Originally Posted by
dckozak
Not to defend anything on guard that isn't appropriate, but if you have a boat and monitor 16 (USCG guard) you will hear radio abuse on a continuous basis that is beyond sad. Boater's (have a community) that is so unprofessional and unaware of what the radio is for as to make monitoring the emergency channel almost impossible on the weekends in the summer.
Won't get into the whole idiotic/immature debate on Guard stuff, but BTB Channel 16 is NOT the same as Guard. It is the primary frequency used in the US (different channels in other parts of the world) that all ships are supposed to monitor and use to establish comms with each other and coordinate movement. If a prolonged conversation will occur, typically it is moved to another channel once comms established. Even with that, I recall hours and hours sitting in the Persian Gulf when the dreaded "Filipino Monkey" would start transmitting. If you've been there and heard it, you know what I'm talking about. If you haven't, it is too hard to explain. Suffice it to say that immature behavior by bored watch standers would clobber the channel. I think the Guard foolishness falls into the same category.
Speaking as someone who has spent over 30 years listening to Guard out of a speaker when on watch or flying, I can say that the foolishness on that freq seems to have picked up in recent years.