Hf Distress Mayday Call 8.250 Usb

[mancow]

Did anyone else happen to catch this? Just now I caught two guys on 8.250 USB speaking english with heavy spanish accents. One guy was screaming saying, "This is a mayday, this is a mayday". The audio was distorted and very hard to hear. The other guy was obviously upset and was trying to get info out of him. At one point I thought it may have been a fake deal due to the way the distressed caller's voice was souding but after listening a while it sounded like his radio was starting to malfunction. The last thing I heard him say was something about 60 knots and then both sides went silent.

Creepy.... and really pretty disturbing to listen to.

I can't figure out why the other side isn't trying to call him.


By the time I grabbed the R20 and hooked it in the HF port to get a recording they were gone.

 

[reconrider8]

wow that would be messed up to hear

 

[hill]

I think that 8.250 Mhz is located in the HF duplex Marine Band. The person in distress would have better chance of being rescued by using a frequency that is guarded 24/7, like the USCG does on MF/HF channels. HF propagation is always changing, so maybe both parties couldn't receive each other's transmission. 60 Knots would most likely be the wind and there are two areas that had that hight wind speeds today. I hope it end with a happy ending

 

[mancow]

I could tell that the non distress station could hear the guy but he was having a hard time making out what he was saying too.

I hope it ended well too but it sure sounded ugly.

 

[MrQ]

Maybe he was an outlaw station (non-licensed) down in the Gulf of Mexico in the storm? These guys don't know too much about radio operation (distress freqs., etc) and without contact with one of his fishing boat buddies, he was probable panicking.

 

[mancow]

That's kind of what it sounded like. I think he was just shouting at whoever would answer.

I still wonder what happened to him.

 

[chrismol1]

60 knots sound like he was in an aircraft
maybe you should give a call to the coast guard

 

[zz0468]

60 knots sound like he was in an aircraft
maybe you should give a call to the coast guard

That's a pretty slow flying aircraft. I more suspect it's wind speed from, say, a recently downgraded hurricane that's currently producing 60 kt winds.

Sure makes you wonder why he'd be calling mayday on that frequency. It does appear to be one of the duplex channels. I'm currently hearing some weak voice and fax traffic on it, but can't quite make out what's being said.

 

[k9rzz]

Wow ... a catch to remember.

I've got an audio cable going to the computer sound card always at the ready just in case I run across something like that. It takes less than a minute to hook up and start recording!

 

[City_Seven]

I hope they are ok. Anybody hear anything on the news about recent missing vessels?

 

[pathalogical]

Slightly off topic, but do offshore oil rigs (whatever body of water they may be on) use HF ? If not, how do they communicate with land based offices...cell ??? sat phones ???

 

[chrismol1]

Slightly off topic, but do offshore oil rigs (whatever body of water they may be on) use HF ? If not, how do they communicate with land based offices...cell ??? sat phones ???

i think they use sat phones and satellite communications sorta like voIP. in the 21st century, they have more reliable options such as satellite phones and satellite data for email
I would guess that back in the older days they would use radio, or just a boat/pontoon plane that came and delivered the info