Amateur Radio
The MV Roberts Bank Lifeboat is equipped with a 2m / 70cm (VHF / UHF) amateur radio and has several crew members licenced and trained as ham radio operators. A portable HF station and "Buddy Pole" antenna can also be quickly set up for emergency communication purposes. The Roberts Bank Lifeboat Station at Deltaport also maintains an amateur radio station.

The term "amateur" reflects the principle that Amateur Radio and its skilled operators are committed to helping communities without financial compensation; whereas Commercial Radio operates purely for profit.

Most countries' amateur radio licences allow licensed operators to install and use radio transmission equipment while at sea. Such operation is known as Maritime Mobile amateur radio. The station and vessel are also a member of the Delta Amateur Radio Society (DARS), and take part in communications exercises, community events, and is capable of handling emergency traffic.

The "Amateur Radio Service" has both a fun but also a serious face. It is a very important emergency communications system. When cell phones, regular phones, the internet and other systems are down or overloaded, ham radio still gets the message through. Ham radio is a “hobby” - that's the fun part. But it's also a “service” - a very vital service that has saved lives again and again when regular communication systems failed. There are a multitude of examples across the years, however this was recently proven during the horrific January 2010 earthquake in Haiti, where communications were in shambles. Again this proved to be of key importance in the February 2010 earthquake in Chile, where soon after the earthquake, the Emergency Net was activated throughout the whole country, first on VHF and then on HF.

The Corporation of Delta has Emergency Operations Centres (EOCs) which are activated in an emergency, and the MV Roberts Bank Lifeboat can communicate directly to these and field operations stations. In times of emergency there is only one highway that connects multiple districts together and cannot be closed - this is the Fraser River.

The following websites are of interest to both marine and landbased amateur radio operators:

When operational, the vessel (VA7CGR) proudly flies the marine amateur radio flag and monitors the following frequencies:
147.32 + Salt Spring Island (VE7RSI)
147.34 + (t. 107.2) Delta (VE7SUN)
144.390 APRS

The copyright for the flag design belongs to Ron Drinkwater VE7AIX, who has nothing to do with RBLS. We are in the process of obtaining his permission to use this flag logo.