More Height, More Reach, More VHF
Sailors in Southern California now have more access to VHF communications. The difference will be noticed especially by boats south of the border, as far south as Ensenada, and well off the beach around San Diego. The difference-maker is a VHF radio transmission tower installed by BoatU.S. at the crest of 2,565-foot-high San Miguel Mountain, one on the defining geographic features of the region. VHF is a line of sight communications vehicle so elevation is key.
A spokesman for BoatU.S. said that the service is, “now routinely communicating with Ensenada harbor pilots as well an an increasing number of anglers on the Cortez Bank, about 100 miles south-southwest of San Diego.”
Linked to the BoatU.S. dispatch center in Newport Beach via a high-speed communications line, the San Miguel tower is the newest component in a land-based VHF communications system that includes a series of elevated radio towers along the Pacific coast covering major boating ports from Seattle south (now) to Ensenada. It is the only VHF communications system of its kind used by an on-the-water towing company in the US.
Posted August 11, 2008 by KL
