MRCC Solent visit 8 June 2013

[whisper]

Also before I forget, your position of your first emergency call is used along with weather and tide information to plot your position at the point of rescue. This is another good reason to press your DSC button as soon as possible after an incident.

To make the best possible prediction they need to know all your details e.g. the size of what needs rescuing (man over board or broken down rib) as the system calculates the distance and direction traveled......

Clever stuff ehh

We also talked about the CG66 scheme which is a way of recording your details on a system now and you are issued with a unique number, this is something that many of us have already done

For more info on CG66 click here:

MCA - CG66

[John Kennett]

Originally Posted by whisper

Also before I forget, your position of your first emergency call is used along with weather and tide information to plot your position at the point of rescue. This is another good reason to press your DSC button as soon as possible after an incident.

And here's the bit of kit that does the clever stuff.

In the drawers underneath they have half the UK's entire supply of charts, parallel rulers and pencils in case they have to resort to doing things the hard way!

[whisper]

Originally Posted by John Kennett

And here's the bit of kit that does the clever stuff.

In the drawers underneath they have half the UK's entire supply of charts, parallel rulers and pencils in case they have to resort to doing things the hard way!

And......

If for any reason they believe that the weather or tide info isn't correct, they can tell the lifeboat to stop propulsion and they will then track them as they drift and reapply this information in the system giving them a more accurate search pattern

[Nos4r2]

Something that hasn't been said yet-if you use the red button if you have to call a mayday, there WILL be people near their radio to hear the followup voice call.
They'll have to manually acknowledge the DSC alert in order to stop the alarm, which will put them onto ch16.

[gtb]

Thanks for the tips -- keep them coming.

Did you get a sense whether the MRCC is well-funded / has all the stuff they need / is getting by on a shoestring? Likewise, are they well staffed, or rushed off their feet? (I have no agenda, just curious)

Any comments made about mad RIB drivers wizzing around the Solent Just another set of customers? or troublemakers as the GC keep a look out for commercial traffic, etc?

I'm interested in the ops side of things.

[boristhebold]

A great tour, enjoyed it very much.

If you have a PLB or EPIRB then remember to register it with your info.

I thought their 12 hour shift patterns were a bit much, how can they keep up their attention for 12 hours.

On closures they were rather PC about them, looked to me they seem to have a huge area to cover, with some stations closing nationaly i wonder if they will lose any local knowledge.

A great visit

[landlord]

Originally Posted by gtb

Thanks for the tips -- keep them coming.

Did you get a sense whether the MRCC is well-funded / has all the stuff they need / is getting by on a shoestring? Likewise, are they well staffed, or rushed off their feet? (I have no agenda, just curious)

Any comments made about mad RIB drivers wizzing around the Solent Just another set of customers? or troublemakers as the GC keep a look out for commercial traffic, etc?

I'm interested in the ops side of things.

Appeared to be well funded and very professional.

After all the negative issues in this Country with cut backs, immigration and benefit cheats, it's reassuring that something's seem to be done right with the tax we pay. I would certainly feel confident in the CG and the other agencies working with them if I had to call them out. Their equipment and professionalism seemed first rate

The tour was very impressive and the equipment and software seemed well thought out. The tidal and wind data along with drift coefficients of a huge number of different 'things' in the water can be used to build a search pattern. A person with a life jacket has a different drift coefficient to a person with a buoyancy aid and again different to a person unconscious etc so the drift rate with wind effect can be calculated. The data base is huge and covers all types of craft, floating, sinking, submerged etc, very clever.

[Tim M]

With regards the CG station closures, having had it properly explained it does seem to make more sense than what I thought was going to happened originally. In a nutshell:

-3 stations have closed
-The rest will be remain open apart from Portland, although it is subject to review (they are very keen for it to remain open)
-The idea behind the national CG station is that if any of the other stations become too busy, VHF traffic/phone calls etc can be handed over to the national centre. Under normal conditions, local traffic will be handled by the local CG station.

I agree regarding local knowledge, but if it's simply a case of dealing with routine calls eg radio checks etc then it will greatly help to spread the load. Likewise, the software they have is so clever a lot of emergency calls could probably dealt with miles away perfectly safely. On a similar note, he mentioned that the new Atlantic 85s are fitted with cameras which can be linked directly up to the control room so they can see what's going on. Very clever! As technology advances surely logic dictates that the operation can be downsized. For example, when the CG was first set up, each station had to be within 2 hours walk of the next one so that communication could take place relatively easily. Guess they didn't have live video links back then....

[C2 RIBS]

Originally Posted by boristhebold

A great tour, enjoyed it very much.

I thought their 12 hour shift patterns were a bit much, how can they keep up their attention for 12 hours.

A great visit

I would hazard a guess that the shifts of twelve hrs were voted for so they get more time off, they are a government agency and unless they sign off working time regs they have to comply with the number of hrs worked in a given period. So 12hrs at a time may actually be beneficial to staff time off and family life. Loads of government teams opt for longer hrs and then more time off

[Tim M]

If I recall he said they do 2x 12 hour (0800 - 2000) days shifts. 2 days off. Then 2x 12 hour night shifts, followed by 4 days off.

[landlord]

Think youll find its 2 days on, finishing at 8pm then start the night shift the following day at 8pm, so in effect 24 hours between finishing the day shift and starting the night shift. All followed by 4 days off

[gennaro]

Originally Posted by whisper

Back home now after a very informative day We had a presentation followed by emergency and radio room tour.

We were asked to pass on what we had been told so the top things I took away were:

1, In an emergency use your red DSC button (if you have one) before making your voice call. This gives the CG a lot of info and also alerts other vessels in your area to listen into your transmission on CH16.

2, When making an emergency call on Ch16 make sure you use the correct call either panpan or mayday. This tells other vessels to stay off CH16 and also helps the CG to categorise your transmission.

3, CH16 can get busy in the high season with radio checks, they advised that there are other ways of doing a radio check such as using your handheld or another boat.

4, Make sure that your mic button is working and does not stick on and also an object can't fall on the transmission button, we were told about a husband and wife who had an argument for 40 mins about a dripping tap at home and this transmitted on CH16 jamming the channel. In the end the CG helicopter had to fly to their position to tell them! If your mic button gets stuck one of the radio operators has to listen to the call very closely incase any information comes through, the lady operator said it's like listening to white noise for as long as it takes for the transmission to stop.

5, Every call on every channel is recorded and stored for 6 months! while emergency transmissions can be kept for 6 years.

The others can probably add to this

I did my SRC course last week and having seen similar discussions on here about radio checks on Channel 16 I asked the instructor about this. He was pretty clear that radio checks should only be requested on Channel 67 (or Marina channels). Is this a relatively recent change to the process as it seems not everyone is aware of it??

[landlord]

Originally Posted by gennaro

I did my SRC course last week and having seen similar discussions on here about radio checks on Channel 16 I asked the instructor about this. He was pretty clear that radio checks should only be requested on Channel 67 (or Marina channels). Is this a relatively recent change to the process as it seems not everyone is aware of it??

Think its only a Solent CG request that Checks are done on 67 due to high radio traffic in the area. Everywhere else still 16 I believe.

[whisper]

They said that about 40% of the UK's boating is done in the solent so this is probably why they have started to request this on 16 after you have completed your check

They also said that some use a radio check on 16 as a way of announcing that they are out on the water to their friends who also monitor 16 so after a radio check their mates call up on 16 and say move to channel ?? so they can have a chat.

This is the sort of thing the blocks the emergency channel

They said that some radio check on 16 every day

[gennaro]

Originally Posted by whisper

They said that about 40% of the UK's boating is done in the solent so this is probably why they have started to request this on 16 after you have completed your check

They also said that some use a radio check on 16 as a way of announcing that they are out on the water to their friends who also monitor 16 so after a radio check their mates call up on 16 and say move to channel ?? so they can have a chat.

This is the sort of thing the blocks the emergency channel

They said that some radio check on 16 every day

I guess it'll be a while before everyone has DSC equipped radio.

[Trevor G]

Originally Posted by landlord

Think its only a Solent CG request that Checks are done on 67 due to high radio traffic in the area. Everywhere else still 16 I believe.

Yup - that's what I heard at the visit as well.

I think it's only the Solent that keeps a listening watch on 67 as well as 16. The other areas ask you to call on 16 asking for a radio check in the call, and will move you to 67 or 63 (or whatever their area's working channel is) if needed.

Trev

[gennaro]

Originally Posted by Trevor G

Yup - that's what I heard at the visit as well.

I think it's only the Solent that keeps a listening watch on 67 as well as 16. The other areas ask you to call on 16 asking for a radio check in the call, and will move you to 67 or 63 (or whatever their area's working channel is) if needed.

Trev

I finished that course pretty sure of the process for radio checks but now it's as clear as mud if Solent isn't the nearest CG, mine would be London or Dover.

The instructor was from Portsmouth so that would explain his interpretation as the Solent is his local area, but surely there should be a consistent approach whoever is teaching the course. His opinion is if it's not urgent keep 16 clear, which seemed logical.

[PolarBear]

Say hello from me - I worked there as a deputy watch manager and SMC a couple of years ago... they are all top men and women. It may be possible to arrange a bolt on visit to the flight aswell - chances increase if you take along some biscuits or donuts for the athletic but hungry watch keepers!

Matt.

[PolarBear]

Oh and by the way - all MRCCs monitor 67 and use it as the primary working frequency. Solent is unique in that there is an extreme concentration of pleasure craft users and "sunday boaters"... My years at Humber, we did very few radio checks. Commercial vessels, fishing vessels and the offshore industry don't do radio checks with the coastguard, but they are hugely popular in the solent. I believe it is self perpetuating. There are lots of beginner boaters on the water in the solent, and I suppose they hear others doing radio checks with solent, and assume they should do the same themselves. I never minded issuing radio checks tbh, as for the most part they are simple to respond to, and it is good that people have the confidence to call up - but perhaps it is worth remembering the alternatives, and ask yourself why you are calling. One call from you might encourage 10 newbies to do the same... For some reason nobody ever calls southampton VTS for a radio check....!

[Rogue Wave]

Don't get me wrong am very grateful that the CG is there, but what I am detecting from the las part of your your post is ' i'm kinda official and we don't want it to happen!' Are you saying the Coastguard don't want to hear Radiochecks, cos they are going to be hearing mine on 67 until it becomes Illegal. and fkk em if they don't like it as I'd rather they were inconvenienced than I was 20 miles out, in trouble, and my radio only worked for a short range.

If the Solent is so busy why don't they have YOPS in to manage the radiochecks. I'm sure there's no end of decent articulate teenagers and unemployed people who would jump at the chance of doing something useful for tea and biscuits. It's gotta beat stacking shelves at Tesco's for work experience
and it would not look at all bad on their job seeking CV's


Call me old fashioned but I really thought it would be better that 10 newbies were encouraged to play safely than not bother doing Coast Guard radio checks.

'Perhaps if it's a strain and should encourage DSC Checks by urging the salesman of new radios to demonstrate how to do a DSC radio check to the customerin the shop, or publish a chart of how to do it if the unit is mail order

I work in the Offshore Industry as a boat driver and I agree there not much point doing a radio check with the CG when you are in the Schehallion field however we have a radiocheck matrix that we go through prior to launch so that we know we have comms prior to launch coz its important for safety

I think it fair to say that other commercial vessels and shipping have enough routine radio traffic between themselves and VTS before leaving port that a Radio check becomes superflous.