Radio Communications

[Tony B]

Originally Posted by MacG

A bit about the same here:..........No formals.

Exactly. Brevity is more important than formality.
When I was in Tampa Bay area, some of the charter boat captains would get on the air after passing signals were made on 16 and say that after initial contact was made to go to another channel. I told them to kiss my ass. Saying "kiss my ass" was quicker than saying "let's go to another channel to discuss this". I was surprised that the CG didn't reply to that one.

[River Cruiser]

On the upper Mis I have it on all the time, helps know how busy the locks or bridges are and where tows might be. On head to head passing situation I don't normal hail a tow I just get out of their way. Wouldn't want to be on the river without one for safety reasons.

[Target9000]

On a recent cruise we were anchored off of Dauphine Island Alabama and settling in for the night. We made the mistake of turning off the VHF when we were getting ready for bed at about sundown.

At around midnight we got hit by a storm that hadn't been in the forecast. 40kts for about 2 hours. There was one other boat anchored nearby. We spoke to them the next day and they told us they had tried to hail us when they found out it was coming. Someone had called their cell phone to let them know. Someone tried ours too but we had no service in that area.

Lesson learned, just keep the thing on.

And Tony is right, the chatter is absolutely nuts in Louisiana waters and to a lesser extent most of the gulf coast that we've been on. In LA you commonly hear French/Spanish and all sorts of mixes of language. As you head east into Mississippi there is constant chatter from the fish/shrimp fleets and a warning from Mobile Bay coast guard every five minutes about using channel 16. However, for all the warnings, nothing ever seemed to change.

Its a wonder they just don't have something on an automated timer loop to repeat the "This channel is just for blah blah blah. CG monitoring and recording channel 16. Out."

[Richard5]

Originally Posted by jackdale

The most cryptic VHF usage I have heard is on the VTS channels.

A typical call is simply "Traffic, Seaspan Greg" (Sea Span is a big tug company). No three times, no "this is"
The message may be as simple as "Traffic, Seaspan Greg, Merry Island northbound."

The VTS channels are specific to a traffic zone.

"Over" is seldom used.

Head on situations usually are discussed as "red-to-red" or "green-to-green"

That kind of "cryptic" phraseology is standarized in aviation. I prefer that style.

[Target9000]

I also like how on the ICW down here if you're going to pass/be passed by a tug its always something like.

"give me a pass on the one"

or

"I'll take it on the two"


Nothing about starboard or port. Thing about red/green. Just one and two. I don't know if that is regulation here or what but if you're not clued into it the first couple of times you have to actually stop and think, "What the heck is my one?"

[Astrid]

I generally keep my VHF on, even when out of the shipping lanes. It is less a matter of my own safety, although there is that of course, but more importantly, I don't want to wind up like the Captain Lord of the SS Californian back in 1912--i.e., ship's wireless was off and so the ship missed a most important series of distress calls.

[goboatingnow]

Originally Posted by jackdale

The most cryptic VHF usage I have heard is on the VTS channels.

A typical call is simply "Traffic, Seaspan Greg" (Sea Span is a big tug company). No three times, no "this is"
The message may be as simple as "Traffic, Seaspan Greg, Merry Island northbound."

The VTS channels are specific to a traffic zone.

"Over" is seldom used.

Head on situations usually are discussed as "red-to-red" or "green-to-green"

In my training it was recommended, that in calling an expected destination, ie one that was listening for you , you only use one call/ caller ID pair .

Dave

[svmariane]

Went island hopping from Mexico to New Zealand and while we monitored VHF16 the radio was only used to contact harbour authorities upon approach/egress. It did, however, make a nice night-light near the ladder well!

From NZ we island hopped to Pago Pago where we've dropped the hook for repairs/overhaul. The Harbour Master here is also the Pilot, and he uses 16 for everything from welcoming visiting sailboats to giving steering instructions for the tug boats. We're waiting to hear how he handles the QE2 when she arrives!

The anchorage has between half a dozen sailboats (last cyclone season) to 30-odd yachts when the transit season is on. (Round the World groups, etc.) Then 16 gets busy as Boat-Alpha tries to contact Boat-Mike. Normally, they agree to switch to a working channel.

Most confusing times on VHF: Right now in late September, as the Tuna fleets cycle through to unload, re-provision, and head out. Those boats are big enough to carry their own helo, yet get stacked four deep at the pier. Besides the Harbour Master trying to keep everything under control on 16, the fishing boats are trying to tie up, or change positions so another boat gets dockside time, and they make calls on 16 to avoid fender-benders. Sometimes they change channels, sometimes not. Added to that noise we've operators with English as their second (or third) language so the repeating and misunderstandings take radio time. Then the Koreans will chatter whilst the Chinese jaw and the Native English speakers chime in and the German speakers (my wife and I) sit on the aft deck with a beer and enjoy the show.

Life is good.

[bobconnie]

Down the Bayou it helps if ya can speak Coon Ass !! LOL which is a combo of Cajun French and most anything else they can think of to throw in the conversation !!! so go slow and keep the radar and VHF on and a CB don't hurt if ya really want to learn another lingo LOL AHH Louisiana land of the best food and the worst Commuication!!