Yukon Marine Distress System
Yukon Channel 16 explained
Upper British Columbia has now been added to our area.
This is an extremely exciting time for the Yukon Power and Sail Squadron! Never before anywhere in Canada has such a great Marine Distress radio system been installed and maintained away from the oceans and major waterways. Sure, the Great Lakes has a distress system monitored by the coast guard, so do the Pacific and Atlantic ocean, and so do some major river systems like parts of the Mackenzie and St. Lawrence, but never across a major part of the river and lake systems of any province or territory. We are lucky indeed. But we are also at a major cross road. Before I tell you about that though, let me tell you a little about the system.
Yukon Marine Distress System/ estimated coverage areas shaded in
click to view large image
The Yukon Marine Distress System (Channel 16) was started by a consortium of very concerned individuals and organizations in the early 1990 to fill a need to offer Yukon boaters a life saving measure when out in the lakes and rivers. YARA (Yukon Amateur Radio Association) was the club with the expertise to install and maintain such a radio system, as the radio association’s chief aim has always been assistance in emergencies. They installed repeaters on mountain tops throughout the southern lakes district, joined them to a Whitehorse drop to “Whitehorse Radio” (more about that later) and maintain the entire system today. The Yukon Power and Sail Squadron has always been very proud of their partnership with YARA and involvement with this system, and of the other partners who early on offered expertise, funding, location sharing, etc. to make the system possible. Partners were and are: Yukon Electrical Company, EMO (Emergency Measures Organization) DFO (Department of Fisheries) Yukon Government, and Industry Canada. It is almost not fitting that only one line of this text refers to the installation and maintenance of the system, as this was and remains an incredible feat of engineering. A book could be written solely on the study of how to install windmill and solar panels on the harshest mountaintops in the world, subject to ice storms, lightening storms, and winds in excess of 200 km., let alone all the radio equipment too! Here is how the system looks:
The installed repeaters are on Montana Mountain (covering most of Bennett, Tagish, and Tutshi lake systems), Pilot Mountain (covering most of Marsh Lake, upper Yukon River to Lake Lebarge), Decoeli (covering Pine Lake, most of Desdiash, Kathleen, and Kluane and associated rivers), and Hayes Peak (Teslin Lake, upper Teslin River, and nearby rivers). Each mountain has its own repeater, Montana on Marine Channel 16, Hayes on marine channel 9, Decoeli on marine channel 24, and Pilot on marine channel 26. The signals are collected by each individual mountain and linked to Montana Mountain, where they are shot down on a UHF (ultra high frequency) link to Yukon Radio. (again, more on Yukon Radio Later). Yukon Radio then answers the call, and redirects any assistance needed to the proper authorities. Here is how the system actually works:
Yukon boaters in distress are to call on marine channel 16 ALWAYS FIRST, as this is the recognized marine distress and calling channel. It is the channel that all boaters usually monitor while on the water, and it is always, anywhere in the world, the channel where the best chance or rescue comes from; that is, from nearby boaters. This is such an important point, that I think a little extra explanation is necessary here. There has always been a misunderstanding that in any boating emergency in North America, the Coast Guard always comes to the rescue. In fact, at most centers, studies indicate that less than 1% of all calls result in actual Coast Guard rescue. The reason for this is simple. They are usually not the ones closest to the vessel in distress. As well, many cases are remedied by sound thinking and actions recommended by the call center. I don’t wish to quote law here, but there is certainly a protocol in the boating industry that states that you do not absolutely have to have a marine radio, but if you do, it should be turned on. And if it is turned on, and you are not actively having a conversation on another channel, it should be “tuned” to marine channel 16. Again, channel 16 is always your first and best chance of rescue. If you get no answer on channel 16, then you should call on your local repeater (listed above) for help. It is very fortunate that almost all marine radios manufactured today, both fixed mount and handheld, have the capabilities of monitoring 2 or more channels simultaneously, so it is STRONGLY recommended that you monitor both channels (16 and the local marine distress channel in your area). It’s that easy!
Now, for the cross road we are at? At present, local monitoring has been a service donated by Action Answering (Polarcom). We would like to move away from, or phase out, local monitoring and replace local monitoring with a VOIP link to the Coast Guard. It has always been our hope and prayers since the inception of this system to have the Canadian Coast Guard be the link now referred to as “Whitehorse Radio.” They have the most expertise, they have highly trained personnel, and quite frankly, this is their life and business. YARA has the expertise to direct the signal right to them, but like all things requiring the assistance of a Canadian Government organization, there is a “political” component to seeing this happen. To this end, we need your support. It is estimated that it would take over half a million dollars to replace the system already installed and maintained by literally thousands of volunteer hours. And that investment, but more importantly the life saving issues, are far too important for the Yukon boaters to lose. If we are successful and the Canadian Coast Guard is in place by spring of 2008, which is our goal, you will have a system unsurpassed anywhere in the lake and river systems of Canada.
Safe boating!
