DSC Alert

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Strathglass

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There has been much talk of excessive Alerts.

I wonder if this is just a local thing centred on the over populated south coast?, or have they subsided now?

I was sailing in the Irish sea all last week and we had only one alert.
It was a real one from Dublin which gave the position of a large free sailing fishing net. The noise the set gave out must have woken up everyone in the marina we were in. It was in the early evening and not during the night.

Iain
 
no excessive alerts or radio checks up this way, better things to do up here, rather be sailing then playing about with the radio, check it works by calling up a couple of mates who are out sailing, if its ok then its ok,

it must be a south coast thing, radio checks all the time, must really get up the coastguards nerves...

If you hear it up this way then its the real mccoy..
 
Yes. Radio alerts are a pain for those onboard. Also, I don't see the point of telling the CG where you are going and what time you hope to get there either. They're not going to do anything if you don't ring in on arrival anyway.
 
DSC radio alerts are the most awful nuisance for all those aboard. Really don't see the point of telling the MCGA where you are going and what time you hope to get there. They're unlikely to start a SAR operation if you fail to report your arrival.
 
I've also been reading threads mentioning DSC alerts. I've had my DSC set for 3 months now and haven't heard a single DSC alert. Maybe I've been unlucky!!! The radio has always been on when I am on the boat. Yes, you get a lot of radio checks to the CG down here, especially at the weekend. Gradually Solent CG are getting people to use Channel 67 for radio checks and not 16. I sometimes wonder whether the complaints about DSC alerts are real or perceived as what would happen if and when more boat owners change to DSC. Personnally I think it is a step forward to use DSC as it instantly gives your position, time and hopefully nature of the distress and eventually reduce the mundane traffic on Channel 16.
 
The situation does seem to have improved considerably, in the central English Channel where we sail at least, so far this season and notably Jobourg Traffic Control no longer blast out repeated alarms every 20 minutes. In fact Jobourg, 2004's maximimum annoyance award winners, seem to be very quiet indeed these days with much less traffic even on Ch16, so maybe they have got their AIS toys up and running and either call their customers via MMSI or the info they want is given out by the AIS from the target ship anyway, no voice contact required??

Returning across Channel Sunday there was only one alarm we heard, from Solent CG preceeding a new strong wind warning (you know the one they put out to warn you it will blow F6 when it already has been for several hours...). Interestingly when Portland CG transmitted the same warning which also applied for their sea area they didn't use a DSC alarm. One comment though was that Solent's alarm was drowning out their own voice announcement on Ch16 giving the choice of channels to hear their warning on, simply because with just 2 of us on board and both in the cockpit it takes time to get to the set to acknowledge the alert. At the time we were making about 8.5/9kts in steady rain and heeled at 20 degs or so in a 'boisterous' sea with a F6 blowing, getting safely down below takes just a little time!

The jury is still out but fingers crossed it doesn't seem so bad this year.

The constant 'radio check please' requests though remain a problem and Solent, whilst mostly telling the callers to use Ch67 direct in future do STILL answer some of them with no added comment. They are like an infection that spreads too, one pipes up and six more follow in rapid succession! What I would love to know is what they do when the reply is weak and totally unreadable - do they rush off to the radio repair shop or wait 10 minutes and call again? Nuts.
 
If its overpopolated with boats on the south coast, why radio check all the time, i am sure if you are in trouble, someone will see your flares, or is it i have it so i'll use it (pining for the mobile phone), or (hi its me i'm out here sailing or motorboating).

we don't seem to have those problems up here, not over populated up here, sometimes never see another boat...
 
mmm - intresting concept but time doesnt stand still, this modern tech stuff like radio enables you to clarify, co-ordinate and command, as well as conflab. using flares to do this would be difficult, even passing your hand in front to flash morse wouldnt be too effective cos the old and bold left amongst us who speak morse are sadly dwindling.........
I guess one could carry coloured flares and by lighting them in set sequences you could pass messages, but cant imagine this would catch on as you would need more than would fit in your kitbag .......
as for hmcg complaining about responding to test requests - it was them who closed down practically all the smaller cg stations leaving one huge building to cover hundreds of miles of coast with relay stations filling the gap, so listening to 7 or 8 remote vhf stations at once is not an easy task, all this at a time when recreational boating was increasing, along with the volume of radio traffic and the decline in coast radio stations.
if you dug deep enough I think one of their functions is to assist/promote/monitor safety at sea - but I may be wrong.
 
We've received two DSC alarms since fitting our new ICOM M421 radio about 5 or 6 weeks ago. (We are based on the south coast.) The ICOM set has a very nice feature where the alarm starts quietly and gradually gets louder, giving you time to cancel it before it wakes everyone up. Also clear on screen instructions so that you can cancel the alarm without accidentally rejecting the call. So far very impressed with the set.
 
Yes, Joburg Traffic's reduction in use of DSC alerts is a great improvement but they now insist on talking to ships on channel 13. Channel 13, under GMDSS, is allocated for "bridge to bridge" communication and one can hardly call the Joburg tower atop the Cherbourg Peninsula a ship's bridge. I think Joburg's hijacking of this channel will put most sailor's off keeping a watch on Ch 13 while at sea, which is what I believe we are supposed to do.
 
Channel 13 is allocated to "Bridge to Bridge", and to "Port Operations" and "Ship Movements" in the ITU allocations. So it would appear to be being properly used.

John
 
Thanks John, whatever I read in an Admiralty Publication about GMDSS must have been abbreviated unless I'm mistaked, as it only mentioned "bridge to bridge" for 13.
 
Hi Oldhand

The ITU recommendation is set out in International Telecommunications Union Radio Regulations Appendix S18.

Of course governments can control what channels are used for whatever purpose as a condition on their own licencees and outside of the territories of other countries. But normally only do that if it is a subset of the ITU recommendation and that seems to be the case, from what you say, of the UK allowing CH13 for bridge to bridge only, but not for the other international purposes. Conversely, here in NZ, as far as I know, Ch13 is only authorised for port operations and ship movements and not for intership.

John
 
DJE - fit the same set at the same time and have had exactly the same experiences!
The increasing alert tone is great for a small boat as I can always get to the unit having become aware of the alert befoe it becomes 'distressing' /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif and the screen is great in daylight or night.
 
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