Office of Public Affairs
U.S. Coast Guard Seventeenth District
  United States Coast Guard
News Release

Date: Aug. 14, 2009
Contact: Ensign Allison Ferko or Petty Officer 3rd Class Charly Hengen
Phone: (907) 271-1955/(907) 487-5700

Coast Guard moves radio operations from Valdez to better serve the boating community

ANCHORAGE, Alaska – To better serve the boating community, Coast Guard Sector Anchorage is scheduled to move its VHF radio monitoring operations from Valdez to the Sector command center in Anchorage Saturday.

The move is the final step in a process that will centralize all Western Alaska VHF marine radio communications.

The consolidation will streamline communications between the Coast Guard and recreational and commercial mariners. Radio operators will now be located with Coast Guard search and rescue control personnel, allowing better coordination and communication during times of need.

“We want to assure the public there will always be someone listening,” said Senior Chief Petty Officer Jimmy Belcher, Coast Guard Sector Anchorage Command Center supervisor. “The mariners are not losing any communication at all.”

The first stage of consolidation occurred in late July when VHF radio operations were moved from Kodiak to Anchorage.

These transitions are part of a consolidation of personnel and mission responsibilities under the Coast Guard command center located in Anchorage.

Communications Station Kodiak will continue to monitor maritime radio communications on the HF upper sideband frequencies 2182 and 4125 kHz. The maritime operators and fishermen who use these bands will still be heard and should address COMMSTA Kodiak as they have always done.

Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacons will not be affected by the consolidation. All EPIRB signals will continue to be heard by the Coast Guard Rescue Coordination Center in Juneau.

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