Listening Watch on VHF Channel 16

[nigel1]

In February's edition of PBO there was a letter from a reader concerning the use of DSC and the need to know the MMSI number of the station to be called, which would be quite difficult if you did not have AIS.

The response from a member of the PBO team started with the statement "...that ships at sea are no longer required to maintain a listening watch on Ch 16"

Now, I know that when GMDSS came into force in 1999 it was proposed that the need to keep a listening watch on Ch 16 would be discontinued in 2005.
However, as that date approached, IMO realised that there was still a need for a watch on Ch 16 to be kept for reasons such as not all vessels are SOLAS, and the need to have a means of direct communications between vessels.

So far as I am aware, the situation at the moment is that IMO is of the view that all SOLAS vessels while at sea be required to keep a listening watch on Ch 16 for the forseeable future.

Are there any forum members who know otherwise, there are so many changes to regulations its hard to keep track, but I know when I am at sea, at work or on my own boat, we keep a watch on Ch 16.

Has PBO got it slightly wrong?

 

[bobgarrett]

IMO web site still says...

"1.14 Watchkeeping
Every ship, while at sea, is required to maintain watches. Continuous watch keeping is required on VHF DSC Channel 70 and also when practicable, a continuous listening watch on VHF Channel 16."

 

[Burnham Bob]

Listening watch om vhf 70 just menas having your dsc set switched on doesn't it? that's the channel used for the dsc calling function - you can't talk on it so any ship keeping a watch on 70 will only get dsc calls to its individual mmsi number - only solution would be a securite and a message about position and course addressed to 'unknown vessel'

so PBO are right, listening watch on 16 is now not compulsory

 

[lenseman]

. . . . so PBO are right, listening watch on 16 is now not compulsory

Not that this should worry you too much as most folk on here are day-sailors who do not go out of sight of land. Therefore the shipping they will meet will usually be coastal and inshore and listening Channel 16 for CG messages or the local VTS on Channel 11 or Channel 12 for docking arrangements and pilot boardings.

Every one that I have heard or read about on blue-water passage, weeks out into one of the big oceans, have always stated that when they saw a ship looming up over the horizon, hundreds of miles from land-fall, they always answered calls on Channel 16. So someone must be listening?

 

[maxi77]

Listening watch om vhf 70 just menas having your dsc set switched on doesn't it? that's the channel used for the dsc calling function - you can't talk on it so any ship keeping a watch on 70 will only get dsc calls to its individual mmsi number - only solution would be a securite and a message about position and course addressed to 'unknown vessel'

so PBO are right, listening watch on 16 is now not compulsory

I think that a master would have to show that listening on 16 was not practical. For practical reasons I suspect that 99.9999% of ships will monitor 16.

Mind you I suspect that the use of AIS and DSC has already had a big impact on 16 use, whilst sailing near traffic lanes you hear much less 16 chatter from ships passing close to each other.

 

[Poignard]

Last summer I called up a Turkish ship to ask if the OOW had ever heard of the collision regulations, and he answered.

 

[prv]

Listening watch om vhf 70 just menas having your dsc set switched on doesn't it?

So that's the first half of the sentence answered; what about the second?



Pete

 

[Beadle]

Listening watch om vhf 70 just menas having your dsc set switched on doesn't it? that's the channel used for the dsc calling function - you can't talk on it so any ship keeping a watch on 70 will only get dsc calls to its individual mmsi number - only solution would be a securite and a message about position and course addressed to 'unknown vessel'

so PBO are right, listening watch on 16 is now not compulsory

That was certainly my belief

I invariably have the wireless tuned to ch 16 and have received DSC calls on 70

If you only listened on 70 you go carry on indefinitely with a broken wireless and not know about it - but there is fairly regular traffic on 16.

If I was in distress my first move would be shout for help on 16 - not just press the red knob and hope for the best.

 

[xyachtdave]

Last summer I called up a Turkish ship to ask if the OOW had ever heard of the collision regulations, and he answered.

You can't leave it like that.....what happened?!

 

[Poignard]

You can't leave it like that.....what happened?!

I was under sail on passage from Gosport to Cherbourg, close hauled on the starboard tack. A ship Turkish ship, Tena, approached me from starboard. There was nothing to prevent him altering course to pass astern of me but he didn't. I stood on, becoming increasingly uncertain what he might do. If I took avoiding action and he then turned to port we might collide.

When it became obvious that he wasn't going to turn I tacked and hove to. We were very close.

I called him up on Ch16 and asked if he had ever heard of the collision regs. He just said 'sorry, sorry'.

I prize my fingers off the tiller, gybed round and resumed my course. Noted the near miss in the log.

http://www.shipspotting.com/gallery/photo.php?lid=314809

(It was in the middle of the afternoon so I suppose the 2nd Mate was on watch and doing chart corrections!)

 

[Bilgediver]

If you only listened on 70 you go carry on indefinitely with a broken wireless and not know about it - but there is fairly regular traffic on 16.

If I was in distress my first move would be shout for help on 16 - not just press the red knob and hope for the best.

In the middle of the ocean and other places it is best to use the red button. The digital signals are resolved at a further distance than the speech signals. The receiving station may get your DSC even though it may not make contact on 16.

So long as you send a correctly designated message with correct position they would have enough to go on.

 

[lenseman]

You can't leave it like that.....what happened?!

Türk kaptan, tabii ki Türkçe olarak yanıtladı. Herhangi bir yanıtlarını okumak için dil öğrenmek zorunda kalacaktır !!

 

[Twister_Ken]

I was under sail on passage from Gosport to Solent

Err - Gosport is in the Solent.

 

[Poignard]

Err - Gosport is in the Solent.

Correction slip:

For Solent read Cherbourg.

 

[Beadle]

In the middle of the ocean and other places it is best to use the red button. The digital signals are resolved at a further distance than the speech signals. The receiving station may get your DSC even though it may not make contact on 16.

So long as you send a correctly designated message with correct position they would have enough to go on.

Agreed

Thats why I have both turned on - even inshore

 

[cliff]

Last summer I called up a Turkish ship to ask if the OOW had ever heard of the collision regulations, and he answered.

"Size ingilizce piç siktirin"