This article was in my email inbox this morning. I know there are some coastal paddlers and boaters here who may be interested in this.
Rescue 21 is the U.S. Coast Guard's "advanced command, control and direction-finding communications system". The USCG describes R21 as providing greater agility and efficiency to the existing National Distress Response System that has been in place since the 1970's. Besides better coverage and response capabilities, the new system will replace obsolete radio communication equipment, consoles and remote transmission sites and older networks. It has been described as the "recapitalization" of the Coast Guard's maritime communications infrastructure.
This new system is still in the process of being implemented along the continental U.S. coastline as well as along our northern Great Lakes border with Canada. Over 38,000 miles of coastline will be under the R21 coverage umbrella and will utilize 26 "sector stations" located in cities along that coastline.
The basic advantage of this network is that it facilitates better communication between commercial, government and public vessels within about 20 miles of the U.S. shoreline (it is primarily a maritime system, not a land-based rescue network). A key advantage of R21 is its capability of generating lines of bearings to locate distress victims by utilizing standard VHF Channel 16 communications. More info:
Paddling.net
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Earth and sky, woods and fields, lakes and rivers, the mountain and the sea, are excellent schoolmasters, and teach some of us more than we can ever learn from books.
John Lubbock
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