Amateur Radio operators associated with the Maritime Mobile Service Network (MMSN) played a significant part in summoning medical assistance on November 9 for a crew member suffering chest pains on board the 48-foot sailing vessel Marie Elena, some 300 miles east of Bermuda. “The assistance we received from the ham radio operator[s] was crucial in helping […]
The US Coast Guard says it’s received reports from crews, ship owners, inspectors, and other mariners regarding poor reception on VHF radiotelephone, digital selective calling (DSC), and automatic identification systems (AIS) when in the vicinity of LED lighting systems. This could include interior and exterior lighting, navigation lights, searchlights, and floodlights found on vessels of […]
Phoenix sailor and radio amateur Timothy Henning, KE7WMZ, has expressed his gratitude to the Maritime Mobile Service Network (MMSN) for intercepting and handling his distress call on 14.300 MHz. Net control operator Harry Williams, W0LS, caught Henning’s call requesting assistance with an urgent medical condition on May 23. Henning, some 200 nautical miles south of […]
The US Army, Air Force, Navy, and Coast Guard will sponsor the traditional military/amateur radio communication tests on Saturday, May 13 to mark the 66th annual Armed Forces Day (AFD). Armed Forces Day is May 20, but the AFD Crossband Military-Amateur Radio event will take place a week earlier in order to avoid schedule conflicts […]
An investigation has been launched into fake distress calls that have been plaguing U.S. Coast Guard officials who monitor the waters off the coast of Washington and Oregon, according to a report in Joseph Farah’s G2 Bulletin. The manufactured calls for help have been documented over the last seven or eight months, and they are […]
The Pacific Seafarer’s Net relayed a call for help and contacted the US Coast Guard on September 28, after the SV Rafiki began taking on water some 230 miles south of Cold Bay, Alaska. At approximately 0300 UTC, Charles Houlihan, KD6SPJ, a net relay station, received the distress call from the sailboat’s caption. Houlihan, who […]