Group/Air Station Port Angeles Group/ Air Station Astoria
Sector
Seattle
Sector Northern
New England
Group/
Air Station
North Bend
Sector
Portland
Sector
New York
Group/
Air Station
Humboldt Bay
Sector
Baltimore
Sector
SE New England
Sector
Boston
Sector
Long Island
Sector
Delaware Bay
Sector
Hampton Roads
Sector
North Carolina
Rescue 21 Now Covers
The East Coast, Gulf Coast
Sector
Mobile Sector
Sector
Charleston
Sector
Jacksonville
Sector
St. Petersburg
Sector
U.S. COAST GUARD
s the U.S. Coast Guard’s
installation of radio towers
and equipment picked up
speed in 2009, Rescue 21,
the agency’s new distress
communications system,
On the West Coast, Rescue 21 now
covers the Washington and Oregon coasts
to Northern California. The new Group
Humboldt Bay includes sectors Walker
Ridge, Cape Mendocino, Shelter Cove and
Point Arena. Sectors San Francisco and
San Diego are scheduled to be ready in
April, with Los Angeles/Long Beach due at
the end of 2010.
The Great Lakes are next, with Detroit
to have Rescue 21 in late 2010 and three
other Great Lakes sectors in 2011. (For a
deployment map, go to www.BoatUS.com/
mmsi). In North Carolina, there’s currently
limited coverage in the Outer Banks; full
deployment of Sector North Carolina is
scheduled for May.
Rescue 21 now covers 32,000 miles
of U.S. coastline with final coverage,
including Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Guam
(2011), Alaska (2017) and Western Rivers
(2012), set at 95,000 miles.
As boaters who already have DSC-
A
enhanced V HF marine radios know, Rescue
21 enables mariners to send encoded
mayday calls with a GPS location and
the vessel’s identification number, among
other features. Coast Guard watchstanders
can quickly locate a distress call, even
from a regular VHF radio, and the system
is credited with saving dozens of lives.
Such was the case last August when two
teenagers sent a mayday from their sinking
21-foot boat 30 miles out in the Gulf
of Mexico. Using the direction-finding
capability installed two months earlier, the
Coast Guard got a fast location and the
two were picked up by a helicopter.
The new technology has stronger
radio signals, enhanced direction-finding,
instant playback of received calls and better
communications with other agencies and
first responders. It also has several mobile
emergency backup systems, one used
successfully during Hurricane Katrina.
The system also makes hoax mayday calls
easier to trace and hopefully eliminate.
A DSC radio that is connected to a
GPS sends the boater’s actual position
automatically with the distress call but for
that feature to work the vessel owner must
connect the radio to a GPS. Boaters must
also register their contact information
to receive an official nine-digit MMSI
(Maritime Mobile Service Identity) number
to program into the radio. BoatU.S. offers
free MMSI registration to anyone boating
on U.S. waters. For those cruising abroad,
the MMSI must be obtained along with
a ship station license from the Federal
Communications Commission. For the
FCC, call 877-480-3201 and hit option
2, or visit http://wireless.fcc.gov/services/
index.htm?job=licensing&id=ship_
stations.
Update Your Radio Registration
Now that Rescue 21 is coming into
wider use for boaters, it’s imperative
that DSC-VHF radio owners not only
register but update their records in the
MMSI database. If you registered with
BoatU.S., go into your online account
and update any changes in boat name,
description, ownership, home phone
and address, and any other important
contact information that might have
changed since you registered.
BoatU.S. initiated the MMSI
registration program with the FCC and
Coast Guard nearly 10 years ago so that
boaters on U.S. waters would not have
to pay some $200 for a radio license
just to get an MMSI number. BoatU.S.
registrations are fed into the Coast
Guard’s search-and-rescue database so
having the most current information
on file is important should an alert be
received bearing your MMSI number.
