Hi all, Just to clear up any confusion concerning silence periods in our neck of the woods, the Australian Communications Authority's latest edition of its Handbook for Radiotelephone Ship Station Operators, chapter three, section eight : Monitoring of Frequencies [ Watchkeeping] 48.1 " International regulations no longer require silence periods to be observed on the distress and calling frequencies. 48.2 "HOWEVER, TO INCREASE THE SAFETY OF LIFE AT SEA IN AUSTRALIA, TWO THREE MINUTE PERIODS OF TELEPHONY SILENCE SHOULD BE OBSERVED IN EACH HOUR" [ MY ITALICS] 48.3 "Radiotelephony silence periods start on the hour and continue to three minutes after the hour and on the half hour until thirty three minutes past the hour 48.4 "With the exception of distress calls and messages, ALL aural transmissions from ALL stations should cease during these periods. 48.5 "IT IS THE PRACTICE IN ALL AUSTRALIAN WATERS TO OBSERVE THE TELEPHONY RADIO SILENCE PERIODS ON 2182, 4125, 6215, 8291, 12290, 16420 KHZ AND VHF CHANNEL 16 [ again, my emphasis ] When you think about, the authorities have inadvertently handed us kayakers a helping hand. Anyone who has tried to use a handheld VHF pumping out 5w maximum at sea level, and competing with ships, fishkillers, yachties, and ship stations, all with VHF set using 25watts and a lot more will appreciate all the help we can get to make ourselves heard. I take comfort in the fact that most radio operators in our part of the world still maintain the silence periods. It is plain common sense. Cheers, Peter Rattenbury, Australia. *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.4.0 : Thu Aug 21 2025 - 16:33:41 PDT