Campaign to Stop Stupid Calls on 121.5
As a professional pilot, I'd like to sponsor a campaign to stop these stupid and childish calls on 121.5 whenever someone makes an accidental broadcast. I'd like every pilot on these boards to spread the word when they are flying to their other crew members.
Example: If someone makes an accidental broadcast, and no-one responds, they usually work it out themselves pretty quickly. If they make a second call, by all means let them know - once! Only one person needs to say something, not, twenty.
Example: The other day in Brisbane, a US callsign made the following broadcast on 121.5: "This is xxxx on guard, radio check for Amberley Ground". It was obvious that this was a deliberate call on 121.5, and it did not require anybody to pipe up. What eventuated was embarrassing: about twenty people all chimed in on 121.5 telling him he was broadcasting on guard. Of course he was, he even said it was a radio check. Due to the congestion on 121.5, he had to make a second radio check, as no doubt Amberley Ground could not get through on 121.5 the first time.
The use of 121.5 is for emergency calls only. These stupid calls are often heard well beyond the area where the first call is made. It is so bad that some operators make it a requirement to stop listening out on 121.5 during approach and landing, precisely the time when monitoring 121.5 could be most important to them.
So let us leave the mistakes on 121.5 alone, and stay quiet; they'll work it out themselves. In the rare case that a second mistaken transmission is made, then let only one person respond. Let us leave this frequency free for emergency calls.