VHF Radio Etiquette

I received my new vhf...but have yet to transmit with it...I've received on all the bands (air, fm, am, marine, WX) to check them

I know most radio etiquette...at least involving emergency radio procedures and things such as monitoring the channel before xmit and all that good stuff

(i should know all this stuff seeing as i have a GROL but at the time i got it i wasn't that interested in the marine side of it...)  But that being said I am confused on how and when to use call signs...A ship of any size has a registered call sign with the FCC...Are we required to do this?
If not what do we use as a call sign? just make it up?

Also how do you contact a station if you do not know there call sign...
I am wondering if you see a boat that could potentially hit you or you want to know there intentions so you can stay out of there way but you can't see there call sign then how do you call them...I know in most cases this is large ships and if you are in the shipping lanes you are doing something wrong...but still I'm curious

yessno, i am no expert but here is what i know...the US has recently reduced the qualification to use a marine vhf radio...previously you were required to have a station license to use one but no longer...using your vhf internationally (read canada) requires a station license for the vhf...there is a ton of useful vhf radio info on the BOATUS website...this is where i registered my station license through and received an MMSI number from...when i go out fishing in my kayak from my PB i use call sign "tarpon" to call back to the PB...generally people use their boat name as a call sign but if you are out with a bunch of kayaks probably end up calling by name...i would recommend monitoring channel 16 for weather and emergencies but using another agreed upon channel for chit chat/check up stuff...as for hailing unknown boaters...good luck! if you can read their boat name use that when hailing them on channel 16...i have heard lots of unanswered calls over the radio so dont count on anyone specific except the CG to be closely monitoring 16...if you are concerned about hailing a PB that looks like he is going to run you over- start paddling quick!  generally the larger and slower the boat the more likley they are monitoring 16

Here's a link to a recent discussion on this...

http://www.northwestkayakanglers.com/index.php/topic,1290.0.html

Kayak fishers have somewhat settled on Ch 69

  Yessnoo.... ch13 is general traffic, tugs ,ships, draw bridge ect. 16 hailing and emergency,,
  Say a boat is coming your way your concerned with,, on 16 call,"  this is red kayak calling white power boat south bound charleston channel  by bouy 1a, please switch ch 69."
  General talk between your buds ,, call by name on working ch or just say whats needed, no come back necessary,, just do it on low power unless hi is needed battery will last longer.  Ch 16 will proably be recorded
   royg
   

I recently became aware (after reading the latest Kayak Angler rag) of the fact that if you have your VHF with you on the water you are required to monitor CH 9 & 16 at all times.  

HBH-  We use CH 69 as our smack talk & general BS channel when on the water.

When in busy shipping areas like Buoy 10 or the mainstream Columbia I've found it helpfull to monitor 22 and 22A also.  You can hear the chatter between the giant cargo ships and CG.  They report their position regularly which gives you lots of time to get the heck out of the way. 
It's amazing how many people don't break troll until the last possible second when those monsters come thru. You've gotta wonder what they'd do if they hooked up at the last second....

Most of the PB fishers in area 10 and 11 use ch 68.  I set my VHF to "scan", it zips thru all channels repeatedly and locks onto whatever the strongest signal is xmitting.   The CG broadcasts on 16 and swtiched to 22a for info on weather conditions ("small craft advisory"), navigation hazards, etc.

   The fishing info you;'ll get on 68 is not particulary useful, location is usually coded ("where we talked about earlier") and there's a fair amount of just plain blather.
   The SAFETY FACTOR is priceless, though----in the summer, there's almost always a boat within radio reach if you have trouble.  On your launch, call on 16 "SEATTLE COAST GUARD, SEATTLE COAST GUARD, SEATTLE COAST GUARD, vessel calling for radio check" and if you have enough signal strength, CG will respond with something like "vessel calling for radio check, we have you load and clear, Group Seattle out".  The ony downside of VHF in the kayak is that range is dependent on antenna height.  Someday I'll rig a regular 6 foot antenna on my crate , with a NWKA flag on top---would be a nice safety thing in 2 ways!

I was thinking the same thing the other day, a VHF antenna/ flag combo mounted to my plano box with a ratchet mount so it could be laid down flat for surf landings. They make some light weight VHF antennas that should work well.

I came across this very thorough article on proper use of maritime VHF frequencies.

http://www.newenglandkayakfishing.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=37

Jay

That's a pretty good article...

One thing though...I don't think you ever want to use your real name for a call sign...in fact I think it is illegal

although in an emergency situation I really don't think it is going to matter what you use for a call sign because it won't be registered so they won't be able to look anything up anyways

That's a pretty good article...

One thing though...I don't think you ever want to use your real name for a call sign...in fact I think it is illegal

although in an emergency situation I really don't think it is going to matter what you use for a call sign because it won't be registered so they won't be able to look anything up anyways

Hmm, i was using real names today, first time using the new Standard Horizon's that B posted up. There real nice, BTW. But nobody came and arrested me. I also heard other people hailing people by there real names. YN, can you find documentation of what you say?. If it is Illegal i don't want to do it anymore.

I will try to find it...I know i read it somewhere but I don't remember where and who knows if the source was correct or not...

Ya that radio is really nice...I like mine alot

But in general the legal and not legal things don't seem to be monitored very closely if at all especially on channels 68 and 69
Half the people that get on there sound like they don't have a clue how to talk on a radio...not saying I am very good at it either but some people just get on and start talking without identifying themselves or identifying who they are talking with...I really don't like it when people don't identify themselves

Couldn't you just make your call sign your real name???

It's perfectly legal for a kayak with no name or a kayaker without an FCC-issued call sign to use their real or any other name for identification. For simplicity, I'll always use my real name. That's the info I want the authorities to have if I'm in need of assistance.

Jay

Ya i kinda figured it was bogus because it would be hard to tell...If somebody names there boat sally how do they know they are using somebody's name or the boat name...I just read it in some etiquette article one time that it was illegal to use real names over the vhf...