Posted on 06/27/2018 5:34:39 PM PDT by ameribbean expat
U.S. Coast Guard sent this bulletin at 06/27/2018 06:19 PM EDT
MIAMI Coast Guard Sector Miami reported a loss of radio communication capability Wednesday.
The Coast Guard cannot monitor radio traffic offshore and is urging mariners to use extreme caution throughout the Miami Captain of the Port Zone, which includes the ports and waterways surrounding Fort Pierce, West Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale, and the Miami areas.
Mariners are reminded to check all safety equipment, carry a fully charged cell phone, and file a float plan with a friend or family member before getting underway.
If in distress, mariners should attempt to call Coast Guards Seventh District Command Center at 305-415-6818 or 305-415-6800.
A Coast Guard aircraft has been launched to monitor communications in Sector Miami COTP Zone. The estimated time of repair is unknown, but the Coast Guard is developing a radio coverage plan in the event repairs cannot be fixed for an extended period. A press release and notification will be issued once radio communications are restored.
That makes no sense at all; every CG vessel should have a receiver.
Waitaminnit -- if they depend on a high-powered repeater system for full-area coverage -- perhaps that's down hard... (Tower down?)
But -- no redundancy -- on a life-critical system????
Makes me glad I'm a fresh-water fisherman...
Marine communications do not depend on repeater systems. However, the USCG appears to be making reference to a system of remote receivers that send their received communications to a central monitoring point, likely via a microwave link. They may also be able to localize their transmissions in a similar way since VHF signals do not travel far past the radio horizon.
The CG radio comma equipment is maintained by civilian contractors.
p
+1
But -- no redundancy -- on a life-critical......
A couple of years ago, I was sailing about 15 miles off of Daytona heading north toward Jax. The first mate had managed to get the mailsail tangled up in the rigging during an early AM thunderstorm (he was a racer and REFUSED to use a preventer.... and when I went to sleep, it was back to bad sailing IMHO).
As I also had an engine transmission problem too, I called Coast Guard Daytona but CG Jacksonville answered. They had Sea Tow call me on the cell phone in case I needed help.
Apparently CG Miami and Jax cover the whole east coast of Fla through a series of repeaters then down through the Fla Keys, you get CG Key West. The comm they are talking about is VHF channel 16 (about 150 mhz) which is basically line of sight. My antenna height is about 60 ft above water and I figure with shore station height, that is good for around 30 miles or so.
In the old days, the CG network might have been connected via phone lines but now, I would guess microwave links today which is probably down.
Every offshore boat should have redundancy. I could have next gone to HF radio (SSB). Next would (now) be a Sat Phone as their prices have come way down. For distress situations, an EPIRB would be the last resort.
I also periodically check in on the Ham Radio nets to list my position with a net control. The 20 meter nets go on for the whole day well into the evening. I also have TWO VHF radios hooked up to two separate antennas.
Sounds to me like some ECM jamming going on.
Distinct possibility.
Essentially the same as the 2 meter repeater systems we hams use for socializing -- until the NWS issues a severe weather advisory. Then, it is tight, trained "Skywarn" net discipline that is an integral part of the tornado warning system.
Me too
Key West and Myamuh 80s
Both my girls born Coconut Grove @Mercy Hospital
To say it was a wild era is an understatement
I loved it
We still visit Miami Beach I have pals in Lauderdale and Naples ...we stay north of Lincoln road....lord ocean drive got so thugged up
They used to keep the opa local liberty city culture out of there
Not anymore
Probably so, but it seems to go to show how Obama let the military go to pot. Carter, Clinton, and Obama couldn’t have cared less about our national security.
Thanks...
Yeah, I agree with your take on it.
The no redundancy bothers me to.
but, it worked lol.
The Coast Guard is so badly underfunded that they are close to losing operability of the US’s only heavy ice breaker; this while other countries are building heavy and medium ice breakers like no tomorrow - nuclear powered ones.
How the heck does a dead zone like that move unless shifts in the earth’s plates and core are shifting have we spun out of axis slightly ? i just don’t see any of that happening without cataclysmic disruptions !
“But i panic” lol
ustah be under Dept of Trans,never Commerce, it is now und the DHS
Could be local land line facilities that trans the radio coms to Miami Sector CG 7
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