Everyday radio work

Routine calls: reaching another station

The everyday VHF call: name the station you want, say who you are, agree a working channel and get off the calling channel. Short, slow and predictable is the whole art.

Key facts

Listen before you transmit. Nothing marks a beginner faster than calling straight over someone else’s conversation.
The call: the name of the station you want (up to three times; once is enough when conditions are good), THIS IS, your ship’s name and call sign, OVER. Then release the button and wait.
Channel 16 is for making contact when nothing else is arranged. A VTS, a port station or a pilot station is called directly on its own published channel.
The called station proposes the working channel or confirms yours. The SMCP wording: "Advise you change to VHF Channel one two", answered with "Changing to VHF Channel one two".
Think before you press the transmit button, and let go of it when you finish speaking. A held-down button blocks the channel for everyone in range.
Slow down. Radio speech is slower than conversation: numbers digit by digit, names spelled with the phonetic alphabet when there is any doubt.
A radio check is a normal call: "How do you read me?" The answer grades readability from one (bad) to five (excellent).

Calling a shore station and shifting channel

Then both stations switch, and the conversation continues on Channel 12.

BALTIC TRADER: Harbour Radio, Harbour Radio. THIS IS Baltic Trader, Baltic Trader. OVER.

HARBOUR RADIO: Baltic Trader. THIS IS Harbour Radio. Advise you change to VHF Channel one two. OVER.

BALTIC TRADER: Harbour Radio. THIS IS Baltic Trader. Changing to VHF Channel one two. OVER.

Hear it as it sounds on the radio (synthetic voice, fictional ship):

Synthetic voice; the ships, positions and people are fictional.

A radio check

BALTIC TRADER: Harbour Radio. THIS IS Baltic Trader. How do you read me? OVER.

HARBOUR RADIO: Baltic Trader. THIS IS Harbour Radio. I read you good, with signal strength four. OVER.

BALTIC TRADER: Thank you. Baltic Trader. OUT.

Hear it as it sounds on the radio (synthetic voice, fictional ship):

Synthetic voice; the ships, positions and people are fictional.

The readability scale (SMCP)

Report	Meaning
I read you excellent, signal strength five	Perfectly readable
I read you good, signal strength four	Readable
I read you fair, signal strength three	Readable with difficulty
I read you poor, signal strength two	Barely readable
I read you bad, signal strength one	Not readable; try another channel or wait

Watch out

OVER invites the other station to speak. OUT ends the exchange. "Over and out" together is a film line, not a procedure: it says "answer me" and "do not answer me" in one breath.

Listen: the standard phrases

Recordings from our SMCP trainer, in the accents you actually hear on the air.

How do you read me? Shelley · British accent

I read you excellent, with signal strength five. James · British accent

I read you good, with signal strength four. Mihaylo · Ukrainian accent

I read you fair, with signal strength three. Shelley · British accent

I read you poor, with signal strength two. James · British accent

I read you bad, with signal strength one. Mihaylo · Ukrainian accent

Advise you change to VHF Channel one two. Mihaylo · Ukrainian accent

Changing to VHF Channel one two. Shelley · British accent

Say again, please. James · British accent

Stand by, I will call you back in five minutes. Shelley · British accent

Where this comes from

IMO SMCP (procedure); ITU Radio Regulations (calling procedures).

This is not a legal text: when in doubt, the current wording of the Radio Regulations and the SMCP decides.

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