Emergency network
Rescue 21 radio system covers the coast
BY EDWARD STRATTON | THE DAILY ASTORIAN
O
Quillayute River
Queets
Transceiver/antennae location
Sector Columbia River boundary
Radio coverage area*
Mukilteo
Gold Mountain
South Mountain
Copalis Beach
Seattle
WASHINGTON
Olympia
N
50 nautical miles
Goldendale
Megler Mt.
Kelso
Bradwood
Rockaway Beach
Portland
Cape Meares
Each Rescue 21 station includes receivers guarding
VHF channels 16 and 70. Channel 16 is used for interna-
tional distress, safety and calling. Ships, the Coast Guard
and most coastal stations keep watch on the station.
Channel 70, a core part of the Global Maritime Distress
Safety System, is used for predefined digital messages
being sent to medium- high- and very high-frequency
maritime radios.
D ISTRIBUTING
C OMPANY
1375 SE 12TH PLACE, WARRENTON • 503-861-4275
Sn
River
Wallula
Roosevelt
Cascade Locks
OREGON
Yaquina Head
Rescue 21 emergency
radio network safe-
guards seafaring folk
Cape Cove
The U.S. Coast Guard’s Rescue 21 is a network
of transceivers and antennae situated up and
down the Pacific Coast and along major
waterways. The emergency radio system is
designed to communicate with people in distress.
Seven Devils
Rogue River
*Inland radio coverage represented is
approximate and varies by terrain.
Rocky Prairie
CALIF.
Source: U.S. Coast Guard
Edward Straton and Alan Kenaga/EO Media Group
Continued on page 13
C LATSOP
mbia
Colu
The Dalles
Cascade Head
Pacific
Ocean
White Salmon
Elkhorn Mt.
er
Riv
ak
e
Bay Center
Automation
T HANK
YOU FOR
safeguarding
our shores
Clatsop Distributing Company distributes many Pacific Northwest brews
12 • Safeguarding Our Coast: U.S. Coast Guard 2015
River
bia
Col um
n Dec. 29, 1997, 13-year-old
Daniel Cornett radioed a mayday
to the U.S. Coast Guard after the
sailing vessel he was on with his
father Michael, older brother
Michael Paul and cousin Bobby
Lee Hurd struck a jetty near the
entrance to the Charleston harbor
and started breaking up.
But a Coast Guard watch stander couldn’t decipher the
message, took it as a hoax and never started a search. The
father, sons and cousin all drowned, less than 10 miles away
from a Coast Guard station in South Carolina. The the U.S.
Treasury paid out $21 million in damages to their family.
The incident sparked a nationwide review of Coast
Guard rescue policies, validated the need for a new
VHF-FM radio system and resulted in Rescue 21, an
advanced communications system now blanketing the
coasts of the U.S., along with the Columbia River and
other inland waterways.
An incident sparked a
nationwide review of
Coast Guard rescue
policies, validated the
need for a new VHF-FM
radio system and
resulted in Rescue 21,
an advanced
communications
system now blanketing
the coasts of the U.S.,
along with the Columbia
River and other inland
waterways.