You’ve found yourself stranded up a remote creek arm, the victim of a spun prop hub on your outboard. You don’t have the repair parts and the sun is setting. The reflex response is calling for help on your cell phone, yet coverage is nonexistent.

Without a backup communications plan, you literally are dead in the water until help arrives.

Cellular coverage now blankets most of the country, including many lakes bordering major metropolitan areas. However, relying on a cell phone for emergency communication is akin to depending solely on a GPS receiver to avoid getting lost. A wise move is carrying a compass as a backup plan, and the same holds true for a cell phone.

Lest we forget, water and electronic gadgets don’t mix. A splashing wave over the bow can hose a cell phone, rendering a cell phone worthless in an emergency. Above all else, you could find yourself in a remote area without coverage at all. You get the picture.

VHF Radios
Coastal anglers have always known better. Before cell phones came along, mariners relied on VHF radios as the first and only line of communication between other vessels and fixed stations on land. That mantra holds true today, even though cell phones offer the added convenience of direct communication with the shoreline.

“I rarely use a cell phone on the water because I know it never was intended for marine communications,” said Capt. Art Figlio, a mixed-species guide on Lake Erie. “I’ve never understood why the bass boat guys don’t take advantage of the benefits of marine radios, and many of my clients are smallmouth anglers from out-of-state who fish big lakes.”

VHF marine channels are monitored by U.S. Coast Guard stations located on large inland lakes and major river systems. The U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary, made up of civilians who support the military branch, conducts routine patrols on smaller waterways. Auxiliary patrols monitor VHF channels, extending the coverage area for radio communication to most fisheries in the nation.

“Inland boaters, and especially bass fishermen, don’t think of owning a VHF radio,” said Jim Duckworth, a Tennessee guide and radio owner. “The stereotype associates a ‘marine radio’ as a bulky unit attached to an 8-foot antenna that gets in the way of making a cast.”

Duckworth uses his VHF primarily for backup communications, although it does offer practical applications on large impoundments and rivers. “I can communicate with barge operators, large recreational boats and even the lock tender at a dam, all of it connected with boating safety,” he said.
The other intangible boating safety benefit offered by a VHF marine radio is weather forecast monitoring. Most all radios come programmed with the NOAA All-Hazards radio stations operated by your local office of the National Weather Service.

Portable VHF marine radios come in models small enough to fit in the palm of your hand, yet they can hold their own against mobile units using long whip antennas. A waterproof, durable VHF handheld radio, including charger and flexible antenna, costs less than $100. You can purchase the radio from marine dealers or major retailers of fishing tackle.

Like any transceiver, certain rules apply to using a VHF radio. You’ll need to submit a license application (included with the radio) to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The license does not a require you to take a test. The FCC set aside radio channels and frequencies for specific types of communication. Channel 16 is the international distress, safety and calling channel. Use this channel to get the attention of another station (calling) or in emergencies. Ships required to carry a radio maintain a listening watch on this channel. USCG and most coast stations also maintain a listening watch on this channel. Channels 13 and 67 are the Navigation Safety channels used by barges and freighters. This is also the main working channel at most locks and drawbridges. Channel 67 is for lower Mississippi River only. The FCC has also established channel 9 as a supplementary calling channel for recreational boaters in order to relieve congestion on channel 16.

Satellite Devices
For a little more than you’d pay for the VHF radio, you can get even more reliable backup distress communication from the Spot Satellite Personal Tracker. SPOT works like a GPS transmitter, acquiring and pinpointing your exact location using satellites. Unlike a Personal Locator Beacon (PLB), SPOT updates your location in an emergency more often and with greater accuracy. Once activated, SPOT acquires its exact coordinates from the GPS network, and sends that location along with a distress message to a GEOS International Emergency Response Center every five minutes until cancelled. The center notifies the appropriate emergency responders based on your location and personal information, which may include the sheriff, police, game and fish warden, and other relevant emergency responders near your area. SPOT also comes with technology allowing friends and family to track your location on Google Maps, using your account information and software loaded on a computer.

Before the cell phone and now the technology available through satellite tracking, one method of emergency communication was relied upon by boaters around the world. It still is today, and if you own or operate a boat with a hull length greater than 16 feet, and don’t have the approved devices, you could face a costly $1,100 fine.

That is the maximum penalty for being caught without the proper visual distress signals required by the Coast Guard. The rule reads like this:
“All vessels used on coastal waters, the Great Lakes, territorial seas, and those waters connected directly to them, up to a point where a body of water is less than two miles wide, must be equipped with Coast Guard-approved visual distress signals.”

With most bass boats these days longer than 16 feet in length, you’ll want to be sure that you are following the law, as outlined above, if you fish on large impoundments or coastal estuaries.

Flares
Flares are small in size yet send out a highly visible signal, making them practical to have on board, even on waters narrower than two miles. A bright flare can be recognized by other boaters, shoreline home owners, marinas and vehicles traveling along the lake.

Think in quantities of three with visual distress signals. Following are suggested combinations from the Coast Guard:

• Three hand-held red flares (day and night).
• One hand-held red flare and two parachute flares (day and night).
• One hand-held orange smoke signal, two floating orange smoke signals (day) and one electric distress light (night only).

All this extra gear takes up space in your boat, but not enough to justify the risk involved in getting stranded in the middle of nowhere. Choose between the flares, satellite device and portable radio that fit best in your boating environment. Then, rest assured that you have a backup plan should the battery go dead in your cell phone — or worse.

BoatU.S. Provides VHF Radio Assistance

BoatU.S. has 24/7 dispatch centers that handle calls for boaters both on-the-road and/or on-the-water.

BoatU.S. is also authorized to issue MMSI numbers to users of VHF radios with the DSC feature. Information can be found at www.boatus.com/mmsi/  In a nutshell, this means that if you have a DSC radio hooked up to your GPS you only have to hit one button to send an automatic, repeating distress call to authorities. It will retrieve your location, and allows you to tend to the emergency instead of continuously trying to call for help.

Want to know more about safety flares? BoatU.S. recently conducted some tests on various flares. Readers can learn more about their findings at www.boatus.com/foundation/findings.
 

Web site designed and hosted by Roe Graphics.