[Milsurplus] U.S. Coast Guard Traditions

[Hubert Miller]

I say it is broke, fix it. Or at least, admit it's dumb, antiquated, and silly.
This radio convention was adopted in the HF age. No one on the Oregon Coast uses HF, 
within range of these coastal advisories, no farther away than 40 - 50 miles. The broadcasts
don't reach Europe or any other country. I say it's not 1934 any more. 
The range of the VHF FM channels is what ? WHY use French language? This isn't Canada.
French is way down the list of languages spoken here. Why not just announce, "Attention",
or "Emergency" or some such term, in the language generally accepted as our national
language, instead of "Pan" or "Securite' ". I don't think we somehow owe it to France or the
ITU how we do things that stay in our country. This isn't a big earthshaking deal, but why not
be logical ? 
I think the local Coast Guard should also push more the same broadcasts that run continuously
on 1610 kHz, instead of serving up the same details on request by any lazy boater. Not that hard
to just hear it on 1610, except maybe that the younger people have no idea what the "AM broadcast
band" is. 
-Hue Miller