**Notice regarding VHF coverage charts below**: We plan to update the VHF coverage charts based upon the new Rescue 21 system now being deployed. However, the Rescue 21 Project office is devoting all their resources toward installing the new system and have consequently informed us that they will not be able to provide us updated charts for at least several more months. When they become available, we will quickly post them here. For now, the 1994 coverage plots are the best we have available. Thank you for your patience.

The Coast Guard currently operates a National Distress System, a network of about 300 VHF transceivers and antenna high-sites which are remotely controlled by regional communications centers to provide coverage extending out to at least 20 nautical miles from shore, and often much further. Coverage is reasonably continuous through most of the Atlantic, Gulf and Pacific Coasts, the Great Lakes, and many rivers. Many urban areas of the U.S. are also covered. This system serves as:

• the primary means for mariners to contact the Coast Guard in a distress - over 20,000 distress calls are received yearly over this system,
• the primary means for broadcasting urgent marine information to mariners, and
• a command and control system for Coast Guard and other vessels.

Of the 25 largest U.S. cities ranked by population in the 1990 census by the Department of Commerce Census Bureau, 19 cities, i.e. 76%, are close to navigable waters and are within at least partial coverage of the U.S. Coast Guard’s VHF National Distress System.

Each National Distress System VHF site consists of a receiver guarding VHF Channel 16, the maritime distress, safety and calling channel, and a transceiver capable of operating on one of six fixed maritime channels. Two of these channels are always Channel 16 and 22A.

The system is not Global Maritime Distress & Safety System-compatible, coverage gaps exist in several locations, it cannot operate on public safety channels, it has no direction finding capability, distress calls cannot be received at a high site when the site is transmitting on any channel, and the system is near the end of its useful life. For these reasons, the Coast Guard began to modernize this system in 2003.

The National Distress System is operated by 45 Coast Guard Group and Section Command Centers, each acting as a Maritime Rescue Coordination Center having a specific area of responsibility.

Charts showing predicted areas of VHF National Distress System coverage can be downloaded in .jpg format. Coverage plots assume a mobile transmitter power of 1 watt at sea level over water, and of 25 watts over land. Alaskan coverage was based upon reception of a 1 Watt transmission from a handheld radio 2 meters above sea level.

Predictions (except Alaska) were made by the DOD Joint Spectrum Center in Annapolis MD in March 1994. Note charts are predictions of radio coverage; actual radio coverage may vary. Some site locations have also changed since these predictions were made. The average chart file size is about 100 kb.

Note: Most plots were produced on vellum overlays at scales of 1:1,000,000 and reduced to standard page size. Due to this reduction and to file size limitations, some chart features may be difficult to read.

Coast Guard Group and Section Offices

First Coast Guard District

Group Boston
427 Commercial Street
Boston MA 02109-1027
VHF Radio Coverage Chart

Group Portland
259 High Street
South Portland ME 04106-0007
VHF Radio Coverage Chart

Group Woods Hole
Woods Hole MA 02543-1099
VHF Radio Coverage Chart

Group Southwest Harbor
P.O. Box 5000
Southwest Harbor ME 04679-5000
VHF Radio Coverage Chart

VHF Radio Coverage Chart - New York to Albany

VHF Radio Coverage Chart - VTS New York

Atlantic Area/Fifth Coast Guard District

Group Philadelphia
1 Washington Avenue
Philadelphia PA 19147-4395
VHF Radio Coverage Chart

Group/AirSta Atlantic City
Atlantic City NJ
VHF Radio Coverage Chart

Group Baltimore
Building 70
U.S. Coast Guard Yard
Curtis Bay
Baltimore MD 21226-1797
VHF Radio Coverage Chart - Upper Chesapeake Bay

VHF Radio Coverage Chart - Baltimore, Washington and Potomac River

Group Eastern Shore
Chincoteague VA 23336-1510
VHF Radio Coverage Chart

Seventh Coast Guard District

VHF Radio Coverage Chart - Bradenton, South to Shark Point

Group Miami
100 MacArthur Causeway
Miami Beach FL 33139-5101
VHF Radio Coverage Chart

Group Key West
Key West FL 33040-0005
VHF Radio Coverage Chart

Eighth Coast Guard District

VHF Radio Coverage Chart - Memphis TN

VHF Radio Coverage Chart - Helena, Greenville and Vicksburg MS

VHF Radio Coverage Chart - Arkansas River

VHF Radio Coverage Chart - Mississippi River, Dubuque IA to Des Moines River

VHF Radio Coverage Chart - Illinois River, Peoria to Joliet IL

VHF Radio Coverage Chart - Mississippi, Illinois and Missouri Rivers to St. Louis MO

VHF Radio Coverage Chart - Mississippi River, St. Louis MO to Ohio River

VHF Radio Coverage Chart - Missouri River, Omaha NB to St. Joseph MO

VHF Radio Coverage Chart - Missouri River, St. Joseph to Kansas City to Columbia MO

VHF Radio Coverage Chart - Monongahela River from Morgantown WV; Ohio River, Parkersburg to Huntington WV

VHF Radio Coverage Chart - Ohio River, Huntington WV to Cincinnati OH and Louisville KY

VHF Radio Coverage Chart - Ohio River, Evansville IN and Western Kentucky

VHF Radio Coverage Chart - Tennessee River, Knoxville to Chattanooga TN

VHF Radio Coverage Chart - Cumberland River, Carthage to Nashville TN and the Tennessee River

VHF Radio Coverage Chart - Tennessee River, Huntsville AL to Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway

VHF Radio Coverage Chart - Panama City FL to Pascagoula MS

Group New Orleans
4640 Urquhart St.
New Orleans LA 70117-4698
VHF Radio Coverage Chart

Group Galveston
P.O. Box 1912
Galveston TX 77553-1912
VHF Radio Coverage Chart

Group Corpus Christi
8930 Ocean Drive
Corpus Christi TX 78419-5220
VHF Radio Coverage Chart

Ninth Coast Guard District

VHF Radio Coverage Chart - Niagara and Eastern Lake Erie

VHF Radio Coverage Chart - Cleveland, Toldeo, Detroit and Port Huron

VHF Radio Coverage Chart - Chicago IL to Manitowoc WI

Group Grand Haven
650 Harbor Avenue
Grand Haven MI 49417-1752
VHF Radio Coverage Chart

Group Sault Ste. Marie
Sault Ste. Marie MI 49783-9501
VHF Radio Coverage Chart - Beaver Is to Sault Ste. Marie to Marquette MI

VHF Radio Coverage Chart - Lake Superior - Marquette MI to Duluth MN

Pacific Area/Eleventh Coast Guard District

VHF Radio Coverage Chart - Vallejo CA, Concord, Antioch, and Lake Tahoe

VHF Radio Coverage Chart - Monterey CA

Thirteenth Coast Guard District

Group Astoria
2185 SE Airport Road
Warrenton OR 97146-9693
VHF Radio Coverage Chart

Group Portland
6767 N. Basin Ave.
Portland OR 97217-3992
VHF Radio Coverage Chart - Columbia River, Portland to The Dalles OR

VHF Radio Coverage Chart - Columbia River, The Dalles OR to Richland WA

VHF Radio Coverage Chart - Crescent City CA to North Bend

Fourteenth Coast Guard District

VHF Radio Coverage Chart - Hawaii and Maui

Seventeenth Coast Guard District, Alaska

Commander (t)
Seventeenth CG District
P.O. Box 25117
Juneau AK 99802-5517
VHF Radio Coverage Chart - Kodiak Region

VHF Radio Coverage Chart - Valdez Region

VHF Radio Coverage Chart - Juneau Region

Revised: 17 January 2002