The Australian Volunteer Coast Guard Association looks after the safety of mariners across 2,512 km (1,560 miles) of the vast Australian coastline, far out to sea, and in many of the inland waterways. Each year they perform thousands of rescue activations. In emergencies they are called upon to perform Medivac responses to hard-to-reach islands and beaches and for crucial search and rescue functions of persons lost or missing at sea or in other waterways. Radio is used as the main communications system due to its reliability and reach.

Run entirely with the help of its 2,500 of volunteers, the not-forprofit organisation operates 107 rescue vessels, 147 radio bases under the control of 72 local flotillas, as well as 30 communication and display vans and 4WD vehicles. Coast Guard also maintains radio safety watches along many parts of the coastline and some inland waterways on VHF, 27MHz and HF frequencies with weather reports available on request.

Australian Volunteer Coast Guard realised that a robust, yet simple-to-use audio management system was needed. It had to be intuitive enough to operate that volunteers could use it easily, even if they only volunteered occasionally. Reliability and backups were considered crucial for Australian Volunteer Coast Guard when they decided on the ideal system that should manage their mission critical communications. The Omnitronics DXAltus was the obvious choice.

Managing marine communications with DX-Altus By installing an Omnitronics DX-Altus Radio Management System, the organisation significantly simplified its operation, even across remote bases. From the 19” radio stand-by-bases in the living rooms of after-hours personnel to snazzy setups with only a laptop and a microphone. Australian Volunteer Coast Guard has made it really easy for their teams, both at the main Communications Centre, and at home alike, to support the important work the
organisation is dedicated to.

Operators now use a single common microphone across all channels, rather than a desk full of individual ones, and they can monitor 23 channels at once (both VHF and HF) with easy and fast selection. Weather forecasts can now be recorded in advance with the canned voice message sent out to vessels periodically across multiple channels. To ensure uninterrupted communications at all times and locations, the organisation has implemented a multilayered network consisting of wired and wireless ADSL/ NBN and 900Mhz links to local repeaters separate from IP/
Service provider involvement.