pioneer FLIR back in the early 80s.

Northrop installed a top of the line FLIR in a Miami helo and I was the first to deploy to a cutter off the Yucatan on a drug patrol and requested to test various techniques with it.

On one patrol, we saw a flashing light we thought was a couple miles away...nearly 15 miles away we flew over it...it was a fisherman and his lighter smoking on the transom.

 

[bowball]

Yep. Occasionally I think of those precious hours of my youth, spent trying to get proficient at Morse Code . . .

Me too for my ham radio license. After I built my Heathkit radio. I miss Heathkits and the smell of solder.

 

[SteveK]

Canada 2018 changes for flares

Sirius Signal SOS LED Electronic Visual Distress Signal with Daytime Distress Flag, and Whistle

 

[TheBigWhit]

Do any of you run a HAM rig on your boats? Each boat we look at I’m trying to figure out where the radio, tuner and amp will sit and how am I going to get a 40/20 dipole up from one end to the other.

 

[Group9]

USCG was just getting started on NVGs when I retired. I helped pioneer FLIR back in the early 80s.

Northrop installed a top of the line FLIR in a Miami helo and I was the first to deploy to a cutter off the Yucatan on a drug patrol and requested to test various techniques with it.

On one patrol, we saw a flashing light we thought was a couple miles away...nearly 15 miles away we flew over it...it was a fisherman and his lighter smoking on the transom.

I had a similar experience flying on OPBAT missions with the USCG in the Bahamas. One night, 2003,we spotted a strobe though our nvg’s. It was so bright, as I said, you just couldn’t ignore it.

The moment we saw it, I hit the MOB button on my handheld GPS. When we finally got to the strobe, it turned out to be a sailboat at anchor. I checked my GPS and saw that we had gone just over twenty miles.

I decided right then and there, that I would always have a strobe on my boat for emergencies.

 

[SteveK]

Was the strobe an anchor light? Should be banned for anchor or nav use.

 

[psneeld]

In USA Inland Navrules.....strobes are for distress, but international...... they are not mentioned for distress and really can't be confused for navigation lights.

They were commonly used on fishing gear back in the day...made search and rescue very difficult because many USA organizations use/used them for distress including the USCG and rest of USA military.

 

[Group9]

Was the strobe an anchor light? Should be banned for anchor or nav use.

Yep, that’s exactly what it was.

 

[sailormike]

Do any of you run a HAM rig on your boats? Each boat we look at I’m trying to figure out where the radio, tuner and amp will sit and how am I going to get a 40/20 dipole up from one end to the other.

Yes I run Ham on both my center console and on the trawler. also use aprs



kg4srw-4 kg4srw-8

 

[TheBigWhit]

Yes I run Ham on both my center console and on the trawler. also use aprs



kg4srw-4 kg4srw-8

Just looked you up on Q. What type antenna do you run on the boat? What bands are you on? Do you run an amp? I can’t wait to see where I can work once offshore. I’m k4wwi.

 

[Comodave]

Do any of you run a HAM rig on your boats? Each boat we look at I’m trying to figure out where the radio, tuner and amp will sit and how am I going to get a 40/20 dipole up from one end to the other.

It would be better to start your own thread about ham radios instead of jumping into a thread on flares. You will probably get better response also.

 

[TheBigWhit]

It would be better to start your own thread about ham radios instead of jumping into a thread on flares. You will probably get better response also.

Quite right. Sorry for the derail!

 

[markpierce]

One dark evening in the early 1980s, offshore from Benicia (Carquinez Strait, San Francisco Estuary), our camp stove flared up in the cockpit. Immediate, unneeded assistance was offered from local boater(s). Open fires attract attention.

 

[psneeld]

One dark evening in the early 1980s, offshore from Benicia (Carquinez Strait, San Francisco Estuary), our camp stove flared up in the cockpit. Immediate, unneeded assistance was offered from local boater(s). Open fires attract attention.

Open flames are one of the COLREGs distress signals.

 

[Comodave]

Open flames are one of the COLREGs distress signals.

Absolutely.