US Coast Guard in Alaska recently announced they will be broadcasting AIS informational messages to notify mariners of “VHF Hi-Site” outages. These broadcasts will display on most AIS equipped chart plotters. The broadcasts will display within 40 nautical miles of the inoperative Hi-Site with a message stating the name of the site, its lat/lon, and the telephone number of the nearest Coast Guard Command Center. An example broadcast message is “CG DECEPTION HILLS VHF SITE AT 59-05N 138-13W INOP-RELAY DISTRESS CALLS TO 9074632980”.
The purpose for these broadcast notifications is to ensure mariners are aware of problematic VHF coverage and to encourage them to relay information to the nearest Coast Guard Command Center. When relaying a distress call, the most critical piece of information is an accurate position. Additional valuable information includes: Nature of distress; Number of persons on board; Vessel name; On scene weather; Crew’s intentions (i.e. Abandon ship, Fight the fire etc.).
Coast Guard VHF Hi-Site outages are also listed in weekly Local Notice to Mariners, announced over nearby Hi-Sites by Broadcast Notice to Mariners, listed on the Coast Guard NAVCEN website at https://www.navcen.uscg.gov/broadcast-notice-to-mariners.
Sector Juneau Command Center is 907-463-2980. Sector Anchorage Command Center is 907-428-4100.
For more information, contact Todd Buck with the USCG District 17 Waterways Management Office at (907) 463-2269 or todd.r.buck@uscg.mil.
