Airwaves used for emergency signals at sea ended up being clogged for 12 hours with BBC Radio 4 shows like The Archers because a VHF radio mic was left open on a ship.
Frantic Coastguard officers issued an urgent appeal to vessels operating south east of the Shetland Islands after their crews noticed the channel usually reserved for distress signals was swamped by radio programmes.
In the end Shetland Coastguard had to email BBC Radio 4 to have a message read out on air asking boats in the area to check their radio sets.
It read: “This is an important safety related message on behalf of His Majesty’s Coastguard. This radio programme is being transmitted over VHF channel 16 by a vessel with an open mic. This is blocking all distress, urgency and safety broadcasts.
“All vessels in the vicinity of south east Shetland are requested to check their radios and ensure that the microphone transmit button is not being inadvertently held open.”
Luckily, there were no emergency incidents reported during the rogue broadcast, which happened on February 5 blocking the distress and safety frequency, VHF channel 16.
Laura Kay, the team leader of Shetland Coastguard, told Radio 4’s Broadcasting House programme how her colleagues reacted when the unusual problem was first noticed.
She said: “The day watch had Radio 4 coming through the transmission. It was transmitting for about 12 hours at various levels of clarity.
“In our policy there is actually a bit that says ‘If you can hear a radio station, you can contact them and ask them to broadcast a safety message’.
“We have had incidents before where there has been a fault with the equipment. If you spilled something on the handset the button could stick or it’s just not been properly set down.”
According to HM Coastguard VHF 16 is used when “there is grave and imminent danger”. Ms Kay added all vessels should regularly check their radio equipment to avoid accidental transmissions.
