DSC Radios and the art of zen?

[roborali]

Does a DSC Radio sat on its own make a noise?


I thought I would ask those more knowledgable than I for some advice for a friend of mine.

He has recently upgraded to a DSC type radio made by Holland. He had the relevant cables connected by reputable marine electronic engineers, has managed to add the magic number and has had a successful radio check with his marina office.

But, does anyone know why he doesn't hear any of the general chit chat for instance weather broadcasts on channel 16 or chatter between boats?

Any advice would be helpful because I am at a loss...

Thanks in advance
( ps I've moved this from the mobo forum because I only had one reply there, I'm not trolling)

 

[peteandthira]

I presume the marina office is only a hundred yards away and is therefore not really a radio check. Did he get radio chat on his previous radio in the same situation? If so, complain to the installer and he can check out the efficiency of his own aerial installation.

 

[peteandthira]

It might also be worth checking that a menu option hasn't disabled the internal speaker, eg it is set to "external" but there is no external speaker there?

 

[hightech]

DSC sets basically sit there and do nothing until you tell them to, the only activity they have is to sit all day long and listen to channel 70. If you have noise it is possibly the NMEA feed into the set (try disconnecting it).

DSC only makes a noise when you make it transmit and then it should all be squirted up the aerial and not be audible.

Hightech.

 

[jonjo]

My DSC VHF provides a great selection of chatter without special intervention. Not sure where you got the channel 70 only info from.

On Sunday when 15 miles south of the IOW I even picked up a non DSC broadcast from Swansea Coast Guard, explain that someone please!

 

[DJE]

A DSC set does everything that a non-DSC VHF used to do plus all the channel 70 digital stuff as well. If you are not making or receiving digital calls then it should behave just like the old radio.
One thing to watch is that when you receive a DSC call the digital controller will automatically switch the set to the working channel chosen by the other vessel or shore station. At the end of the call it will not switch back automatically, you have to switch it back manually. I find myself listening to DSC all ships broadcasts and then 10 minutes later wondering why Ch16 has gone so quiet.

 

[duncan]

what a bizarre response from someone whose chosen forum name might suggest expertise in this area.

a DSC equipped VHF unit is going to fullfill the normal VHF functions exactly as any other with the enhanced digital calling capability on 70 (after which you end up on a standard simplex or duplex analogue channel for voice communications anyway).
which was what I posted on the mobo chat forum..........
good additional point from DJE re the posibility that he has been 'switched' to a channel to recieve a mesage and then remained there but I would have thought that someone believeing they had a problem would have been sleecting common channels such as 77, 08, their local port operations and even doing a scan to see if their receiver is working so I don't think that is going to be the culprit.
difficult to troubleshoot such a wide query from a distance without even the model or installation details.

 

[Birdseye]

High tech may be being a bit pedantic, but he is right Duncan in that the digital controller listens to ch 70 for a call and does nothing else until it receives one, or is used to send a DSC call. Meantime, the rest of the radio is listening to whatever channel you set it to unless, as has been pointed out, the earlier receipt of a DSC call has left it set forlornly to a working channel.

The radio check with the marina will be sufficient to confirm that the aerial is working well enough to receive. So unless the radio was left on a dead channel after the test, or the squelch was turned up real high, I cannot see any reason for the lack of reception. Suggest you carefully check you've done nothing daft (easy to do on a DSC set with lots of menu controls) and if not, then call back the engineer.

 

[duncan]

absolutely agree but the original post talked about a DSC radio, not a DSC controller unit, and being being pedantic is fine (and even necessary) in certain circumstances but extremely unhelpfull in others.

however re reading my post I was a little abrupt and 2 wrongs don't make a right so my apologies to all.

 

[SP2]

[ QUOTE ]
The radio check with the marina will be sufficient to confirm that the aerial is working well enough to receive.

[/ QUOTE ]
Yes - but only for the range from the boat to the Marina. If the aerial connections are not good, the range of reception will be seriously affected. I know this because it happened to me. If the connection is poor then you will not have the benefit of the height of the aerial for optimum reception. And the higher the aerial the greater the range of transmission and reception.

 

[roborali]

Thank you everybody for you're varied responses, I'm sure that he will be able to fathom which suggestions are the solution from these.

Thank You.