An ongoing service outage has been affecting U.S. Coast Guard VHF radio stations along much of the coast of the Gulf of Alaska. The affected stations have been published in the most recent issue of the Coast Guard's District 17 Local Notices for Mariners. You can find the affected stations starting at the bottom of page 2.

AMSEA Facebook page follower, Ndrs Ballyhoo, thoughtfully compiled the following list of the affected stations for quick reference.

Althorp --- (Cross Sound) Bede Mountain --- (Southern Cook Inlet and Kennedy Entrance) Cape Gull --- (Afognak Island) Deception Hills --- (Gulf of Alaska and Fairweather Grounds) Duffield Peninsula --- (Peril Strait) Mount MacArthur --- (Southern Sumner Strait) Naked Island --- (Prince William Sound) Raspberry Island --- (Western Kodiak Island) Zarembo Island --- (Sumner Strait and Northern Clarence Strait) Sukkwan Island --- (Cordova Bay and Western Dixon Entrance)

According to a recent news story from radio station KSTK, the Coast Guard has every intention of repairing the affected stations, but they aren't sure how soon they will be back online. "The Coast Guard’s Lt. McCann urges mariners to be patient. He says they’ll be fixed — eventually."

In the meantime, in the Local Notices to Mariners, the Coast Guard offers the following advise.

"If unable to reach the Coast Guard on VHF-FM Channel 16, mariners that are equipped with capable radios can contact the Coast Guard through Communications Detachment Kodiak via high frequency (HF) 4125Khz. Mariners can also contact the Coast Guard via cellular or satellite phone JRCC Juneau at 907-463-2000, Sector Juneau Command Center at (907) 463-2980 or Sector Anchorage Command Center at (907) 428-4100. Mariners are reminded that Western and Northern Alaskan has no VHF-FM coverage. Contact in areas without VHF/FM coverage to the Coast Guard is via Communications Detachment Kodiak on HF or JRCC Juneau by phone. Mariners are requested to relay any unanswered calls for assistance to the Coast Guard."