snowleopard
Well-Known Member
If you have a DSC VHF set, do you use DSC for making calls? If you are calling coastguard, marina or friends, do you use their MMSI or just put out a voice call on a hailing channel?
Do you use DSC?
- Thread starter snowleopard
- Start date
Leighb
Well-Known Member
I have used it very occasionally, mainly to contact CG. I only have the MMSI of a couple of friends in the set and AFAIK most marinas don't use anything except Ch80.
jbweston
Well-Known Member
I would use it for Mayday, but haven't used it in the 10 years I've had DSC on my current and previous boats.
Then again, I probably don't make a call on VHF more than half a dozen times a season.
Then again, I probably don't make a call on VHF more than half a dozen times a season.
dunedin
Well-Known Member
Identical to my experience. Most useless piece of kit on board
pmagowan
Well-Known Member
Is that not like saying the fire extinguisher is useless because you have never used it?
GHA
Well-Known Member
Pretty much the same here, though the dsc test function does get used as a radio check.
Jimmyjames
Member
Coming from a Coastguard with 5 years operations room experience, In the event of an emergency i strongly disagree! DSC is more important than distress flares if its set up with a proper GPS input. Flares will not immediately commence SAR operations when a distress DSC most definitely will and with a hell of a lot more information attached to it. The system is designed to be so simple, even a child can do it which is more than can be said with flares.
My point exactly.
pmagowan
Well-Known Member
The other thing DSC does well is, if you are integrated with AIS and a plotter you can call a boat up just by pressing on its icon on the plotter. This is far more precise than hailing all ships and trying to describe the one you want to talk to. My DSC will also track 'friends' making it easy to contact people in a flotilla.
I rarely use any of the functionality but then I have not used my fire extinguisher, life jacket, life raft, safety lines, bungs, flares etc either. That doesn't make any of them useless!
I rarely use any of the functionality but then I have not used my fire extinguisher, life jacket, life raft, safety lines, bungs, flares etc either. That doesn't make any of them useless!
D
Deleted member 36384
Guest
I have just choked on my tea, considering the flak I got for carrying a liferaft.
My own DSC is used like a none DSC VHF. I really should use the DSC features more.
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When I first installed DSC about 10 years ago I tried calling Holyhead coastguard, expecting to be switched automatically from 16. Instead I got a voice response on 16 " Vessel with MMSI 234567891, this is Holyhead coastguard, please give your call sign."
I've never bothered with it since.
I've never bothered with it since.
snowleopard
Well-Known Member
I don't have AIS at present but my experience of trying to call 'ship in position xxxxxxxx' suggests that an Individual Call on DSC would be better. OTOH calling the ship on ch 16 using the name you got from AIS would be just as effective.
dunedin
Well-Known Member
Don't think so - like base VHF, a fire extinguisher performs an extremely useful role, without adequate alternatives.
Most of the DSC implementation is very poor, in terms of ease of use and flexibility.. It might save a few seconds in a distress situation, and clearly we would all tend to use the red button if necessary, but in fact the voice distress call (still a required part of the DCS distress routine) is
(a) pretty effective anyway and
(b) has the much bigger benefit of alerting other boats that there is a casualty, particularly when a location is described verbally (eg "NE of Arran" etc), rather than just in Lat / Long.
Many DSC alerts are false (eg just altering to a radio forecast etc) and therefore many turn off DSC alerts, but most pleasure, fishing and small boats still have C16 voice watch - which are most use outside of main shipping routes
dunedin
Well-Known Member
Yes, a DSC button can be quite useful - but perhaps IMHO only marginal incremental value over original VHF approach, which generally seemed to work pretty well (DSC worthwhile increment but not transformational).
And why compare to flares? Most distress calls these days must surely be via VHF (including hand held if had to exit in a hurry), mobile phone (ideally carried in waterproof case), PLB / EPIRB, SatPhone etc.
But the wider post and my response was about DSC as a wider function, not specifically just the red button.
Jimmyjames
Member
That's because the information is not readily at hand and its the quickest way for the ops room to respond (information can be looked up but takes time). If you sent a distress message and there was no subsequent voice communications help would arrive on mass. Is the system ideal? Probably no but is still the quickest and easiest way to call for help and far more effective than flares, burning tar barrels, waving your arms. Anyone can press a button which keeps you free to skipper the boat, deploy liferafts etc!
Roberto
Well-Known Member
On longer crossings, I sometimes make DSC individual calls to crossing ships, helped by the integrated VHF/AIS radio (one does not have to input the MMSI), from what I have experienced, they always reply to a DSC call, much less so to a voice call.
Another DSC function I often use when sailing with another boat is the position report/position query, I just bought an HH DSC VHF to use that function while in the dinghy.
Another DSC function I often use when sailing with another boat is the position report/position query, I just bought an HH DSC VHF to use that function while in the dinghy.
Jimmyjames
Member
Because the function has been marketed in the wrong way IMHO and it should be treated in the same way as other means of distress. I'm sure it does lots of things besides that but personally its a big red help is on the way button and nothing more. If i fell overboard my partner wouldn't know how to fire a flare, make a distress call on the radio and probably wouldn't know where to find the lat and long to tell the Coastguard anyway. She could however, just about drive the boat to my location and put it in neutral so i could climb aboard again. I like it because its super quick to operate and she knows how to press a button and the position information is transmitted instantly to the MRCC and surrounding vessels to enable a rapid response. You must also remember, the signal is digital and travels a lot further than a standard 30nm nominal VHF range so there is a better chance of your DSC being received than a voice distress message.
Hand held radio will have 5w maximum power to transmit apposed to 25w on a base station with a decent aerial and additional height of eye so is a bit of a last resort. Its still essential to take it with you if you abandon your vessel rapidly after sending your DSC to listen for calling SAR units.
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JumbleDuck
Well-Known Member
Does that mean that if something happens to me - I fall overboard, say - and my crew presses the Big Red Button, help will be sent even if there is no other communication? How much attempt would be made to contact us, or is it a case of "send lifeboat first, ask questions later"?
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No information needs to be on hand, other than a knowledge of how to use DSC, which HH Coastguard seemed to lack at that time. Any station has the capacity to respond digitally to a DSC, if the operator has a rudimentary understanding of the system. It seems that a lot don't.
Jimmyjames
Member
that is true, the way it works should be; if there hasn't been an acknowledgment received within 2 minutes another nearby station should acknowledge the DSC, respond accordingly on the radio and relay information to the Coastguard via a proper distress relay. I have seen this first hand with a missing diver years ago which was out of comms range but within the range of DSC. I called the vessel several times before an extremely helpful passenger ferry skipper stepped in and started to call the vessel. Comms were established and information was passed calmly and concisely to the ops room (me sitting on the 16 desk). Got to love the maritime community for pulling together in times of crisis, we were inundated with responses from other vessels offering to conduct sweeps of the area sadly the outcome was not good :-(
The upside of modern DSC sets are that they are now available with built in GPS or even AIS receivers which means no more fiddling about connecting instruments together, particularly for small boat owners like myself. Technology is getting better but its a slow process.
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johnalison
Well-Known Member
DSC is far from perfect, but an improvement on nothing. One advantage is the ability to contact other craft or stations even when Ch16 is busy or seelonced. Another might be that the calling signal has a greater range. This could be useful in a distress, though it might not be possible to follow up with voice. My impression from contacting friends is that a DSC contact might be made at, say, thirty miles when a voice call only reached fifteen to twenty. If people want to deny themselves the advantages, that is entirely up to them, as I don't expect Ch16 calling to be abandoned in the near future.