DSC

[Slowboat35]

I wonder how many people are there like me who have been sailing for years and have never made or recieved a DSC call?
I monitor 16 on occasion and often call marinas and harbours on their published channels but DSC doesn't ever feature. Is this unusual?

 

[jwilson]

I too have never used DSC in the 15+ years I have had a DSC set. It is though a useful feature in emergencies, which I aim not to have.

 

[dgadee]

The interface is from the Teletext years. Needs to have bluetooth connection to an app to actually be useful.

 

[R.Ems]

I did a test message to the nearest Swedish CG station, (just to pass the time on a delivery, and play with someone else's toys basically) and it did what it said in the book, with an answer almost straight away.
On my own boat, I've never tried it; the fixed set has quite a few functions, but although I have been messing about with radio comms for 40 years, it is the least interesting or useful function of them all on my Standard Horizon.

 

[R.Ems]

The interface is from the Teletext years. Needs to have bluetooth connection to an app to actually be useful.

If I installed a fixed set with added Bluetooth, and downloaded the Icom or SH app onto my iPad, what would the page actually look like? Presumably you can message other similarly equipped stations from your cosy bunk, without standing by the radio, scrolling through illegible numbers with the instruction book in your other hand?
I wonder if there is a cabal of yachts so-equipped, enthusiastically messaging each other on DSC 'nets' which normal people are unaware of? The mind boggles.

 

[Momac]

I have the coastguard in the phone book but have not used that facility.
DSC would be useful to phone a friend . Now its mentioned I may have a go with that with friends we are cruising with in the near future.

 

[awol]

If all the "Radio Check, Please" calls were made via the DSC Test facility, the world would be a quieter place.

 

[R.Ems]

If all the "Radio Check, Please" calls were made via the DSC Test facility, the world would be a quieter place.

Very true, (although Radio Check numpties give us all someone to sneer at..) but is a DSC message the best way to check your radio?
Correct me if I am wrong but a digital bleep message will often get through, when voice transmission is defeated by dodgy aerials, long range, interference or other problems?

 

[mjcoon]

Have you (all) never had a DSC alert? We were sailing a charter boat some years ago and suddenly got this unexpected bleeping which we were perturbed might be something mechanically faulty. There had been no briefing about it. Eventually we tracked the "problem" down to the radio, read and dismissed the alert.

 

[R.Ems]

Have you (all) never had a DSC alert? We were sailing a charter boat some years ago and suddenly got this unexpected bleeping which we were perturbed might be something mechanically faulty. There had been no briefing about it. Eventually we tracked the "problem" down to the radio, read and dismissed the alert.

I live aboard in the Solent area, and I often have the VHF on in the background just out of interest. I have learned to jump up, twat the radio to cancel them, and carry on eating/sleeping in about 5 seconds.
Also have a non-DSC set to fit when I get around to it though,

 

[dunedin]

I have once in 15 years been called via DSC - crossing a busy shipping lane SE of Sweden under sail, clearing first lane and planning to slow in middle to let southbound ship past, he couldt be sure so called me - but unlike 99% of intership navigation traffic there, used DSC which confused me, as forgotten how to answer And our Raymarine DSC is like reverse polish calculator, over complex and tiny screen, so everything needs manual.

5 years later for fun tried to call nearby yacht, which had failed to respond to 3 hails on Ch16. Dug out manual and fiddled around for a while but couldn't enter MMSI. Eventually read another page of manual and found numeric pad hidden under cover, which I had forgotten existed ! After 10 plus minutes finally placed call. They didn't respond but simply cancelled the beeping alert without looking - like most of us do for coastguard "alerts" which are usually just a weather forecast or similar ("calling wolf" so all ignored).

So consigned back to entirely useless except for red button if needed.

 

[R.Ems]

DSC alerts would be 1000 times more effective and trusted and listened to, if general alerts to all ships only, repeat only, went out when someone local has actually just sent a mayday.
Surely the tech allows the system to be re-jigged and the protocols to be altered, with a NtM going out, press releases in the yacht mags and fishing communities etc?
The new simplified streamlined system to be, 'if you hear a DSC alarm, somebody nearby is facing death'.
The cry-wolf syndrome (which I hear from most yachtists when the subject comes up..) has surely been noticed by the authorities?
Lumbering bureaucracy is a millstone.

 

[Spirit (of Glenans)]

I have never made or received a DSC call in fifteen years.

 

[awol]

Very true, (although Radio Check numpties give us all someone to sneer at..) but is a DSC message the best way to check your radio?
Correct me if I am wrong but a digital bleep message will often get through, when voice transmission is defeated by dodgy aerials, long range, interference or other problems?

If a DSC test is acknowledged then a DSC Mayday will get through.

 

[johnalison]

I used to use it regularly, though I have not had occasion to in recent years. I called the Coastguard on occasion for routine business, but mostly I did it to put the wind up my friends in other boats. It is not complicated, though systems differ a bit, making it seem so. If you don’t use it, it won’t be there when you need it. One single advantage is that you can call and speak to someone even when there is a seelonce in action.

 

[R.Ems]

If a DSC test is acknowledged then a DSC Mayday will get through.

Indeed.

 

[ctva]

I have set it up between the main unit and HH but never used it. Would need to re-read the manual but a pre agreed working channel works fine with dual watch.

 

[Poignard]

I don't have any means of making or receiving DSC calls.

Keeping my boat in Brittany means my VHF is rarely used and I never hear those accursed "Radio check please" calls that are such a nuisance in the Solent.

 

[bobgarrett]

I have used it to contact friends boats without needing to use Ch 16 and also to contact ships mid-Channel again without using Ch 16. It is my understanding that ships are no longer required to monitor Ch16 and a DSC call gets responded to more quickly because their VHF "rings".

 

[dunedin]

I don't have any means of making or receiving DSC calls.

Keeping my boat in Brittany means my VHF is rarely used and I never hear those accursed "Radio check please" calls that are such a nuisance in the Solent.

Coincidentally, sailing north of Ardnamurchan in Scotland, there are so many French boats around here been regularly hearing chat on Ch16 in French, which was a pleasant diversion. No radio checks heard, which was also nice.