Archive for November, 2010
Use the winter season to brush up on the phonetic alphabet!
For a large part of the nation we live in, there is an abundance of ice on the lakes during the winter season preventing us from enjoying time on the water, but that’s no saying we can’t take advantage of that downtime and brush up on the tools we need to use when we ARE out on the water. It really is a great idea to keep these things so well learned that they become second nature to us so in the event of an emergency, we won’t have to scrounge around to find a paper with these listed on it. Time may be of the essence at that moment. In order to clearly call in your position and the identity of your vessel to the US Coast Guard on your VHF marine radio, it will be necessary to use the phonetic alphabet so there is no mistake what you are saying in the event of a poor connection due to weather or long distance. For review, the following is the phonetic alphabet and phonetic numbers….
Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Delta, Echo, Foxtrot, Golf, Hotel, India, Juliet, Kilo, Lima, Mike November, Oscar, Papa, Quebec, Romeo, Sierra, Tango, Uniform, Victor, Whiskey, X-ray, Yankee, Zulu
Wun, Too, Tree, Fow-er, Fife, Six, Sev-en, Ait, Nin-er, Zero, Decimal
Hope this helps…. Happy Boater.
Many choices – which one is right for me???
When looking to outfit your watercraft with a marine radio, which one should you be thinking about? First you must decide what your main purpose of having it on board is…is it for entertainment?? …safety?? …both?? …where will it be used?? …playing music?? …weather advisories?? All these things come into play when deciding which radio is right for you. Now, there are a lot of radios in the market today with high technological abilities that will cover a lot of these bases with one blow. I tend to lean toward the VHF Marine Radio for the simple reason that I believe it is fast becoming an item that eventually will be classed as a “must” on board any boat that travels further than a couple of miles off shore. A VHF Radio is available as a fixed unit or a portable (hand held) unit. Generally the advantage of having a fixed unit is a more stable and reliable power, a higher level of transmitting power, and larger buttons and display. A hand held VHF Marine radio also has advantages…they are waterproof so would be an ideal item for stowing in a life raft for emergencies and they have their own power source. Choose your radio wisely. Happy Boater.
Plan worked well…
A couple of weeks ago, I indicated that I was planning to use my portable hand held CB Radio set to help communicate information to the person I was working with so he could cut the correct pieces for me as I was stuck under the cabin trying to insulate and isolate a portion of the plumbing to protect it from the coming frigid temperatures. I’m here to tell you that this plan worked better than good! Not only did it work great, but it went nearly three times as fast as I could have done it myself. There was barely enough room to lay under the cabin so it took quite an effort to slide out from under there every time I decided to make a cut on one of my pieces. It was hard enough for me to just keep my head up under there and use the nail gun at the same time to install the framing material. I am VERY THANKFUL for friends willing the help and also for those two very small, but wonderful little CB Radios. Happy Boater.
A CB Radio is a great travel companion…
We are keenly aware that the heavily traveled Thanksgiving season is upon us once again. Not only is it the most heavily traveled holiday of the year, it happens every year right during the time that the weather can play nasty tricks on the poor traveler. I traveled to Branson, Missouri a few years back about the middle of November. On the way back to Minnesota, I encountered absolutely TERRIBLE roads about 70 miles south of Des Moines, Iowa. The road was closed by the state troopers and my wife and I ended up spending the night on the floor of a gymnasium (and glad to be there, I might add!) At the time, we had no communication device in the car at all, but it sure would have been comforting to have some communication with truckers on the road so we could have maybe been a wiser traveler and pulled off the freeway long before they closed it for the night! It would have been the smart thing to do. This holiday travel time, why not bring with you even a hand held CB Radio? It may be the best thing you ever packed – and it doesn’t even need installation!! Happy Boater.
Why not use your marine radio all year???
I just had a great thought! Why not install a speaker system at home or on your deck (if you are in a climate that allows that) so that when it comes time to park that boat or pontoon for the year, you can simply transfer your marine radio receiver to your home base so you can continue to use it all year ’round! Imagine – being able to play your MP3 music through your system by simply plugging it in! Your place could become the favorite place to hang out for all your friends…and you accomplished it by just being resourceful!! Good for you. Happy Boater.
Got a break in the weather – a gift…
Today is a sunny, bright day and it actually feels mild to warm outside as far as temperature goes. The snow has just about melted away except for a few traces left in the shady areas. Now, I know this is just a “feel good” break in the weather because it IS November and what happens in November??? Right!! Cooler to cold weather as well as that white stuff we get to shovel. This year why not take advantage of the breaks in the weather and do some updating to your boat or pontoon?? Maybe you needed time this summer (and just never got any extra time) to cut in some new waterproof marine speakers into your pontoon or boat. Now’s the time. What better time that when the boat is on solid ground! No extension cords falling into the water or nothing! There’s nothing like hearing your favorite tunes through quality speakers – it makes everything sound better. Enjoy the fall season – and let’s hope it stretches out for at least another few weeks!!! Happy Boater.
The cost is so little – the benefits so big!
When boating, why not be safe as well as enjoy the best in sound equipment on board! Anyone can do this for just pennies a day over the period of a year. Depending on what equipment you choose, you can have your very own Marine Radio receiver which has the capability of receiving emergency messages from the USCG as well as receiving weather updates from the NOAA channel for about 30 cents a day over the period of a year. Besides all that, these radios can provide a lot of enjoyment for the listeners on board (that would be you and your friends) because they have a built in MP3 plug right on the radio receiver! Why not get your request into your kids or spouse early so they have a chance to slip a very exciting present under your tree this Christmas! Waterproof marine speakers are also available at a very low cost and ensure excellent quality if you need them also. Use the winter season preparing for your next boating season…. Happy Boater.
First taste of snow for the year…
It happened…………..much to my dismay, it happened last Wednesday – snow. Yep – there’s that word that we have to use every year about this time. We got 8 inches of that stuff dumped on a narrow band inland from the shore of Lake Superior in northern Minnesota about 10 miles. As you suspect, that narrow band ran smack dab through my cabin property – right on the spot where I was doing all this outside work and on the spot where my dock isn’t even pulled in yet for the year. UGH! Of course this is the time you have all the larger plow trucks out clearing roads as well as a flurry of smaller trucks with plows mounted on them running around clearing driveways for people and getting that first slushy snow cleared as best they could to insure it didn’t freeze like that and cause great mental anguish as we try to plow it or walk on it the rest of the winter with that uneven base the way it froze. A lot of those guys were on their CB Radios communicating with their friends in other trucks or simply keeping in touch with home. As pretty as snow is, and as much fun as you can have in it, we still have to respect it and having a CB radio or a VHF radio with us can greatly reduce the risk of being stranded anywhere at just the time we don’t want to be stranded. Happy Boater.
Hand Held VHF Marine Radios as a hunting partner…
Hunting season is upon us and every year we hear of some poor hunter that ends up lost and search parties are out looking for the missing person. I certainly hope that this year comes off “uneventful” in that category. With that in mind, however – especially with all the neat new inventions out there to keep us safe, wouldn’t it make sense to carry a hand held VHF radio with so if you needed it, you’d have it? Now, I certainly know from hunting myself, that the last thing a hunter wants is something that will squawk and make noise just about the time “old mossy” comes and pokes his nose through the underbrush and you just about have him in your sites. There’s nothing saying that you have to have the radio “on” when you’re hunting! These radios are so small that they easily fit into your vest pocket and quietly stay there unless you take it out and turn it on – then help is at your fingertips. These should be as commonly carried as matches. Let’s be safe this hunting season. Happy Boater.
CB Saved the day…
More years than I care to think about have passed since I found myself on a boat charter out on the Lake of the Woods on the U.S. / Canadian border in northern Minnesota. It was a calm day – quite hot as I remember – about as beautiful a day as you would want to ever have! I was with my father-in-law as well as my daughter (who was only about 6 or 8 years old at the time). We had rigged up our lines and settled back to enjoy a fine day of fishing for walleyes. The lake was like glass. Then came the call over the CB Radio…..pull up and head in as fast as you can – a storm is brewing and we hope you make it before it hits! It wasn’t but a minute or so before the boat was all a flurry of activity stowing things away and starting the engines to head for shore. The storm had hit. We found ourselves in waves that were crashing over the bow and we were on a 27 foot boat! The bilge was pumping water out as fast as it could and the captain rode the crest of a wave over a sandbar so we wouldn’t hit bottom because of the depth of the belly of the waves. We obviously made it because I’m here to write about it, but when we got to shore you should have seen all the people on the dock to see if we’d make it our not! That CB Radio came in real handy that day and they continually come in handy as a great safety device every boat in larger bodies of water should have as a normal part of their safety equipment. No fish that day!! Happy Boater.