DSC Distress call this morning, tidal thames

[Wjj]

I came back into my wheelhouse after making a cup of tea this morning while moored up in a marina off the tidal thames and the alarm on my radio was going off - it had received a DSC distress call some minutes earlier. There was no mention of it on channel 14 or 16 but presumably London VTS / coastguard would have responded to it. I think it must have been from a portable radio as it came up as undesignated and with no position. There were plenty of people about to respond to it to so i just turned the alarm of and ignored it. I'm wondering now if that was the right thing to do, also if anyone else heard more of what happened.

 

[Bilgediver]

I came back into my wheelhouse after making a cup of tea this morning while moored up in a marina off the tidal thames and the alarm on my radio was going off - it had received a DSC distress call some minutes earlier. There was no mention of it on channel 14 or 16 but presumably London VTS / coastguard would have responded to it. I think it must have been from a portable radio as it came up as undesignated and with no position. There were plenty of people about to respond to it to so i just turned the alarm of and ignored it. I'm wondering now if that was the right thing to do, also if anyone else heard more of what happened.

Undersigned is not unusual as the routine for correctly identifying the probklem varies so much from radio to radio that the call is frequently sent undersigned.

I am surprised that the call could be transmitten without a position as that is the very reason that GPS was included in the spec for portable GMDSS radios. If you go into the received message log in your radio the you can bring up the details of the transmitted station.

 

[Plum]

Undersigned is not unusual as the routine for correctly identifying the probklem varies so much from radio to radio that the call is frequently sent undersigned.

I am surprised that the call could be transmitten without a position as that is the very reason that GPS was included in the spec for portable GMDSS radios. If you go into the received message log in your radio the you can bring up the details of the transmitted station.

Interestingly, on the Standard Horizon HX890 DSC handheld there is an option in the menus to turn off the GPS to save battery!

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