DSC

[R.Ems]

Yes, over complicated examinaion. I organized one a few years ago under the old system. Maybe 4 hours in all with 25 attendees. Course examiner/RYA did well financially.

The crew refuses to do the current one. Too expensive and too much involved. So much for the system improving safety onboard.

Sounds like DSC is having a negative affect on the average yachtsperson, which I have long suspected.
The tutors and syllabus-writers will soon be exclusively from the sad generation who were born with, and feel terrified without, a charged-up smartphone in their pocket.
Radio comms used to be a very hands-on, common sense subject, when most boys grew up tinkering with radios, and could use a soldering iron as well as a fountain pen (if not better..).
What they gonna do when they press the Red Button, and nothing happens?

 

[Tranona]

Yes, over complicated examinaion. I organized one a few years ago under the old system. Maybe 4 hours in all with 25 attendees. Course examiner/RYA did well financially.

The crew refuses to do the current one. Too expensive and too much involved. So much for the system improving safety onboard.

I understand the new exam was forced on us by other states, particularly Germany who were threatening not to accept UK tests because they were too basic and not equivalent to their test.

 

[dgadee]

I understand the new exam was forced on us by other states, particularly Germany who were threatening not to accept UK tests because they were too basic and not equivalent to their test.

Yes, I believe that to be so.

A German colleague who told me he wanted to take up angling said he had to undertake an exam before he could fish. Over 100 questions on his exam paper.

 

[laika]

I used to use it to call the CG, but it became clear that they were unfamiliar or untrained with it and couldn't set channel etc so I reverted to voice.

Out of interest...what happened when you called them to make you say that?

 

[jdc]

Out of interest...what happened when you called them to make you say that?

It was Clyde, and what happened was not a DSC response but a call on ch 16 to direct me to a working channel. I was perhaps too harsh in saying couldn't use DSC to send the working channel, but didn't.

 

[dunedin]

It was Clyde, and what happened was not a DSC response but a call on ch 16 to direct me to a working channel. I was perhaps too harsh in saying couldn't use DSC to send the working channel, but didn't.

If it was Clyde Coastguard it must have been some time ago as were closed down many years ago

 

[Bristolfashion]

I got a DSC alert this week - the handy thing is that you have the coordinates so that you can quickly determine if it's relevant to you. It's the only one I've ever received!

Despite both UK & Aus radio qualifications inc HF, DSC is still pretty much "hit red button in a panic" for me.

Still, at least this thread has made me re-read the radio instructions!

 

[awol]

If it was Clyde Coastguard it must have been some time ago as were closed down many years ago

It was in 2012 we were letting off flares off the Admiralty Buildings as a protest against the closure of Clyde CG. I must have bought 4 more sets of flares since then - around £1k!

 

[laika]

It was Clyde, and what happened was not a DSC response but a call on ch 16 to direct me to a working channel. I was perhaps too harsh in saying couldn't use DSC to send the working channel, but didn't.

I understand your disillusionment. On first attempt at calling solent coastguard for routine traffic with DSC (over a decade ago) they performed perfectly but I failed due to a misunderstanding of who (voice) speaks first when calling a shore station. I'm pretty certain that that detail wasn't mentioned in my VHF course and I felt slightly exonerated by this post from Tim Bartlett and the fact that that seemed to be a bit uncertain with the coastguard at the time too:
Using DSC for Routine calls

 

[jdc]

If it was Clyde Coastguard it must have been some time ago as were closed down many years ago

It was in 2012 we were letting off flares off the Admiralty Buildings as a protest against the closure of Clyde CG. I must have bought 4 more sets of flares since then - around £1k!

It was 2009 iirc.

As for the undesirability of closing Clyde CG, I'm with you there. In fact it seems typical of all government organisational and IT projects: a new approach is adopted just as it becomes obsolete. Since IT was getting good enough to allow CG ops to be run from Fareham, it was also good enough for all the existing stations and staff to be joined together with no central place. That way local knowledge would not have been lost, Fareham wouldn't have been needed or could have been just an office, and I bet costs would actually have been lower. Downsides for the country: none, downsides for the man who lead the whole demotivating and ultimately pointless exercise: massive. Fewer secretaries and a smaller car park to have a special slot in - so bad for his ego.

 

[lustyd]

There are a bunch of technical reasons distributed stations aren't as easy as a centralised office. Latency in the various networks is a bigger headache than you'd think when you're working on safety critical systems with diverse failover routing. When the paths have different latencies voice and radar can be a right pain.

 

[dunedin]

There are a bunch of technical reasons distributed stations aren't as easy as a centralised office. Latency in the various networks is a bigger headache than you'd think when you're working on safety critical systems with diverse failover routing. When the paths have different latencies voice and radar can be a right pain.

Except that
1) MCA are using distributed stations for work sharing anyway
2) It ain’t nuclear reactor control, masses of organisations operate very distributed call centres (including home based operators) with more complex IT and comms systems than MCA

 

[lustyd]

Yes, lots of people do operate call centres. Mostly not safety critical applications though, and mostly not having wire to radio interfacing and requirements to call stations hundreds of miles out. While I didn't work on the CG systems I did work with someone who did while I was working on the NATS equivalent and this stuff is definitely harder than a call centre.

 

[johnalison]

I don’t know what the answer is. I am from the generation that grew up with basic VHF. Actually, that’s a lie; we mostly had no radio at all, but then VHF came in and we got used to it. DSC came in in the late ‘90s I think and a lot of people thought that the problems were solved. Unfortunately, a fair number, perhaps a majority, failed to realise that it was just a calling system, and rejected it out of hand. The new generation have been brought up with smart phones and anything that deviates from them confuses them, so it seems clear to me that nothing will change until a new smart-phone-compatible system is invented, though I’m pleased to reflect that I won’t be on the water by then.