It\u2019s been eight years coming, but the Coast Guard\u2019s new communications\u2019 system, called Rescue 21, became fully operational in late 2012. It now serves the entire continental U.S. along 41,871 miles of coastline, as well as the shores of the Great Lakes, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands and the Northern Mariana Islands. The Western Rivers, including the Mississippi and Ohio, will be completed in 2013, followed by Alaska in 2017.<\/p>\n
Described by some as \u201c911 for the water,\u201d Rescue 21 takes advantage of state-of-the-art technology to implement efficient, direction-finding features. In other words, in the case of an emergency, it can automatically find the location from which your VHF radio call originated and send it to the nearest Coast Guard rescue resource. This can significantly reduce response and search time, saving lives. <\/p>\n
The system works by using multiple antennae to generate lines of bearing to the source of the VHF radio transmission, triangulating a position. Coastal coverage currently extends up to a minimum of 20 nautical miles offshore.<\/p>\n
Rescue 21 replaces the National Distress and Response System, which had been in use since the 1970s. Along with the above-mentioned ability to identify the location of callers in distress, it improves information sharing and coordination with the Department of Homeland Security and other federal, state and local first responders. Rescue 21 can identify suspected hoax callers, thereby conserving valuable resources.<\/p>\n
The new system also supports Digital Selective Calling (DSC), which allows those in distress with DSC-equipped radios to transmit their exact position and vital vessel information to the Coast Guard and other DSC-equipped vessels at the push of a button. Mariners must first submit a Maritime Mobile Service Identity (MMSI) to enable DSC; be sure to read the manual provided with your VHF. Once the MMSI is on file, all you have to do in an emergency is flip a switch and your position and a complete description of your vessel are transmitted to your nearest Coast Guard resource.<\/p>\n
Short of having a patrol boat tailing you on your boating excursions, that\u2019s about as safe as you\u2019re going to get on the water today.<\/p>\n
United Marine Underwriters is more than just boat insurance.<\/a> Browse our Boats For Sale<\/a> at Boat Browser or our Lake Resource Guide<\/a> at Lake Browser or share your fishing stories and photos at True Fish Tales<\/a> \u2013 the ones that did not get away.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It\u2019s been eight years coming, but the Coast Guard\u2019s new communications\u2019 system, called Rescue 21, became fully operational in late 2012. It now serves the entire continental U.S. along 41,871 miles of coastline, as well as the shores of the Great Lakes, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands and the Northern Mariana Islands. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[239,237,238],"tags":[36,10,14,388],"class_list":["post-1205","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-boat-equipment-2","category-boating-safety-2","category-boating-tips","tag-boat-equipment","tag-boat-insurance","tag-boating-safety","tag-boating-tips"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unitedmarine.net\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1205","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unitedmarine.net\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unitedmarine.net\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unitedmarine.net\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unitedmarine.net\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1205"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.unitedmarine.net\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1205\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1214,"href":"https:\/\/www.unitedmarine.net\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1205\/revisions\/1214"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unitedmarine.net\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1205"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unitedmarine.net\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1205"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unitedmarine.net\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1205"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}