Agree with that. In my case the initial call should go out on VHF and UHF air control frequencies. That said, the primary signalling device in my vest is an ACR ResQLink PLB. As indicated, the marine VHF radio is limited to ships in proximity; as the two subjects of this Texas Gulf sinking found, there may be no one listening. That said, I normally work off a very busy west coast port (Navy and commercial) so there should be someone there to hear a call. Coast Guard helo's are also Ch.16 capable. It's very nice capability to have.

I'm not a pilot, but if I were I'd have a marine band radio and maintain a listening watch on channel 16 when over water.

Most of the GA pilots I've known carry an air band HT as a backup to the onboard radio systems. Marine band is FM and air band is AM, so unfortunately it would probably be too expensive for a company to produce an air band HT with marine channel 16 on it.

One of my amateur radio HTs has wideband receive and can hear all of that traffic, but the wideband transmit mod won't let it transmit in AM.

A note on the law: it's legal for hams to modify their equipment as long as they do not transmit illegally. For myself, I do not mod my ham gear to be able to transmit outside of established ham bands. Ham radios are not type accepted for other services, so even though I have a GMRS license, if I were to transmit on GMRS frequencies with ham gear, that would be illegal.

Hmmm ... me too. This one works for that article at the moment:

Details of Coast Guard Response

Lots of detail here on US Coast Guard activity here -
with times, stations, and assets (sea and air).

Seagoing US Coast Guard members are required to wear all of the below at all times while afloat:

A personal flotation device (PFD) with:

• Emergency Signaling Mirror
• Signal Whistle
• Marine Smoke and Illumination Signal
• Illumination Signal Kit
• Distress Signal Light
• Survival Knife
• Personal Locator Beacon (PLB)

This list is per page 6-20 of the current USCG Boat Crew Seamanship Manual, COMDTINST M16114.5 from the USCG Manuals site which adds:

"CAUTION: A boat coxswain is responsible for ensuring that each boat wears the appropriate PFD for the weather conditions/operations they will be performing. In addition to the PFD, each crewmember must also be outfitted with either a boat crew survival vest, or if wearing a Type V inflatable PFD, the same contents found in the survival vest stored in the PFDs pocket/pouch."

That page has the list above, a diagram of the Boat Crew Survival Vest which carries the gear above in pockets (and tethered to it), and discusses each item on pp 6-20 to 6-30):

The seamanship manual above and the Rescue and Survival Systems Manual COMDTINST M10470.10F
seem like good reading on this topic.

United States Coast Guard Station Miami Beach
has a great site covering the USCG training items for this equipment.

They have PowerPoint Presentations for all Tasks and videos for many tasks.
(The PowerPoint presentations add a lot to the videos, and vice versa.)

Here are some samples:

Don the Type III PFD USCG Boat Crew Member Training Task BCM-02-04 |
PowerPoint
Video at YouTube




Don the Boat Crew Survival Vest USCG Boat Crew Member Training Task BCM-02-13
PowerPoint
Video at YouTube



Identify Boat Crew Survival Vest Equipment USCG Boat Crew Member Training Task BCM-02-08
PowerPoint
Video at YouTube




Use the Emergency Signaling Mirror BCM-02-09
PowerPoint


Demonstrate the Use of the MK-124 Smoke and Illumination Signal BCM-02-10-ANY
PowerPoint
Video at YouTube




BCM-02-11-ANY Demonstrate the Use of the MK-79 Illumination Signal Kit
PowerPoint

BCM-02-12-ANY Operate the SDU-5/E or CG-1 Strobe Light
PowerPoint

Cool! Thanks Rafowell!