By cellular number people phone search

It seems like everyone on the water is using a cell phone to call for help. The U.S. Coast Guard even has a special number in most coastal areas -- [CG.sup.*], or [24.sup.*] -- you can punch in to reach them directly.

But depending on a cell phone to get you help when you need it on the water is right up there with depending on a blow-up plastic dolphin to be your boat's primary life raft. It's better than nothing, but not the ideal choice in an emergency.

U.S. Coast Guard Captain Gabe Kinney, who heads the search and rescue operations, says, "Whenever we hear a mayday, whether it's through flares, cell phones, or VHF-FM radio, we respond. But boaters need to know that cell phones, unlike VHF radios, aren't made for the marine environment."

What's wrong with using a cell phone to call for help from your boat? Plenty, according to Kinney, who estimates that roughly 10% of all may day cells come in by cell phone.

The biggest downside to using your cell phone to call the Coast Guard, says Kinney, is that you are just making a single, point-to-point call. "You're calling the Coast Guard alone. But when you're on VHF Channel 16 and calling for help, other boaters in the area can hear you and answer, too," he said.

"Often, they are lots closer than a Coast Guard boat and can get to you more quickly. Good Samaritan boaters do a fair amount of rescues, but they won't know you're in trouble if they don't hear your call for help," Kinney said.

Second, cell phones don't have nearly the range that VHF radios do. Once you leave your phone's calling area, it may not reach anyone, including the Coast Guard. VHF radios generally work with a 25-mile radius.

Third, cell phones work only as long as their batteries do, and most people don't bring extra cell phone batteries with them when they go out on the water for the day Hard-wired VHF radios, or VHF radios powered by cheap and readily available AA batteries, are a lot more reliable.

Last but certainly not least, the U.S. Coast Guard has a much harder time finding you when you're using your cell phone on the water. Its radio-direction finding equipment won't work with cell phones, and cell phone towers ashore are usually directed inland, a way from the water, Kinney said.

But, since you can now by a GPS (Global Positioning System) receive for about $100, why not just read your GPS and tell the Coast Guard where you are when you're calling them on your cell phone? Says Kinney, "In theory you can do that. In practice, it's often something else.

"Suppose, for example, you find yourself on Lake Michigan on what you expected to be a nice afternoon. Instead, a thunderstorm blows up and all of a sudden you're in six-to-seven-foot seas, a through-hull is leaking and your bilge pump dies. You're standing in water up to your knees in the middle of your pitching boat, your GPS in one hand, your cell phone in the other, trying to tell the Coast Guard where you are," says Kinney.

"It would be a lot easier if you were calling for help on the VHF, because our radio-direction finders would tell us where you are. There might even be a boat close enough to see you through the pelting rain," he said.

For offshore boating, you will want to supplement your VHF radio what a single sideband radio, which can transmit literally thousands of miles away. For inland and coastal boating, VHF radio is definitely the most dependable form of emergency calling.

And your cell phone? Don't leave home without it. Use it to call restaurants for dinner reservations, other boating friends on the water, your mother and your boss. Just don't count on it as your only source to get help on the water.