DJE
Well-known member
In Poole Harbour last week we received a VHF call from Portland Coastguard on 16 addressed to “vessel with MMSI No. 235…..” which was our number. This was rapidly followed by a call to our boat name and international call sign. We couldn’t raise Portland by VHF (they have reception problems in some parts of Poole) so Poole Port Control, who could hear both of us, transferred our mobile phone number to the Coastguard and they called me back by phone.
They said that they had received a DSC acknowledgement of an urgency call from us. (The acknowledgement from us not the call.) They were just checking that we were Ok. It definitely came from our set as they had received our MMSI and our exact position. We have a Silva S15 DSC radio with an integrated Navtex receiver. At the time they received our acknowledgement I was either listening to Solent Coastguard’s MSI broadcast and switching channels to get the best reception, or I may have been scrolling through Navtex messages. Both of these are things which we do regularly with this radio and they have not given problems before.
I may have pressed the wrong button as the menu system on the radio is pretty confusing at times but I am certain that I did not press the distress button. Also the “Enter” button on the mike is used both to acknowledge incoming calls and to execute various menu commands. At no time did I hear any incoming call alarms but I suppose I could have hit “Enter” exactly as a call was coming in. But the radio didn’t log any incoming DSC calls.
That evening we got out the instruction book for the radio and the course notes from the radio operator’s course. We tried to explain what had happened but several questions remain and I wonder if anyone can shed any light on any of them:
1. Why didn’t Portland call us back on DSC?
2. If they received a digital transmission from us why couldn’t they hear our voice transmissions? (Ok we may have moved a mile or so between the two.)
3. I thought only distress calls sent your position and other calls only your MMSI. So why did the radio send our position?
4. I thought that this class (class D?) of DSC radio was incapable of acknowledging distress and urgency calls. So how could we have sent an acknowledgement?
5. The radio is still in warranty should I send it back?
I am thinking of getting in touch with Silva in any event to suggest several corrections and improvements to their instruction manual. I know it might be me getting old and stupid but shouldn’t the instruction book at least describe the various alarm tones if the set is incapable of demonstrating them? And shouldn’t you be able to leave the Navtex on overnight without waking the whole boat and the boat next door every time a message arrives?
Sorry about the long post but I am trying to get all the details straight.
<hr width=100% size=1>Better to keep one's mouth shut and be considered a fool than open it and remove all possible doubt.
They said that they had received a DSC acknowledgement of an urgency call from us. (The acknowledgement from us not the call.) They were just checking that we were Ok. It definitely came from our set as they had received our MMSI and our exact position. We have a Silva S15 DSC radio with an integrated Navtex receiver. At the time they received our acknowledgement I was either listening to Solent Coastguard’s MSI broadcast and switching channels to get the best reception, or I may have been scrolling through Navtex messages. Both of these are things which we do regularly with this radio and they have not given problems before.
I may have pressed the wrong button as the menu system on the radio is pretty confusing at times but I am certain that I did not press the distress button. Also the “Enter” button on the mike is used both to acknowledge incoming calls and to execute various menu commands. At no time did I hear any incoming call alarms but I suppose I could have hit “Enter” exactly as a call was coming in. But the radio didn’t log any incoming DSC calls.
That evening we got out the instruction book for the radio and the course notes from the radio operator’s course. We tried to explain what had happened but several questions remain and I wonder if anyone can shed any light on any of them:
1. Why didn’t Portland call us back on DSC?
2. If they received a digital transmission from us why couldn’t they hear our voice transmissions? (Ok we may have moved a mile or so between the two.)
3. I thought only distress calls sent your position and other calls only your MMSI. So why did the radio send our position?
4. I thought that this class (class D?) of DSC radio was incapable of acknowledging distress and urgency calls. So how could we have sent an acknowledgement?
5. The radio is still in warranty should I send it back?
I am thinking of getting in touch with Silva in any event to suggest several corrections and improvements to their instruction manual. I know it might be me getting old and stupid but shouldn’t the instruction book at least describe the various alarm tones if the set is incapable of demonstrating them? And shouldn’t you be able to leave the Navtex on overnight without waking the whole boat and the boat next door every time a message arrives?
Sorry about the long post but I am trying to get all the details straight.
<hr width=100% size=1>Better to keep one's mouth shut and be considered a fool than open it and remove all possible doubt.
