Canadian Coast Guard currently lacks radio direction finding (DF) capacity in much of the Strait of Georgia.
- Thread starter angry anderson
- Start date
The amount of shit that Canada is lacking, in virtually all aspects of defense and the ability to provide aid to Canadians is astounding This issue with the Coast Guard is a snowflake on the tip of an iceberg. Living next to the "biggest kid on the block" has made us dependent, complacent and weak. Why have any kind of protection when our buds to the south will come to the rescue (if not for our sake's, then definitely for theirs.)? We've become something of a Chihuahua on the world stage. Yappy and ineffectual.
/rant
/rant
National defence is in neglect, let alone maritime safety (topic of the linked article.)
Yes and has been for almost 50 years .
Almost none of us remember or even saw or heard that we used to have an aircraft carrier. We scrambled for F18 parts by buying old Australian planes . Bought submarines from the UK that a lot people knew were not in tip top shape and that we are still trying to bring up to standards by pouring billions in a lost cause. Ships with new Canadian design that will cost 3 times as much as initially budgeted for if not more . Veterans having to fight for fair compensation or proper treatment when injured . The list is endless.
No Canadian political party has a leg to stand on when it comes time to criticize one another on National defense. Liberals, Conservative and NDP (helping along whoever is in power) have all to take the blame for it
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The Ships have really good Direction Finding equipment, but that just adds time to the rescue process of first figuring out where you are when you don't know yourself. The shore station should be able to point the rescue boats in the right direction and then zero in.
Amazing when it does work. My uncle and I sprung a plank 12 miles off Tofino,we called the CCG and they were out there with a gas pump in a matter of minutes 👍 This however was back in 1984,so I guess things have changed
The devil is in the details, as always. For most of us this isn’t an issue, as we would have our VHF radio linked to GPS. In an emergency, you push the Distress button and it automatically sends out a distress, notification to all mariners and coast guard with a shrill alarm. This broadcast provides vessel details and location to rescue agencies. All VHF radios now sold have this feature. This, together with AIS, and an EPIRB and coast guard will have no difficulty In locating you. However there are always a few situations where the VHF radio isn’t properly installed. Then you have a problem. HUFF-DUFF as it was colloquially known is short for High Frequency Direction Finding, where ground stations are used to triangulate into radio signals. During WWII it was used with moderate success to locate and assist aircraft to a safe landing field in low visibility situations. The pilot was provided a bearing with which to fly.
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Yup. Come budget time, they look to save some pennies and then ask the bean-counters to find a way - the way is also to just slice out some capability and pray they do not need it in the future.
Manned lighthouses wee gutted too, if anyone remembers.
And prior to COVID, back in the Harper days, someone decided that the Government Of Canada "did not need" to spend money on maintaining a warehouse filled with emergency PPE for hospitals, so they ditched the warehouse and sent the gear to the waste bin.
Not just federal, but provincial and municipal too. Cutting "red tape"" often involves no longer doing things that actually need to be done - like no longer requiring proper geological surveying before they okay a housing development (and then they end up with unstable slopes or sinkholes that "nobody could have predicted").
