Coast Guard Baltimore VHF

[Chris52]

Just a few minutes ago I happened to hear DNR announce on Area 3 and 4 that the Coast Guard VHF towers are down. I’ve never heard this before and it explains why I haven’t heard them all day on Ch.16 BUT did hear Coast Guard Virginia clearer then I’ve ever had. So this raises the question of what would happen if there was an emergency of some sort and someone was trying to get a hold of them on the marine radio ? Many Fire and police vessels as well as MSP helicopters use the marine channels to talk to them on active incidents. Is there some sort of back up measures that they take ? I’m sure it won’t be down long but this is a first for me ever hearing something like this.

 

[danesgs]

call them on the phone to verify the tower is down for maritime emergency and find out how/how soon they will be back up. Am sure they will forthcoming with an answer. USCG is pretty good at helping an or being direct to answer calls. Unlike other services.

 

[danesgs]

I just called the Balitmore Yard where they fix the boats and the lady I talked to is sort of aware of things being down, then she gave me a number to call that is not in service. At this point I have no idea what is going on.

 

[danesgs]

Lets give the USCG Baltimore the benefit of the doubt here and let them fix whatever cluster-F*** they have. These folks are aware of what that channel means to the maritime public and no doubt are ON IT.

 

[Chris52]

I just heard CG NCR on VHF Ch.22 announce there’s an outage and that they are advising mariners to call them by phone or to call 911.

 

[danesgs]

Copy that

 

[jkahn]

Is calling 911 from somewhere in the bay, or offshore like when you call 911 with a river incident in MD and they keep sending the call to VA?
Just sayin............

Maybe that s why the VA tower is coming in clear, it might be covering Baltimore as a backup.

 

[Chris52]

Is calling 911 from somewhere in the bay, or offshore like when you call 911 with a river incident in MD and they keep sending the call to VA?
Just sayin............

Maybe that s why the VA tower is coming in clear, it might be covering Baltimore as a backup.

I was just typing what I heard

It seems to be resolved now. They had possible boat fire in the lower Potomac River and they were communicating with vessel.

 

[maus92]

Is calling 911 from somewhere in the bay, or offshore like when you call 911 with a river incident in MD and they keep sending the call to VA?
Just sayin............

Maybe that s why the VA tower is coming in clear, it might be covering Baltimore as a backup.

There are a number of tower sites that cover Sector MD-NCR. The system shows the telecommunicator vectors from the transmitting radio that they can use to determine approximate location of the calling party, and helps them decide what site to transmit from. They also have the ability to select what sites / channels to monitor.

 

[maus92]

Just a few minutes ago I happened to hear DNR announce on Area 3 and 4 that the Coast Guard VHF towers are down. I’ve never heard this before and it explains why I haven’t heard them all day on Ch.16 BUT did hear Coast Guard Virginia clearer then I’ve ever had. So this raises the question of what would happen if there was an emergency of some sort and someone was trying to get a hold of them on the marine radio ? Many Fire and police vessels as well as MSP helicopters use the marine channels to talk to them on active incidents. Is there some sort of back up measures that they take ? I’m sure it won’t be down long but this is a first for me ever hearing something like this.

The Auxiliary used to operate a radio facility at Cove Point on the weekends. It was a standalone station, and not part of Rescue 21. Not sure of its current status.

 

[Chris52]

They have a station on Webster Field in St. Mary’s and I believe one or two vessels but I’ve only seen and heard them a few times.

 

[hill]

Been busy at work and really haven't been monitoring much and thanks for the heads up on the outage.

The Station in St Mary's would be Station St. Inigoes.

https://www.cnic.navy.mil/regions/ndw/installations/nas_patuxent_river/about/annexes/webster-outlying-field/coast-guard-st--inigoes.html

The USCG Yard is a different command from Sector Maryland-NCR. The Yard is mainly in the ship repair business. Sector is a tenet at the Yard in Building 70. Both commands have a CG Captain in command.

See below on the Rescue 21 sites for Sector Maryland. Some on the border of another sector are shared by both. Rescue 21 provides a bearing to the transmitting radio that can determine the position.

https://www.navcen.uscg.gov/images/marcomms/cgcomms/Rescue21/SecNCR-Balt.jpg

The legacy radio system used a dedicated phone lines to link to the sites and would think that rescue 21 would be close. Some issues are out of the Coast Guard's control with them need to be corrected by a contractor which has the lines.

The Auxiliary has backed them up for past radio issues and unsure if done this time.

 

[hill]

Forgot to comment on the increased ability to receive Sector Virginia is the last post. I would think it must have clearer, due to enhanced VHF conditions with some possible ducting which have had a few days this week. We always get adjacent Sectors during these band openings.

 

[maus92]

Been busy at work and really haven't been monitoring much and thanks for the heads up on the outage.

The Station in St Mary's would be Station St. Inigoes.

https://www.cnic.navy.mil/regions/ndw/installations/nas_patuxent_river/about/annexes/webster-outlying-field/coast-guard-st--inigoes.html

The USCG Yard is a different command from Sector Maryland-NCR. The Yard is mainly in the ship repair business. Sector is a tenet at the Yard in Building 70. Both commands have a CG Captain in command.

See below on the Rescue 21 sites for Sector Maryland. Some on the border of another sector are shared by both. Rescue 21 provides a bearing to the transmitting radio that can determine the position.

https://www.navcen.uscg.gov/images/marcomms/cgcomms/Rescue21/SecNCR-Balt.jpg

The legacy radio system used a dedicated phone lines to link to the sites and would think that rescue 21 would be close. Some issues are out of the Coast Guard's control with them need to be corrected by a contractor which has the lines.

The Auxiliary has backed them up for past radio issues and unsure if done this time.

One of the major issues with the legacy system was its use of leased telephone lines, thus I would hope they would have moved to microwave or fiber. Even T1s are getting very old.

 

[danesgs]

Is calling 911 from somewhere in the bay, or offshore like when you call 911 with a river incident in MD and they keep sending the call to VA?
Just sayin............

Maybe that s why the VA tower is coming in clear, it might be covering Baltimore as a backup.

Your kidding right? calling 911 is calling 911 anywhere in the country. You also damn better be sure you need help.

 

[hill]

The old Bay Bridge high site on the Legacy system was the only linked via microwave. Unsure now.about ones in Rescue 21.