The use of 25W any time 1W will make communications is illegal......on
any channel.

The radio presets Ch 13 because you are normally speaking ship-to-ship
in or near visual range where 1W is appropriate for good
communications.

Communications should always be on 1W switching to 25W if that fails
or is reported to be noisy.

Of course, all rules/regulations ARE suspended in the event of a life
threatening emergency aboard. You can run 1000W or 10KW in a
life-threatening emergency.

One of our biggest problems on Channel 16 is MARINAS. Some idiot at
the FCC allows these marinas to have TALL TOWERS and 25W radios which
are always left on 25W parking boats 200' from the 70' tower on the
dock. Marinas need licenses that say they may only use 1W radios with
antennas no higher than 10' above the floating docks. Anyone
listening to Ch 16 for a day knows why. Marinas also need to have
their asses busted for transmitting on ship-to-ship ONLY channels in
the range from Channel 68 to 72. Some of these channels are ONLY for
ship-to-ship traffic, not marina operations.

I think all marina operations should be handled on the COMMERCIAL
channels set aside for operations, like Channel 10. Marinas ARE
commercial marine businesses, you know, just like tugboats and
sightseeing boats.



On Thu, 21 Aug 2003 16:11:54 -0700, "Steve" wrote:

My VHF has a H/L button for selecting high or low power on various
channels.. Some channels, when selected, are preset at Low power. If I push
and hold the HI/Lo button the indicator shifts to HI..

Am I actually overriding the preset low power when I do this??

Is it legal to do this on a channel that is suppose to be LO power (ie.
channel 13)??

Or if legal, is it ethical??

The reason I ask, Monday, I was trying to reach the Hood Canal Bridge
operator and I was still several miles away.. He wasn't answering on his
working channel or channel 16..

I know that they like to have at least 1 hour notice to schedule a draw span
opening and I couldn't get through on their phone number (seems someone
changed the phone number but didn't tell me about it ;o( ).

After about an hour and finally laying-to 800 yards from the bridge and no
response in either HI or Lo power, the US Navy Bangor operating center came
up on 13 and gave me the correct phone number.

From that point on, the bridge tender was overly attentive (maybe got his
ass chewed for not monitoring his radio).

As I am told, in my cruising guide, the bridge crew works on maintainance
while someone is suppose to be monitoring the radio.. In truth, I think they
just monitor the 'Hot Line' phone from their own operating center.

Oh Well! An interesting experience and I have the correct phone number
posted at the chart table.

I wonder what people do who go sailing without a cell phone?? Maybe, pull
over and use a payphone??

Didn't we use to use horn signals to communicate with bridge tenders??

Steve
s/v Good Intentions





Larry W4CSC

Maybe we could get the power grid fixed if every politician
regulating the power companies wasn't on their payrolls.

On Fri, 22 Aug 2003 10:19:50 -0400, "JAD"
wrote:

VHF has become a joke here on the upper Chesapeake

I was boatless for three years and when I returned to sailing on SF
Bay the first thing I heard was "This is ____. Can I get a copy?" on
CH 16. What's up with that? Is that CB lingo? Should I have suggested
Kinkos?

I say bring back licensing but drop the price to something reasonable.

Dick Locke ) wrote:
: On Fri, 22 Aug 2003 10:19:50 -0400, "JAD"
: wrote:

: VHF has become a joke here on the upper Chesapeake

: I was boatless for three years and when I returned to sailing on SF
: Bay the first thing I heard was "This is ____. Can I get a copy?" on
: CH 16. What's up with that? Is that CB lingo? Should I have suggested
: Kinkos?

: I say bring back licensing but drop the price to something reasonable.

and this will solve the problem how? Back to you, good buddy :-)

--
Jim Hollenback

my opinion.

I agree, VHF has become very much like the CB for the unlicensed users.

I predicted this would happen when they dropped the license requirement in
the early '90s.

While I was living aboard at anchor in SD Bay in '93-'94, I monitored the
VHF because I didn't have a cell phone and in an emergency, my family could
reach me via the marine operator. With the VHF constantly on and scanning 16
and a number of other ship to ship and working channels, I could hear all
forms of abuses. One evening I happened to over hear US Navy "parking lot
security patrols" using, not only Marine VHF, but channel 16 to report their
patrol status.. In this instance, there happened to be a Navy Capt. aboard
his personal boat and he contacted the command watch officer responsible for
allowing this mis-use of Marine VHF.

Now I hear of a local pizza place on the waterfront (in Seabeck, WA) that
monitor and operates on Marine VHF, to take your pizza order and has it
delivered via boat. This is a case where the Cell Phone should be used.


--
My opinion and experience. FWIW

Steve
s/v Good Intentions

Jim Hollenback wrote:

Again, how does a license requirement prevent idiots? Especially one that
does not require passing a minimal test of regulations? You drive, don't
you? There is a minimal test of driving skills to obtain a drivers license
that costs money. The road is full of idiots.

I gotta agree. Only solution I see is to self police like the Ham bands.

Punishment? Nothing serious, just a joke. In Hi school we used to pour a
teaspoon of gasoline or lab (stove) alchohol down the miscreant's crack,
flick an bic and watch the dance.

73, K3DWW

Steve wrote:

I agree, VHF has become very much like the CB for the unlicensed users.

I predicted this would happen when they dropped the license requirement in
the early '90s.


As more people USE their VHF, of course there will be more that don't
know how to use it until they learn.

But I really like that more people are using their VHF! Cells and such
are fine for some purposes, but a properly working VHF and the knowledge
to use it are vital in an emergency.

Now I hear of a local pizza place on the waterfront (in Seabeck, WA) that
monitor and operates on Marine VHF, to take your pizza order and has it
delivered via boat. This is a case where the Cell Phone should be used.

If they switch to a working channel after initial contact, I have no
problem with using the VHF. I'd of course prefer that they use 9 or
their working channel, but that doesn't seem to be going over so well on
the Chesapeake. A very few marinas only monitor 9 and only water taxis
stick to their working channel.

--
Jere Lull
Xan-a-Deux ('73 Tanzer 28 #4 out of Tolchester, MD)
Xan's Pages: http://members.dca.net/jerelull/X-Main.html
Our BVI FAQs (290+ pics) http://homepage.mac.com/jerelull/BVI/

JAD wrote:

I started another thread on this very subject under "open mikes on radios"
above. Let's hope some uniformed or undereducated boaters read this....

VHF has become a joke here on the upper Chesapeake.....especially on the
weekends. A useful tool has become another plaything....especially with
"conversations" taking place on 16. The Coast Guard groups Philly and
Baltimore are constantly warning people about it.....and it continues......

I wish folks would THINK before they mash that mike button down......


There are always dolts like that, though I admit I sometimes forget
which channel I'm on, so sometimes AM the dolt ;-)

But I'd rather the yahoos had their VHF radios on to maybe hear distress
calls than "force" them to cell phones or some other sort of radio. I've
lost track of the number of boats we had to serve as "point" for: They
didn't use or maintain their equipment and when they really needed to
get out, the could hardly reach us 100 yards away. We had to guide the
tow boats in and relay communications. If they had found out that they
didn't get out before then, in a non-emergency situation, they might
have gotten things fixed for when it mattered.

I get annoyed about improper ettiquette, too, but figure they'll
eventually learn as they hear others do it (more) properly.

--
Jere Lull
Xan-a-Deux ('73 Tanzer 28 #4 out of Tolchester, MD)
Xan's Pages: http://members.dca.net/jerelull/X-Main.html
Our BVI FAQs (290+ pics) http://homepage.mac.com/jerelull/BVI/

Larry W4CSC wrote:

The use of 25W any time 1W will make communications is illegal......on
any channel.

Excuse me, but while I agree with your intention.... "illegal"? hardly.
A waste and annoyance? Yes.

One of our biggest problems on Channel 16 is MARINAS.

Hardly, at least in our area. Most of the time, I can hear the boater,
but not the marina and except in a few cases, the only thing the marina
says on 16 is "Ack and switch to ....". Quite a bit of the time, they're
talking 100mw on a handheld anyway.

I think all marina operations should be handled on the COMMERCIAL
channels set aside for operations, like Channel 10. Marinas ARE
commercial marine businesses, you know, just like tugboats and
sightseeing boats.

I strongly disagree. I'll use 10 and such only to talk to our towboat
operator. I'd like it as clear as possible. I don't want the uninformed
(marina or boater) getting used to using these channels. If they're
using low power, they hardly contribute to the congestion on the "CB"
channels.

'Course, I will call up tugs and freighters on 13....

--
Jere Lull
Xan-a-Deux ('73 Tanzer 28 #4 out of Tolchester, MD)
Xan's Pages: http://members.dca.net/jerelull/X-Main.html
Our BVI FAQs (290+ pics) http://homepage.mac.com/jerelull/BVI/

On Fri, 22 Aug 2003 12:02:58 -0700, "Steve" wrote:


Now I hear of a local pizza place on the waterfront (in Seabeck, WA) that
monitor and operates on Marine VHF, to take your pizza order and has it
delivered via boat. This is a case where the Cell Phone should be used.

Carry your marine walkie talkie INLAND, some time. I had a friend,
who died of cancer in 1994, who ran his pest control business in
Greenville, SC, far from any ocean on Channel 10 for 15 years or so.
Noone ever bothered him. He had a base station on a 70' tower at his
office and used cheap marine VHF mobiles very successfully. You could
hear "Charlie One" all over Greenville. The tower was on the side of
a mountain.



Larry W4CSC

Maybe we could get the power grid fixed if every politician
regulating the power companies wasn't on their payrolls.

Dick Locke wrote:

On 22 Aug 2003 10:12:36 -0700, (Jim Hollenback)
wrote:



Dick Locke ) wrote:
: On Fri, 22 Aug 2003 10:19:50 -0400, "JAD"
: wrote:

: VHF has become a joke here on the upper Chesapeake

: I was boatless for three years and when I returned to sailing on SF
: Bay the first thing I heard was "This is ____. Can I get a copy?" on
: CH 16. What's up with that? Is that CB lingo? Should I have suggested
: Kinkos?

: I say bring back licensing but drop the price to something reasonable.

and this will solve the problem how? Back to you, good buddy :-)



Wellll, it won't solve it but it will help. First of all, let me back
off on complaining about CB lingo, so I dont get an Old Fart award.
More serious problems are conversing on hailing channels.

I figure the offenders are in three groups: The willfully ignorant,
the just plain ignorant because they haven't been exposed to the right
way, and the malicious. The malicious I think are rare and it's
usually kids on 16.

With licensing, the practice was that all communications had to
identify the call sign. If that requirement was brought back, the
Coast Guard and the FCC on slow days could remind people to use call
signs when they hear unidentified communications. Except for the
malicious, those would become rare.

Didn't work for the CB channels (I got my first in '67, when all that
was required.). We did our share of sticking pins in coax of the truly
clueless.

On VHF, call signs (when used) slow things down. Truth be told, the boat
names serve better than call signs. If "Abalone Crusher" is a PITA, I
can remember that better more easily than KCR930548 and it's probably as
easy to look up.

In addition, with the license, there could be a radio etiquette
handbook that would explain a few things. That would take care of the
simply ignorant.

You didn't get one? I've got the basic rules pasted right on the radio.
The current one was from the CG Aux boat check, but it wasn't my first copy.

Not a perfect solution, but like drivers licenses, requiring a license
improves things.

Where do YOU drive? ;-) A lot of drivers around here seem to have gotten
the license from Pep Boys and drive like Moe, Larry and (whomever).

--
Jere Lull
Xan-a-Deux ('73 Tanzer 28 #4 out of Tolchester, MD)
Xan's Pages: http://members.dca.net/jerelull/X-Main.html
Our BVI FAQs (290+ pics) http://homepage.mac.com/jerelull/BVI/