Narrative:

After a period of radio silence in czeg fir at FL320; captain as PF asked first officer as pm to call edmonton center for radio check. Pm attempted contact on last VHF assigned frequency (135.475) with no answer. Pm then called gander radio. Radio operator replied that he had been attempting SELCAL for 20 minutes on [numerous] frequencies; and had not received cpdlc position report for last waypoint. Datalink and satvoice lost/avail (EICAS alert messages) had been intermittent. Gander radio provided HF frequencies for magadan and instructions to contact magadan control on 129.5 crossing takun; the next waypoint subsequent to the magadan fir boundary at nikin. Pm provided voice position reports for subsequent waypoints. PF called dispatcher on iridium satcom to report communication difficulty and provide position report. Dispatcher also stated that no position report [for the last hour and a half]. We tried a number of times to raise magadan ATC on the iridium satcom. All attempts failed after hearing a recorded message to the effect 'call back later.'dispatcher volunteered that some HF difficulties in region in last few days. In fact; pm unable to contact magadan on 11390 or 8837 or VHF 129.5; as instructed by edmonton radio. Eventually; [another company aircraft] called on guard 121.5 to relay that magadan had not received our position report passing the fir boundary at nikin. Pm asked [that flight] to relay our position report. When pm asked [them] for a good HF frequency for magadan they replied that they had been unable to raise magadan on any HF frequency. They were apparently communicating with magadan control on inmarsat satcom.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: B747 Captain reported ATC communication difficulties using VHF; HF; and Iridium SatCom frequencies on his trans-Pacific flight's polar route.

Narrative: After a period of radio silence in CZEG FIR at FL320; Captain as PF asked F/O as PM to call Edmonton Center for radio check. PM attempted contact on last VHF assigned frequency (135.475) with no answer. PM then called Gander Radio. Radio Operator replied that he had been attempting SELCAL for 20 minutes on [numerous] frequencies; and had not received CPDLC Position Report for last waypoint. DATALINK and SATVOICE LOST/AVAIL (EICAS Alert Messages) had been intermittent. Gander Radio provided HF frequencies for Magadan and instructions to contact Magadan Control on 129.5 crossing TAKUN; the next waypoint subsequent to the Magadan FIR boundary at NIKIN. PM provided voice position reports for subsequent waypoints. PF called dispatcher on Iridium SATCOM to report communication difficulty and provide position report. Dispatcher also stated that no position report [for the last hour and a half]. We tried a number of times to raise Magadan ATC on the Iridium SATCOM. All attempts failed after hearing a recorded message to the effect 'call back later.'Dispatcher volunteered that some HF difficulties in region in last few days. In fact; PM unable to contact Magadan on 11390 or 8837 or VHF 129.5; as instructed by Edmonton Radio. Eventually; [another company aircraft] called on Guard 121.5 to relay that Magadan had not received our position report passing the FIR boundary at NIKIN. PM asked [that flight] to relay our position report. When PM asked [them] for a good HF frequency for Magadan they replied that they had been unable to raise Magadan on any HF frequency. They were apparently communicating with Magadan Control on Inmarsat SATCOM.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.