| LOL!!! Back when our fire/rescue regional dispatch center was all volunteer,
I received a cell phone call from a boater on/at/near Shinnecock Inlet
who had lost all power on his boat - no VHF and he was drifting. It
must have been some kind of weird combination of ducting and tower
routing, but it ended up at the Danielson State Police barracks where
our center was located - the caller ID system at the time said
"Pomfret Tower - Wolf's Den Road". I knew where Shinnecock Inlet was, but at that time we didn't have the
ability to transfer calls to out-of-state dispatch centers, so being
familiar with that side of Long Island, I called CG Sandy Hook, and
that's when the fun started. I could not get it across to the OIC that this was a real call, yes I
was in Danielson, CT, yes I had a cell phone caller on the line who
was stranded near Shinnecock Inlet, no it wasn't a joke, it's not a
prank call and so on. Finally I said that I was a long time ham radio
op, I think I knew what happened, but the point was there was a boater
out there who needed help. I gave him the barracks number if he
needed to verify. I gave the boater the centers inside line number and told him if he
needed anything else to just call me, then I called CG New London,
explained what happened. The fellow I was talking to started laughing
when I explained it all - says to me "Oh, so your the guy" -
apparently CG Sandy Hook called CG New London to verify that we were
actually a dispatch center. I heard back from the boater after a half hour or so saying the CG had
showed up, thanks, etc. To put paid to the tale, if it had been one of the local farmer's
dispatching, that boater might still be out near Shinnecock Inlet. :>) |
