Channel 16 Mayday Audio off Nantucket, Ma.

Listen above to how to make a mayday call on vhf channel 16: exact location, exact situation, narrative of what is happening as it happens. Problem is, the caller, Brian Feener, made the call from his house...   Feener, a Fairhaven, Massachusetts commercial fisherman made the mayday call using a powerful land-based VHF. Brian sure knew what he was doing. His call was a successful canard due to


False Maydays: Coast Guard Seeks False Mayday Caller in North Carolina

Above: a waterproof chart case holds a NOAA chart of Gloucester, Massachusetts and a Wetnotes notebook, all handy tools for foredeck navigation. In the above audio, one redneck southerner brags to another about making hoax vhf radio mayday calls to the Coast Guard. This type of shennigans (and a felony) is going to become that much more difficult to get away with once Rescue 21's automated LOP


Of Maydays, Flares, Jetskis and Coast Guard Rescues

Above: Native Alaskan seal hunters hunker down for the night. Note umiak style kayaks, snowshoes and multiple paddles. Alaska State Archives photo. Key when making a vhf radio channel 16 mayday call is to be prepared for a whole lot more, communications-wise, than you bargained for. Rescue talk on the radio isn't a simple matter. For starters the Coast Guard will likely to ask you to switch


Goodbye LORAN; Hello Rescue 21

That hottest of horny librarians, and demagogue to the core, Sarah Palin. Washington Post After many years of reliable service, the Coast Guard shuts down the LORAN system and its expensive, labor-intensive broadcast stations across the country.  LORAN was once the only - and clumsy - way for mariners to track and claim their locations for navigation and maydays. It predates the far


When a Mayday Call Goes Unanswered

Uniden Atlantis 250G Hand-held VHF 2-Way Marine RadioAbove: animation image from kayakingpaddling.net, an Iceland site dedicated to online instruction. Sometimes mayday calls on channel 16 are too weak or garbled for the Coast Guard to pick up. In the audio recording of a mayday relay below, a ferry with 150 on board has broadcast a mayday call. There's a fire in the engine room. Their call


Making a Mayday Call: Who We Are and Where We Are

<!-- AddThis Bookmark Post Button END -->Above: Mayday audio, Cape Cod Massachusetts. One of the keys to making a mayday call on channel 16 via a vhf radio is to be sure that we describe where we are. After all, the Coast Guard -- or whoever else happens to pick up our call -- needs to know where to look for us.Also we need to describe what we are: in our case a sea kayak or a group of sea


How to Use a VHF Radio: VHF Channel 16 Securite Calls at Night and In Fog

One of the more valuable non-emergency calls to make on a marine vhf radio is the securite ( "say-cure-ee-tay") call.Make your call on low output on channel 16 in heavily trafficked areas or reduced visibility. State who you are ("kayak fisherman", "yellow sea kayak"), where you are ("off Thachers Island, Rockport"), where you're going ("making a transit from Thachers Island to Pebble Beac"h)


Making a VHF Radio Mayday Call: Give your Position, Hope for a Relay

VHF radio mayday calls are difficult to make if you're inexperienced and rightfully frightened by  your situation. The key is to give your position so the Coast Guard knows where to look for you. Fail to give your position and matters get complicated. Above: the battery guts of a handheld vhf radio. The yellow battery pack are rechargeable nicads. The root beer batteries are standard alkalines.


Using a VHF Radio: Speak Slowly and Calmly

Above: Coast Guard rescue swimmers gear up with fins, drysuits, hoods, etc. during a helicopter rescue training exercise.  Mayday calls are difficult to make if you're inexperienced and rightfully frightened by your situation. It's a mistake to let your panic get the best of you. If you start shouting into your vhf, your voice will clip.  . And therein lies the problem. Shouting or screaming