Situational Awareness; Communication Breakdown; Time Pressure; Workload
Deviation - Track / Heading All Types; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Clearance; Inflight Event / Encounter Weather / Turbulence
Flight Crew Took Evasive Action; General Declared Emergency
Airspace Structure; Weather; Environment - Non Weather Related; Procedure
On initial climb out we were given a climb to 16;000 and a heading of 240; and handed off to JAX Center. We were unable to contact JAX Center due to frequency congestion and were forced to turn the aircraft to a heading of 180 to avoid level 5 convective activity at our 12 o'clock position. At that time we attempted to declare an emergency but were not sure if the Controller ever received it. At a later time the Controller handed us off and our flight resumed uneventfully.
An Air Carrier crew was unable to contact ATC during the climb and because of level 5 convective activity they declared an emergency in the blind; changed course to avoid the severe weather and ATC said nothing at the frequency change.