The growing importance of using marine radio on Inland waterways

The inland waterways are becoming busier with increased commercial traffic and new pleasure craft Many new boaters may not be fully familiar with the waterway or with traditional means of communication such as sound signals or flags. Both these factors have produced a situation where marine VHF radio on pleasure craft is becoming an essential piece of equipment leading to an improvement in safety As a result most commercial users and now consumers are being advised to use marine VHF radio as a primary safety tool to aid communication and navigation.

A marine VHF radio allows a boatowner to listen to broadcast messages, to call other ship or shore stations or groups of ship stations and to broadcast distress, urgency and safety messages. Gaining an operator, certificate is straightforward and should present no problem to the average inland waterways leisure craft user.

Why do we need marine VHF?

It is a matter of safety Marine VHF radio provides a means to communicate with other vessels and shore stations (e.g. ports locks, bridges and marinas) on operational, navigation and safety matters.

It is commonly used

Because radio is now common among commercial vessels on the larger freight waterways, there is a tendency to rely on it as a means of ascertaining the locations of other vessels. If they hear you on the radio, they will know where you are likely to be and can call you to warn of their approach, if necessary.

It is also commonly used on larger waterways, replacing flag signals and to some extent sound signals, without a VHF radio you may be exposing yourself to unnecessary risks.