[Milsurplus] Gibson Girl- Use it Today?

[Howard Holden]

500 Kcs is monitored by at least one, possibly two stations, although not on 
a continuous basis. KSM at the Maritime Radio Historical Society in CA 
monitors 500, and I believe another station in Florida does also. Neither is 
actually a commercial venture, rather, maintaining a radio "presence" on 
there, and licensed by the FCC. There may be others.  500 is no longer a 
distress frequency.

Distress traffic today goes over VHF and a number of specified HF channels 
as dictated under SOLAS/GMDSS regulations.  The only regular use of MF for 
ships today is Navtex, an automated weather reporting system on 518 Kc and I 
think 490 Kc.

Howie WB2AWQ

-----Original Message----- 
From: mstangelo at comcast.net
Sent: Tuesday, August 14, 2012 9:33 AM
To: Bruce Gentry
Cc: Milsurplus at mailman.qth.net
Subject: Re: [Milsurplus] Gibson Girl- Use it Today?

I don't believe the 500khz distress frequency is monitored today. All modern 
EPIRB emergrny beacons transmit on 406 Mhz.

Here is a good reference:

http://www.uscg.mil/hq/cg5/cg534/default.asp

Mike N2MS

----- Original Message -----
From: Bruce Gentry <ka2ivy at verizon.net>
To: Milsurplus at mailman.qth.net
Sent: Tue, 14 Aug 2012 14:45:59 -0000 (UTC)
Subject: [Milsurplus] Gibson Girl-  Use it Today?

If one needs to transmit a distress signal and a Gibson Girl or other
500 KC. transmitter is all that is available,  what is the chance of
anyone listening and hearing you on that frequency?  Is it still
reserved for emergency, and do ships with LF/HF gear monitor the
freequency anymore?  Are modern distress transmitters equipped with hand
generators to charge and refresh the batteries?

Bruce Gentry, KA2IVY


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