November 4, 2025 — The U. S. Coast Guard may briefly be unable to hear distress calls in Southeast Alaska for 3-5 minute intervals this week.
The Coast Guard sent out a notice on Monday, Nov. 3, that they would be undergoing maintenance upgrades from Nov. 3 – 7 – and this would impact receiving messages on the region’s emergency VHF channel 16.
In the broadly distributed email, the Coast Guard said they “may be unable to listen to or respond to distress calls on CH16 starting 03NOV25 until 07NOV25.”
But in a statement to KFSK later, the Coast Guard wrote, “the VHF-FM marine radio will not be down the entire 96 hours. It will experience a brief interruption, lasting only 3-5 minutes, during a scheduled upgrade within that 96-hour time frame.”