VHF and Sea kayaking

[Andywright]

Thought I would share my knowledge on the above. :D

If you have a portable VHF you must hold a licence when operating or have a licence holder sat next to you directly supervising you transmission. :hat

Your set also needs a portable radio licence, enabling you to use it on your kayak. To do this log onto www.radiolicencecentre.co.uk fill in the online form and pay the £15 fee. You are now set to use a VHF. :eek

With the portable licence you get a "T" number, this is NOT your call sign (as with a fixed set) you call on your boats name, so it must have a name and displayed.

Just to be extra safe, complete a CG66 form from the coastguard web site complete it and send it with a picture and send to your local coast guard, this gives them all your information safety kit and home contacts. When radioing in your trip, add on the end "you hold my CG66" or if in another sea area add the name of the coastguard who holds your form. :|

happy paddling and VHFing :p

ps You are not allowed to use a VHF on the shore not even on the beach :(

Andy W 8o

[MikeB]

Ahha ! Another of us has "done the course" !! :D

Just a point - "With the portable licence you get a "T" number, this is NOT your call sign (as with a fixed set) you call on your boats name, so it must have a name and displayed." - are you sure about this?

Yes to the "T" number - but unless something changed radically recently, there is no need to have a craft name, let alone display it, nor to actually use it as a call-sign, if you are using a hand-held.

You can use any name you like as a call-sign from a hand-held.

Good idea re the CG66!

Mike.

[Andywright]

I was incorporating the VHF licence with the CH66. What you suggested was correct. You must have a boat name displayed for the CG66 (for identification purposes)

I believe this is good practice so you are consistently calling using the same name, which is the displayed name on you kayak.

make sure your name is a sensible one, ie one you can pronounce three times without getting jumbled or tongue tied, mine for example is sheerwater displayed on the boat as "sheerH2O"

Andy

[chris]

But what if you use your VHF with more than one boat? Do you file multiple CG66s? And what happens if you don't know exactly what boat you'll be using - for example if you hire or borrow a boat?

[Andywright]

A tricky situation! or not so?

You would register "one" boat - I guess your main kayak, but what you have to remember here is the CG66 is a voluntary scheme, so each boat does not have to be registered. :)

Your VHF Radio communication Licence covers the VHF set and not the boat (as with a fixed set) so boat to boat is fine. You can use your CG66 registered boats name but dont add "you hold my CG66" at the end of your transmission. But ensure you are carrying appropriate safety kit for the level of trip :hat

Hope this helps

Andy 8o

[Douglas Wilcox]

This reminds me of the Peter Sellers line: "Do you 'ave a leesonse for zis minkee?"
Douglas :)

[MikeB]

a leesonse is nice to have - - - if nothing else, having it means you've either done the course or at least passed the licence test which means you have understanding of the procedures, what channels to use (or not!) and what the limitations of VHF are.

The RYA does a very good book - VHF Radio (inc GMDSS) which, although concentrating a lot on GMDSS, does give all the background info, procedures, etc that you need to use a VHF - and indeed pass the licence test!

Using one "in an emergency" to call for help, without having a licence, will not bring down the wrath of the C/G or the Licencing Authority as they would much rather the set was used to cry for help than not used just because you didn't have a licence. So spaketh my friendly C/G man when asked, anyway.

Improper use will however earn you a swift rebuke from the C/G radio control and no doubt efforts will be taken to trace you. I haven't seen that many radio-dectector boats around though :lol

I've just done my CG66 form - it provides a record of who to contact and gives details of the boat and if that helps at all if I'm "in trouble", then thats good. If it also saves me spending 10 mins passing on details I'd rather not transmit (phone no!) to give a very helpful C/G lady the info she wants, then thats fine too.

But I think it's important to clarify that the CG66 is NOT a requirement, either for boating or using a VHF. I've found the C/G people to be very helpful indeed and always to have an emphasis on "support" and "help" rather than "requirements" or "compulsion".

Calling the C/G has become a part of my launch and landing routine this summer and I have always found them friendly and helpful.

Clearly the system is designed for "proper" boats - if ever I find myself paddling a different boat I will tell the C/G when I call them - problem solved.

Mike

[Douglas Wilcox]

For those who like to chat, afloat or ashore, sans leesonse, try these:

www.twoway-radio.co.uk/trolleyed/

With a hand held VHF transceiver at sea level, quite a lot of the West coast of Scotland is out of range of Coastguard stations and in an emergency you might be calling on on local lobster boat to relay your message. In many places even a mast mount will be out of range of the coastgaurd so it pays to be extremely courteous to the local water users who might later be your means of rescue.

www.gla.ac.uk/medicalgene...ignish.jpg

VHF tranceivers are also useful for getting weather forecasts from the coastguard.

www.hmcoastguard.co.uk/we...hedule.php

An announcment is made every 4 hours on channel 16(starting times on above site) directing you to the appropriate channel.

I tried to programme a Tandy scanner to get these but it was worse than a videorecorder. I understand you do not need a leesonse for a scanner because they are just completely illegal.

Mobile phones are also useful and I have found O2 to have the best coverage on the West Coast and Orange the best cover on the Solway. You might need to shin up a local hill to get a signal and even if you get a strong signal you still might not be able to make a call in summer as the cell is swamped to capacity by the influx of visitors who are addicted to their phones.

The RYA VHF book is excellent. They are also bringing out a new navigation booklet which uses gps in very novel ways useful for sea kayaking.

For example, before you go you programe a waypoint of your destination into the gps then use a compass (with a pencil on one end!) on your map to draw concentric arcs every kilometer out from your destination covering yor approach. You then draw radiating lines from your destination, every 20 degrees or so. This creates a grid. You then set your gps to take you to the waypoint. It will show direction (degrees) and distance which will place you in one of your "squares". Brilliant! And it works in rough water without having to take your hands of the paddle.

I love gadgets that work but I like ideas like the above even better because they are so original, elegant and simple.

Douglas
:)

[Terra]

www.gla.ac.uk/medicalgene...ignish.jpg

That's a Weymouth boat isn't it? Its GPS must be up the creek.

[Douglas Wilcox]

Hi Terra,

spot on, Weymouth is the "Three Brothers" port of registry.

www.hmso.gov.uk/si/si1988..._en_11.htm

There were only two brothers onboard and both had West Highland accents. Dont know about their GPS but they found their lobster pots OK, about 60 of them on a long line between two dan bouys.

They then went across to the other side of the loch where they presumably had another 60. I asked what the catch was like: "pretty miserable only one or two" presumably one or two more than in Weymouth.

Douglas

[Jim]

"then use a compass (with a pencil on one end!)"

Normally known as compasses, thus doing away with the need to explain that it has a pencil and not a lump of lodestone in alchohol :-)

Nice idea!

I bought Franco Ferros book on sea kayak navigation the other day - haven't read it yet though. Can never have too many ideas of navigation methods!

JIM

[Douglas Wilcox]

Thanks Jim, my geriatrician colleagues tell me forgetting words is the third stage! Franco's little book is excellent but very traditional. The forthcoming RYA booklet will add to it.

Do sea kayakers who remain closew to shore need to be able to navigate?

www.gla.ac.uk/medicalgene...1fleet.jpg

Douglas :)

[Andywright]

Navigation is a great skill to have, and can be fun!!
Navigation close to to the shore is important to identify tidal flows, back eddys and potential tide races. Plan a trip using a tidal flow atlas and you will fin paddling with the tide behind a joy!