Ham Operators assist Coast Guard in sea rescue

[K7FE]

Amateur Radio Operators and Coast Guards Worldwide
Cooperate to Perform MAYDAY Rescue
Mon, 14 Apr 2008 11:18:57 -1000

At 03:00Z on the Saturday Pacific seafarers ham radio net, controller
Randy, KH6RC in his Ocean View, Hawaii radio shack, received a relay from
Patricia, ZL2RK aboard SV Chameleon, at Aur Atoll in the Marshall Islands. She had contacted RCC New Zealand at 02:45z to declare a MAYDAY for SV Windswept, a 62 foot trimaran. The trimaran had been dis masted [80ft mast] in the Marshall Islands. There were two people on board, husband and wife, both in their 70's. They had communicated with SV Chameleon by marine SSB, as they do not have a ham radio license. The New Zealand Coast Guard declared the boat out of their domain, and said they would forward the request to the US Coast Guard.

Randy KH6RC on the Big island of Hawaii was requested to contact RCC
Honolulu to follow up with US Coast Guard. At 03:20Z Randy called
808-535-3333 and confirmed contact with New Zealand Coast Guard. They
determined that the Australian patrol boat, LOMAX, was in the area
and could be deployed out of Majuro to locate the distressed vessel, Windswept. At 21:20z Sunday, Randy received word from the US Coast Guard in Honolulu, Hawaii that the Australian patrol boat Lomax had:

#1 located the distressed vessel Windswept

#2 Had performed engineering assistance

#3 Was in the process of escorting distressed vessel Windswept back to
Majuro, Marshall Islands.

The crew on Windswept was able to set up an emergency HF antenna to
maintain an hourly schedule on frequency 8173 SSB. This greatly assisted the
coast guards and radio operators in locating them and providing assistance.

A special thanks goes out to the coast guards of New Zealand, Australia,
and United States of America for a job well done. Also to amateur radio operators worldwide for keeping their ears open to those in need.

Aloooha, to Randy KH6RC and thanks to Patricia, ZL2RK for a job well done.

Amateur radio works when other communications methods are not up to the task.
73,
Terry, K7FE

[W6PEA]

And people say Ham radio is just a hobby.....It's not just a hobby it's a public service.

Well done to the two operators. Randy KH6RC and Patricia, ZL2RK. Yes Amateur radio works when other communications methods are not up to the task.


73 de w6pea

[VK2AKG]

Amateur radio works when other communications methods are not up to the task.

However, the information in your posting leads me to believe that, on this occasion at least, "other communication methods" were up to the task.

73 Frank

[n5rfx]

[B]
Amateur radio works when other communications methods are not up to the task.

Exactly what was not working?

73,
Mark N5RFX

[N6EAG]

The ship in distress was not able to reach authorities on their own and had a relay from a ham on another ship. It seems that if the distressed vessel would have had ham gear they might have reached the mainland to request Coast Guard assistance.....or perhaps the issue was a lousy antenna when the mast came down. Either way is was nice that someone was listening.

[KD6NIG]

Sounds to me that all that they did was do what the Coast Guard called in the first place should have done-contacted the appropriate one for the area, instead of blowing them off and telling them to do it themselves....

[K7FE]

Several of you raised good and yet unanswered questions .

There were some conclusions on my part, perhaps erroneous. How did the second ship relay the distress call? Amateur radio or marine? Was the initial ship to ship communications short range VHF marine because the HF antenna came down with the mast?

The news of this event was relayed via amateur radio, however what part did amateur radio communications play in the actual rescue? Perhaps ZL2RK and KH6RC will shed some light on the issue when they are able.

I know from my limited sailing experience in international waters that my amateur HF gear always allowed me to reach civilization.

73,
Terry, K7FE

[W5HTW]

Sounds to me that all that they did was do what the Coast Guard called in the first place should have done-contacted the appropriate one for the area, instead of blowing them off and telling them to do it themselves....

I'm not sure I would consider it "blowing them off" when they contacted the US Coast Guard.

They had communicated with SV Chameleon by marine SSB, as they do not have a ham radio license. The New Zealand Coast Guard declared the boat out of their domain, and said they would forward the request to the US Coast Guard.


Sounds to me like the two boats communicated via marine HF, which answers one question. And it also appears the New Zealand CG contacted the USCG. I can't say I see a problem with that.

It would appear news of the incident was relayed to the Pacific Seafarer's Net, but the net had no role in the operation. It simply reported it. On that score, it would be nice to have some clarification. But the way it reads, it appears the only role amateur radio had in the operation was that the rescue was reported to have occurred, using amateur radio as the reporting means.

[KD6NIG]

I guess I read it too fast. But then it appears the ham was asked to relay the call to the US coast guard, so maybe I misinterpreted it by the way it was written. He followed up I guess.

Oops :)

[K9FV]

OK everyone, go back and read the OP carefully (or maybe I do?) the OP said:

1. The trimaran communicated with Patricia, ZL2RK aboard SV Chameleon by marine SSB, as they do not have a ham radio license.

2. Patricia, ZL2RK contacted RCC New Zealand at 02:45z to declare a MAYDAY for SV Windswept, a 62 foot trimaran.

3. The New Zealand Coast Guard declared the boat out of their domain, and said they would forward the request to the US Coast Guard.

4. Pacific seafarers ham radio net, controller Randy, KH6RC in his Ocean View, Hawaii radio shack, received a relay from Patricia, ZL2RK aboard SV Chameleon, about the situation.

From this we see the dis masted boat contacted via Marine SSB to a Ham operator (ZL2RK), who then contacted the New Zealand Coast Guard who forwarded the request to the US Coast Guard.

Next ZL2RK relayed the info to the radio net control.

See, Ham radio DID play an important part - relaying "Mayday" msg to NZ Coast Guard. As to why the Marine SSB would not reach the New Zealand Coast Guard - don't know, but it seems it did not and ham radio was the first contact to official help. Just shows when in trouble, use any and all means possible.

73 de Ken H.

[W7KI]

Yes Amateur radio works when other communications methods are not up to the task.


Surely an EPIRB would have been up to the task. It begs the question why they didn't have/use one...

[kc4rsn]

Job well done.....SEMPAR Paratus........73, John

[ki4jek]

Think is was a nice piece of info. Coast guards of 3 nations can work with each other to save lives. A mairtime moble has relayed info to NZCG, they relay to USCG. Maritime moble relays to HI stationed ham who call USCG. Auzie boat saves persons and lives. USCG calls ham back and says all OK. Tells me USCG has respect and appreciation for Hams by calling back as most hams do for USCG.

[KC0OFZ]

And people say Ham radio is just a hobby.....It's not just a hobby it's a public service.

Well done to the two operators. Randy KH6RC and Patricia, ZL2RK. Yes Amateur radio works when other communications methods are not up to the task.


73 de w6pea

It IS just a hobby. It can at times and does at times provide a service , that is all.
What "other" methods were not up to the task and why not? AR simply is one of the tools that worked in this case. Sometimes it works sometimes it does not. This time thankfully it did work as needed.

[9M2LIM]

...The trimaran had been dis masted [80ft mast] in the Marshall Islands....
...The crew on Windswept was able to set up an emergency HF antenna...

Ie. The distress vessel SV Windswept (a trimaran) did not have their proper HF antenna. That was probably why they could not reach the NZ coastguard directly with their marine SSB.

OK everyone, go back and read the OP carefully (or maybe I do?) the OP said:

1. The trimaran communicated with Patricia, ZL2RK aboard SV Chameleon by marine SSB, as they do not have a ham radio license.

2. Patricia, ZL2RK contacted RCC New Zealand at 02:45z to declare a MAYDAY for SV Windswept, a 62 foot trimaran.

3. The New Zealand Coast Guard declared the boat out of their domain, and said they would forward the request to the US Coast Guard.

4. Pacific seafarers ham radio net, controller Randy, KH6RC in his Ocean View, Hawaii radio shack, received a relay from Patricia, ZL2RK aboard SV Chameleon, about the situation.

From this we see the dis masted boat contacted via Marine SSB to a Ham operator (ZL2RK), who then contacted the New Zealand Coast Guard who forwarded the request to the US Coast Guard.

Next ZL2RK relayed the info to the radio net control.

See, Ham radio DID play an important part - relaying "Mayday" msg to NZ Coast Guard. As to why the Marine SSB would not reach the New Zealand Coast Guard - don't know, but it seems it did not and ham radio was the first contact to official help. Just shows when in trouble, use any and all means possible.

73 de Ken H.

So I still don't see how Ham radio played any part. Remember that Patricia, ZL2RK herself was aboard SV Chameleon, also a marine vessel. It was not stated explicitly, but it was most probable that SV Chameleon relayed the "Mayday" to NZ Coastguard via marine communications and not amateur communications.

SV Windswept could not reach the NZ Coastguard directly most probably because they lost their proper HF antenna along with their mast, thus their need to set up emergency HF antenna as stated above.

[ki2k]

Not aiming this at any one person- but why pick something like this apart to this degree? Even if ham radio played a simple cheer leading role, why question the feel-good factor? This is one of the most ridiculous threads I have ever read.

Mr. Hollingsworth said it best... "lighten up!"

Lee
KI2K

[KB3QWC]

It was good that ham radio saved the day in this SAR, but the primary means of maritime distress communications are dedicated VHF/MF/HF frequencies. This dedicated marine distress frequencies are guarded 24/7 by watch standers who have much training is maritime assistance. If the distressed vessel was in contact with a ham that didn’t know how to process this emergency much more trouble could have occurred.

Everyone sailing on the high seas should be equipped with a Emergency Position Indicating Radio beacon (EPIRB). These EPIRBs send distress call via satellite when the vessels crew can’t or doesn’t have time to transmit a standard voice mayday call. The EPIRB fixes the vessel location so the rescue service knows where to look.
This EPIRBs are also registered with owner and vessel information, so after received a distress alert they have the vessel data.

This highlights the need for marine radio operator training for people doing open ocean sailing. I feel the major problem in this case is that the sailing vessel’s main HF antenna was down due the loss of the vessel’s mast.

[KG4RQO]

Not aiming this at any one person- but why pick something like this apart to this degree? Even if ham radio played a simple cheer leading role, why question the feel-good factor? This is one of the most ridiculous threads I have ever read.

Mr. Hollingsworth said it best... "lighten up!"

Lee
KI2K

Thanks, Lee, for putting this in perspective. The PacSea Net, the Maritime Mobile Service Net and countless others have in the past and will in the future come to the rescue of many folks in trouble on land and at sea.

To those who serve, "Bravo!" To those who have nothing better to do with their time than "nit-picking", one can only hope that they will someday find a way to serve their fellow mankind. It's such a shame that they are missing out on one of the great joys our skills and licenses allow us to experience.

73

de KG4RQO
John

[n5rfx]

Not aiming this at any one person- but why pick something like this apart to this degree?

Because it is a little delusional to think that Ham Operators assisted the coast guard in a sea rescue. That is the title of the thread. What appears to have happened is that Patricia, ZL2RK wanted to make sure that the New Zealand coast guard did indeed relay the mayday message to the US Coast Guard so she asked Randy KH6RC to check it out for her.

This is fine, but to say that Amateur radio assisted the Coast Guard is a bit of an embellishment. Maybe a better thread title would have been Ham Operators insure Coast Guard Stations do their job in sea rescue.

If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.

73,
Mark N5RFX

[ki2k]

"If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen."

Yeah, that's it. Heat. In a ham radio discussion forum... makes a lot of sense.

[ke5irn]

Good grief! I am with ki2k on this one.
Lighten up.

[W6SN]

Actually, the title is that ham OPERATORS assisted. Not ham RADIO. So stop tearing this thing apart. It's a good story, about some OPERATORS who happened to help out.

Because it is a little delusional to think that Ham Operators assisted the coast guard in a sea rescue. That is the title of the thread. What appears to have happened is that Patricia, ZL2RK wanted to make sure that the New Zealand coast guard did indeed relay the mayday message to the US Coast Guard so she asked Randy KH6RC to check it out for her.

This is fine, but to say that Amateur radio assisted the Coast Guard is a bit of an embellishment. Maybe a better thread title would have been Ham Operators insure Coast Guard Stations do their job in sea rescue.

If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.

73,
Mark N5RFX