Comms Mast
“beep..beep..beep------beep..beep..beep”
How can anybody sleep through the pager going off?” is a sentiment I have often heard from our crew. A high pitched insistent clamorous tone that seems to dig deep into the brain of all lifeboat men. It demands a desperate search for keys, shoes, clothes; anything that might assist an immediate dispatch to the lifeboat house and to launch without delay.
Today, requesting the launch of a lifeboat is handled efficiently through a telephone call from the Coastguard to Launch Authorities like me or my Deputy Launch Authorities. We in turn, if we find the request urgent and appropriate, activate the pagers to “Launch,” alerting all the crew to get the lifeboat away with immediate effect.
Our single dedicated RNLI paging system is only 10 yrs old, although the RNLI has used a variety of paging systems in different localities for more than 20 years. Before then, assembling a crew to launch a lifeboat posed a very different communications problem. Whilst romantic and nostalgic, the firing of rockets and maroons, banging on doors and even sounding church bells to alert a crew was not always efficient or as expedient as was necessary.
The linking of Coastguards and lifeboats to a telephone system around the whole coast was achieved in the early years of the 20th century and largely accredited to the efforts of a Plymouth man. In 1889 Robert Bayley, a member of a local lifeboat committee, published a pamphlet complaining about the inadequate communications systems on our coasts. His endeavours prompted a government enquiry. As a result his suggestions were adopted and a coastal telephone system between coastguard stations and other important points was installed.
Our current system is efficient and fit for purpose but it is not cheap. The acquiring of hill top aerial sites and installation of the aerials cost an initial capital outlay of £10 million. There is an ongoing national service charge of £1 million and each pager costs £130. Should the system fail we have no alternative efficient method of alerting the crew. The RNLI have begun a C.O.A.C.S* replacement project to look closely at our current systems.
In June I was able to join a working group of Lifeboat Operations Managers, coxswains and helmsmen from all over the country to examine our needs and to look at what is possible. Technology in communications systems is advancing at a pace and any new system must be flexible enough to take advantage of an ever changing environment.
I fear that the emotive and startling twin crack of the maroons, sending gulls and small children shrieking, has passed into history. So what will the future bring? Perhaps smaller, cheaper, more efficient pagers, augmented by SMS messages and Apps on smart phones?
Alerting systems for lifeboat crew may not be the most interesting or engaging subject but it is a vital matter in our quest to launch without delay to “Save Lives At Sea.
By Rob Clements, Lifeboat Operations Manager, Dart Lifeboat
First Published October 2012 By The Dart