I now never turn on my VHF radio...

[Babylon]

... because I'm sick of the all too frequent ear-piercing DSC alarms that go off - and require me to go below to cancel them!

If I need to use the VHF (say to call ahead to a harbour) then I'll turn it on, wait a few minutes to check there is no other (urgent) traffic, then make my own call, after which I'll turn it off again.

It doesn't help being Solent-based of course!

 

[wonkywinch]

I'd say it's irresponsible to do this for at least two reasons. CG or another vessel may want to get in touch with you urgently (clarify intentions etc) or you may be able to respond to a nearby mayday and save someone's life.

To go round with your ears on mute in the Solent when you have a choice isn't good seamanship in my view. As skippers, we all have a duty of care to others. Responsibility can't be turned on or off like your radio.

Can you adjust your alarm settings? Most sets can.

DSC Radio Alarm

 

[38mess]

... because I'm sick of the all too frequent ear-piercing DSC alarms that go off - and require me to go below to cancel them!

If I need to use the VHF (say to call ahead to a harbour) then I'll turn it on, wait a few minutes to check there is no other (urgent) traffic, then make my own call, after which I'll turn it off again.

It doesn't help being Solent-based of course!

Why not get a hand held

 

[Goldie]

... because I'm sick of the all too frequent ear-piercing DSC alarms that go off - and require me to go below to cancel them!

A Command Mic’ is the obvious answer. Handle all the comms from the cockpit.

If I hadn’t had the radio on yesterday (off the Cornish coast) I wouldn’t have known about an emergency in my immediate vicinity and been able to add extra eyes to the search.

 

[justanothersailboat]

Ordinary monitoring on non DSC handheld has something to be said for it. No need to go below. Shorter range means you only hear about things that are actually near you, or the Coastguard, who have setups with great coverage. Any distress call near enough for me to actually help with is within handheld range... though the last times I saw CG assist a rescue and heard them mention it on 16, the distressed boat had phoned in their distress on mobile, so I never heard their call! Depending on where I am, I wouldn't want to be without the ability to listen to VTS, and surely in the Solent you are obliged to monitor one or another harbourmaster in parts anyway?

DSC is a defective design. Springing for a command mic doesn't stop it bleating alarms about non-emergencies forty miles away while you're busy tacking out of the way of some COLREGS-ignoring motorboat in a confined space - or yanking you to another channel while you're listening to something important from the harbourmaster that you actually needed to hear.

 

[PaulRainbow]

Ordinary monitoring on non DSC handheld has something to be said for it. No need to go below. Shorter range means you only hear about things that are actually near you, or the Coastguard, who have setups with great coverage. Any distress call near enough for me to actually help with is within handheld range... though the last times I saw CG assist a rescue and heard them mention it on 16, the distressed boat had phoned in their distress on mobile, so I never heard their call! Depending on where I am, I wouldn't want to be without the ability to listen to VTS, and surely in the Solent you are obliged to monitor one or another harbourmaster in parts anyway?

DSC is a defective design. Springing for a command mic doesn't stop it bleating alarms about non-emergencies forty miles away while you're busy tacking out of the way of some COLREGS-ignoring motorboat in a confined space - or yanking you to another channel while you're listening to something important from the harbourmaster that you actually needed to hear.

Not to mention the colregs ignoring sailboats

 

[capnsensible]

Mmm. Being slightly irritated v safety of life at sea.....

It's just another part of sailing/boating/being responsible.

In my opinion....

 

[scozzy]

Get a handheld and all your issues go away.If it hits the fan or you take an unscheduled dip you have a way of radioing for help/helping others in range..in the meantime the vhf down below is a standby for you/crew.
Another bonus of clipped on handheld of course is that your set up at the moment means if you are in the water it won't really matter if it's on or not,it's sailing away from you at 3 knts and totally useless anyway....

 

[Biggles Wader]

Why not get a hand held

I mostly use a hand held which does OK for local comms. I also have a non DSC mainset down below which stays on for slightly more distant stuff. I have never had a DSC set. Does this function actually get used much by us leisure sailors?

 

[DoubleEnder]

Slightly off topic…. If you have a small boat with limited electrical resources, very simple systems and a hand held VHF as the only radio, are you obliged to keep it switched on at all times to monitor 16? Or is it ok just to switch on when you need to use it yourself? Basically talking about limited inshore cruising, mostly in daylight.
What do you think ? Is it irresponsible only to have a h/h do you think?

 

[justanothersailboat]

DSC alerts are profoundly anti-safety - they condition you that an alarm will be pointless noise, but are happy to cut you off while you're in the middle of a critical communication. Junk tech.

Not to mention the colregs ignoring sailboats

Those come up less often - and rather more slowly!

 

[mrming]

I’ve been relying on a handheld and leaving the main set off for a few years. It’s an older DSC set fitted by the PO and not connected to any GPS data.

However I had a couple of experiences last month that have caused me to make some changes to my radio set up.

1. Setting out from the Swale I spotted a kayak in the distance further inshore and thought I heard a shout. They were in shallower water than I could reach, but obviously being pushed down the coast by the tide. I could see Whitstable Yacht Club had dinghies and some RIBs on the water. I called the CG on my radio. I could hear them fine but they couldn’t hear me well and I had to switch to mobile phone. All good and managed to get them to call WYC to go over and tow the kayak back in, however there were other vessels also later trying to assist, and they couldn’t hear that it was being sorted, because my call was private.

2. I cross the Thames Estuary fairly frequently. There can be a lot of ship traffic and it’s often like playing the 1980s video game Frogger, trying to find a gap to cross the main channel. I’d like to be able to easily call those ships via DSC, from the cockpit, if needed.

So this winter I’m installing a NMEA 2000 backbone to connect everything together, and installing a new ship’s VHF which has a remote rechargeable handset I can use from the cockpit:
- The DSC emergency button will now actually do something
- I can call ships from the cockpit and they’ll be able to see my MMSI etc
- If I need to speak to the CG I should be able to do it on a public radio channel with enough strength for them to hear me

I should add that I’ve had some excellent advice from members of this forum on how to connect everything in with my existing SeaTalk-NG backbone.

 

[Plum]

I'd say it's irresponsible to do this for at least two reasons. CG or another vessel may want to get in touch with you urgently (clarify intentions etc) or you may be able to respond to a nearby mayday and save someone's life.

To go round with your ears on mute in the Solent when you have a choice isn't good seamanship in my view. As skippers, we all have a duty of care to others. Responsibility can't be turned on or off like your radio.

Can you adjust your alarm settings? Most sets can.

DSC Radio Alarm

Well said.

 

[Plum]

... because I'm sick of the all too frequent ear-piercing DSC alarms that go off - and require me to go below to cancel them!

If I need to use the VHF (say to call ahead to a harbour) then I'll turn it on, wait a few minutes to check there is no other (urgent) traffic, then make my own call, after which I'll turn it off again.

It doesn't help being Solent-based of course!

So if you need urgent help and call on your vhf, the closest help may well be the other boats in your vacinity but they won't hear you as they all, like you, have their vhf turned off. Not a good idea.

 

[thinwater]

My personal US perspective. Not sayin' it's right, not trying to persuade anyone. Just reporting what I do.

• I use VHF to call draw bridges. Not often, but every year.
• If I'm calling a harbor or marina I use the phone. Why would I want everyone listening?
• I have never used VHF to call a boater. I have their cell phone number. But mostly, sailing is time AWAY from the phone.
• I will listen in areas with heavy commercial traffic and in canals.
• I have used a cell phone to call the USCG twice (non-emergency--one possible health problem with crew, the other related to markers off-station). They called me back via cell phone. Much better than VHF. If I had an emergency call, I would use the phone as the connection is much better. I would have the VHF available.
• I used to use it for weather, but a smart phone is better, so that use is obsolete.

Sometimes I listen, but mostly only in the off season, when the traffic is less, the idiots clogging the airwaves are fewer, and problems more likely to be serious with fewer responders. But the DCS other useless chatter is too much. 95% is junk.

Perhaps it is time to pivot away from using VHF for any purpose that does NOT involve all of the boaters around you. No calling friends, marinas, non-emergency calls, restaurants, reporting the fish you caught, or anything other than navigation or some state of distress. The private calls are better handled by cell phones.

If VHF was distress and nav only I would leave it on. I think many feel that way. I always felt, starting in my first boating days 40 years ago, that the VHF was not a toy for chatter. Only vital stuff.

https://navcen.uscg.gov/sites/defau...orce/Use_of_Cell_Phones_for_Alerting_Rev2.pdf

 

[Boathook]

A Command Mic’ is the obvious answer. Handle all the comms from the cockpit.

If I hadn’t had the radio on yesterday (off the Cornish coast) I wouldn’t have known about an emergency in my immediate vicinity and been able to add extra eyes to the search.

I've a command mic by the helm. Absolute godsend with the dsc alerts.

The CG just seem to use lat and long for emergencies nowadays. Means nothing to me unless I can write it down, etc. A range and distance off a notable place means so much more to me, especially when single or short handed sailing.

 

[LittleSister]

I bought a DSC VHF radio to upgrade, but reading how much grief people get from DSC alerts, I'm now tempted to retain ye olde non-DSC one (except the new one has a command mike for the cockpit which won't work with the old radio).

 

[mrming]

I've a command mic by the helm. Absolute godsend with the dsc alerts.

The CG just seem to use lat and long for emergencies nowadays. Means nothing to me unless I can write it down, etc. A range and distance off a notable place means so much more to me, especially when single or short handed sailing.

Even on the phone, the CG had real trouble understanding and transcribing the lat long I was giving them for the kayakers. In the end I encouraged them to look me up on AIS (which they did), and explained where they were in relation to me.

 

[ylop]

I could see Whitstable Yacht Club had dinghies and some RIBs on the water.

I have no idea what WYC ribs are like - but I've tried calling quite a few YC ribs on Ch16 rarely with success (Including on one occasion to tell them I had one of the dinghies they were supposed to be watching in tow as they had broken their rudder!). I know of one crew who seemed surprised that the lifeboat were called to tow in a small yacht when they could easily have done it... but when I asked "no we only have the radio on M1".

Perhaps it is time to pivot away from using VHF for any purpose that does NOT involve all of the boaters around you. No calling friends, marinas, non-emergency calls, restaurants, reporting the fish you caught, or anything other than navigation or some state of distress. The private calls are better handled by cell phones.

In my experience that is exactly how it normally is used (in these parts), with the exception of marinas - but that not on Ch16. I've never heard anyone call a friend to discuss restaurants or fish. They might be doing this on channels I'm not listening to - especially if they use DSC to initiate the call, but I doubt it.

It doesn't help being Solent-based of course!

Therein lies your problem! I think h/h or command mike would make a big difference if this is a regular headache. I realize that every area is different but I don't think I would be happy having no listening watch.

 

[capnsensible]

I mostly use a hand held which does OK for local comms. I also have a non DSC mainset down below which stays on for slightly more distant stuff. I have never had a DSC set. Does this function actually get used much by us leisure sailors?

It does when you are married to a VHF Assessor....