Plans are now in place with an Alaska-based contractor to replace the 203 power generators at Coast Guard VHF sites across Alaska by 2023. Until then mariners will need backup support for VHF Channel 16. Even when those sites appear to be working “we always recommend carrying multiple means of communication,” said Coast Guard […]
An MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew from Coast Guard Air Station Sitka conducts a search along the Gastineau Channel after a vessel was found unmanned and adrift near the Juneau-Douglas Bridge. U.S. Coast Guard video by Petty Officer 3rd Class Amanda Norcross. JUNEAU, Alaska — Coast Guard responders suspended the search for a potential person in […]
Commercial fishermen in Southeast Alaska say there is a critical breakdown in reliability of the Coast Guard channel they rely upon for updated weather reports and mayday calls, and they want it fixed. “We have a crisis in Coast Guard coverage of channel 16 here in Southeast (Alaska) with 35 percent of stations down and […]
A Coast Guard Air Station Kodiak aircrew hoists mariners aboard a vessel that ran aground 130 miles northwest of Kodiak Island. U.S. Coast Guard courtesy photo. KODIAK, Alaska — A Coast Guard Air Station Kodiak aircrew rescued two mariners in distress 130 miles northwest of Kodiak Island on the Alaska Peninsula, Tuesday. The aircrew arrived on scene […]