Do You Monitor VHF Channel 16?

[Cmdr Pete]

In the U.S., Coast Guard regulations require that you monitor channel 16:

"Vessels not required to carry a VHF marine radio (e.g. recreational vessels less than 20m length and commercial vessels under 100 GT carrying less than 6 passengers), but which voluntarily carry a radio, must maintain a watch on channel 16 (156.800 MHz) whenever the radio is not being used to communicate. Effective 2004 if a radio is carried, it must be turned on and set to channel 16 whenever the vessel is underway."

Source: FCC 47 CFR 80.310

http://www.navcen.uscg.gov/marcomms/watch.htm

I'm wondering how many people do.

Around here, this would be the typical radio traffic on a busy weekend day:

"Extasea, Extasea, Extasea.....this is Lunasea....Tony, you got your ears on?" (repeat 5 times)

"Hellllooo....Helllloooo"

"Vessel saying hello....This is United States Coast Guard channel one six"

"Helllloooo"

"Securite, Securite....This is SeaTow #5 in the Smith Channel with a vessel in stern tow requesting a slow pass and minimum wake. Sea Tow standing by channel 11 and 16"

"Waterboy this is Happy Daze. We're firing up the grill. How many hot dogs do you want"

"This is Newbiefish....can anybody tell me where the fish are biting?"

"uhm....ahhh...can I get a...uhm....radio check? This is Seaslug...uhm...requesting a...uhm...radio check"

"Pan pan, pan pan, pan pan, hello all stations, at 17:32 Greenwich Mean Time the Coast Guard received a report of a vessel in distress. No name, location or nature of distress given. All mariners are requested to keep a sharp lookout, assist if possible, and report all sightings to the United States Coast Guard" (repeat every 15 minutes)

"Hellllloooo"


(And on and on. I could almost put up with this, until we get to the keyed mike. Sounds like this:)

"sssssssssssssss..tic tic tic tic tic sssssssssssss..tic tic tic tic sssssssssssssss..tic tic tic ssssssssssss..tic tic tic sssssssssssssssss..tic tic tic......

I keep the radio on sometimes, but it can be very annoying.

[Captain Smollett]

I do maintain a radio watch in traffic areas.  I also keep the radio weather alert on so I can hopefully get a bit of warning on that thunderstorm I was having too much fun to notice.   :)

My only radio is a handheld, btw.  It does have triple-watch and wx alerts, though.

[s/v Faith]

Yes,

  But the regs make no mention of howyou set the squelch.  ;D

  Where I sail, I have to keep it up about 1/2 to drown out much of the same chatter Pete lists above.  I turn it down before I call, and listen for a minute so that I know I am not blocking necessary traffic.

[Cmdr Pete]

One downside to using a fixed VHF with antenna at the top of the mast. You pick up every chucklehead within a 20 mile radius.

[Godot]

I pretty much always keep the radio on.  And pretty much every time I sail I hear the above annoying chatter.  What really gets me, though, is that almost every time I'm out someone will call in a mayday and the coast guard spends half the day calling for information before eventually reminding everyone on the radio that it is very illegal to call in a false mayday.  Yet, it happens almost every time.

[AdriftAtSea]

Fortunately, the USCG is now prosecuting people for issuing false Mayday alerts... and that will start to reduce the number of idiots doing it... it gets rather expensive to do that when you have to pay for the time of the USCG.. ;)

Generally, when I'm underway, I do monitor Ch 16., but will do so on my handheld, rather than the main VHF, for two reasons.  First, I get less range out of the handheld, so have to only listen to the people in my immediate area.... and second, I can't hear the main VHF when I'm out in the cockpit.

[Lynx]

Pertty much the same with me. I have a remote mike in the cockpit. I can hear the VHF fine execpt when at Wide Open Throtal.

[skylark]

I do not monitor VHF, although I have a handheld.  I don't use it much except to get the weather.

I didn't know there was a law that said you have to monitor it!

[sailaway21]

Just a note on using channel 16:
You can relieve part of the congestion, when calling another vessel that you know is listening, by adding, "shift, and answer on Channel such and such".  You pick the such and such bearing in mind the cpabilities of the radio the other vessel carries.

I think the FCC is doing more of the monitoring and fining than the USCG.  I know that they record broadcasts on a multiple of frequencies, in areas one would not expect!

[BobW]

Yes, I do monitor Channel 16 using a handheld.  The USCG seems to monitor it quite well and, at least in this area, are quick to remind people Channel 16 is not for social chit-chat.  It seems a lot of folks will hail another vessel and ask for a response on another channel.

Channel 9 is used in the Delta to contact drawbridges, and there is often more chatter on 9 than on 16, but the bridge tenders and the CG discourage the small talk on 9 as well.

[CapnK]

Grog to C'pete for a most life-like reconstruction of typical summer Ch 16 chatter. LOL, so sad but so true. :)

I monitor 16 if I am in an area of traffic (shipping channel, ICW, inlet mouth, jetties), but once far enough away from other boats that it would take tens of minutes for any collision/contact to happen, I monitor the wake, wind, and perhaps the stereo instead.

Have to admit to sometimes turning the radio on once I am far away from all the people, and for a few minutes listening to them being basically idiots, cursing at each others wakes, being irresponsible and ignorant, and all the other Jerry-Springer-without-video blarney that you hear.

Then I turn the radio off again, smiling at what I am missing while I'm out on the wide-open water. :)

[CharlieJ]

I might make one small point here- I have been involved twice now in a stand by or relay situation on the VHF where a vessel was in difficulty and could not reach the Coast Guard.

In one case I heard the Mayday when no one else apparently could. I was a relay until the Coast Guard could find the boat. We stood by on 22 alpha for them.

The other time I alerted the CG to the call and they picked it up. That time another vessel was much closer so we were relieved.

So there is another very good reason to have that radio one- you just MIGHT save a boat calling a Mayday. Wouldn't it be terrible if YOU were in trouble and every one had their VHF shut down?

[CapnK]

Geez CJ, you sure know how to make a guy feel bad! ;D

...but you make a very valid point.

[Joe Pyrat]

Yes,

  But the regs make no mention of howyou set the squelch.  ;D

LOL, exactly!   ::)

[mudnut]

This link is a bit long winded but if ya scroll down because it bores you and, it might,It will no doubt shed light on fixing chanel 16 problems for ever.Mudnut.   http://www.afewgoodboats.com/disaster.html   

[Captain Smollett]

This link is a bit long winded but if ya scroll down because it bores you and, it might,It will no doubt shed light on fixing chanel 16 problems for ever.Mudnut.

Oh my word.  I thought you were overstating your case just a bit, but you weren't.

Anyhoo, I often wonder why the routine hailing traffic, like the stuff about "Hey Bob, how was the Lobstering today?" could not just be offloaded to a working channel by agreement between the parties.  I mean, if Bob and I know we are going to chit chat on 68 (or whatever), why not just hail on 68 to begin with?

A lot of newer radios have dual watch and triple watch capability, so you can monitor 68 (or other), 9 and 16 all at the same time.  It's one approach, and I'd use it for communicating with friends that I KNEW ahead of time that I was going to talk with (but really I don't like the idea of using the radio for chit-chat anyway).

Bottom line, though, the various "fixes" for overload on 16 are all going to be by voluntary compliance.

[AdriftAtSea]

DSC will eventually replace VHF CH 16... and using DSC to talk to your friends is pretty easy if you have their MMSI. 

[smoegen]

Hi Folks, up here in Scandinavia leisurecrafts have L1 and L2 those channels are fore lesuireboats only, we are also entitled to use 77-72 or any other channel the coastguard/coastradiostation/merchantship recomends or tells us to use.

At this time of year its very little traffic on any channel here in our waters,  so when im out at sea during the pre-season i set my radio to scan 16 and all the channels mentioned above.

But during the summer 77-72 are quite busy, while L1 and L2 is almost always quiet. So in order to get som peace and quiet onboard i 77-72 are left out in the summermonths.

I do belive that there are channels dedicated for lesiureboats over in your waters, so my question is are those channels less popular or is this a scandinavian/swedish behavior? (esp. the norewegians love ch 77).

Ok thats all from Sweden sc5984 RosaII out.

[s/v Faith]

DSC will eventually replace VHF CH 16... and using DSC to talk to your friends is pretty easy if you have their MMSI. 

Anyone here using DSC?  I expected it might cut some of the "chatter" but if so, I certainly have not noticed.  Laying here at anchor in Marsh Habour the channel 68 buzz (more often used here then 16 for non-emergency hailing)  seems just as active as ever... 

[Godot]

I never chat on the radio. But, I do keep a list of the mmsi of boats I know (maybe a half dozen), and have entered them into the radio's directory, just in case it might someday come in handy. I keep hoping to try it out; but I never sail in company so...

It would be nice if people would start to use DSC; but I'm not sure how likely it is. Assuming they are in range of a cell tower, I suspect most people looking for private comms will just use the cell phone. Heck, the coast guard almost always asks for the cell number of anyone with legitimate business with them. Once out of the populated areas of the USA, perhaps it will become more useful.

I think in general it is just too much hassle for most people to acquire, and then program in, the MMSI of folks they want to talk to. Darn shame. I seem to always here the same boats hogging the airwaves every summer weekend.

When the chatter gets too annoying, I've been known to turn the radio off. I know we aren't supposed to; but when excessive radio chatter starts to interfere with my being able to relax and enjoy the water, I do what I need to do.