Hi Sailinet;
I'm posting here because I noticed that I receive a fair amount of traffic from sailnet to my blog.
I thought the trove of VHF audio mayday recordings I discovered on the USCG's website might be of interest to sailors who rely on VHF.
I subtitled all of the audio recordings and posted them as short movies.
One of the calls is truly frightening for its panic, fear and confusion.
Another call was used as evidence in a felony indictment of a fisherman (false distress call) that lead to jailtime.
Noteworthy to me is how plodding VHF mayday communications can be (missteps, garbles, interruptions) and also how seriously the Coast Guard and FCC take false distress calls.
I'm not sure how to handle links on this forum, so I spelled them out:
mayday 1 (later a fatality)
http://paddlingtravelers.blogspot.com/2007/05/panic-mayday-vhf-ch-16east-coast-us.html]
mayday 2 (led to felony indictment)
http://paddlingtravelers.blogspot.com/2007/05/mayday-call-fishing-vessel-determined.html]
mayday 3 (grounded fishing vessel)
http://paddlingtravelers.blogspot.com/2007/04/location-location-location.html]
mayday 4 (sinking fishing vessel)
http://paddlingtravelers.blogspot.com/2007/04/audio-clip-vhf-16-mayday-callcape-cod.html]
pan-pan w/channel 22a switch
http://paddlingtravelers.blogspot.com/2007/05/vhf-channel-16-pan-pan-to-channel-22a.html]