Falmouth or Solent CG?

[lakelandterrier]

Whilst out yesterday around Torbay, we heard a number of vessels requesting radio checks etc. to Falmouth Coastguard - the station that is meant to have taken responsibility from the River Exe westwards following the closure of Brixham MRCC.

Without exception, all of these calls to Falmouth CG were answered by Solent CG, which surprised me, and made me wonder which of the 2 stations is actually covering the area, and which I should contact if a need arises.

Some of the calling boats did identify their location as being places like "off Berry Head" so I know they were in the Falmouth area of operation.

I know Solent is now the national control centre, but I thought the regional operational areas remained?

Are the control centres flexing their boundaries to meet operational demand, and does it actually matter who you call / who answers now?

[John Kennett]

It doesn't really matter any more. With the new networking setup that the coastguard are using now there's no telling where your call will actually end up.

I suspect that before too long we'll be dropping the local prefix and just calling "UK Coastguard" or similar.

[David G]

Milford Haven coastguard answered a call made on Saturday from the Severn Estuary using the "Severn Bridge Aerials"..............

[lakelandterrier]

Originally Posted by John Kennett

I suspect that before too long we'll be dropping the local prefix and just calling "UK Coastguard" or similar.

I think you may be right, John.

Still as long you get the response / aid required, I suppose it doesn't really matter. It was inteersting though that Solent, that I thought was the busiest station, was picking up these routine calls from afar.

[ShinyShoe]

Solent may be the busiest, but they may have had no casualty working going on and Falmouth may have had 1 or more. This is exactly the way the system was designed to work. Although I expected they would have said they were Falmouth and you'd never know. I suspect there could be some 'politics' going on... ...need to let the public know the system has advantages after all the criticisms in the early days of call centre staff who didn't seem to understand what was happening on the ground coz they appeared never to have seen the sea etc...

And for months prior to the new system Falmouth were routinely requesting (via the MSI broadcast) not to have radio checks. So make it known you can't cope then implement a new system and make it known it works...

[Mollers]

Falmouth work on 'd'reckly' time and if the sun is out, there are a couple of ice cream vans parked on the point just below the station. One of them is Hichy's and personally, I'd give that one a swerve unless you're after a cup of tea.

I wonder if I'll get solent next time out?

[lakelandterrier]

I did wonder if Falmouth Control Room had nipped off for a cup of tea or several!

I did think that as some of the boats requesting radio checks gave their location (not head that before) as "being off Berry Head" or similar, that they may have been testing the response with Brixham MRCC no longer operating.