Old radio licence, new DSC radio

alan_d said:
To operate a DSC VHF marine radio on a UK-registered vessel (except in an emergency) you are required to have a "Short Range Certificate". This can be obtained either by attending an assessed course or sitting a written examination.
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Thanks for your "slightly more more elaborate" answer :-)

What does a "assessed course" mean? Is it that the teacher grades you during the course?
That would be nice to have in Holland as well. Many people suffer from fear for exams and as a result just use the set without any training.
 
elton said:
I don't recall being 'graded' during the course. There was just a written exam at the end of it.
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Which having done the course that day will be quiet simple and strait forward. I am sure there must have been someone who has failed the exam but they would have to have the retention span of a goldfish to do so.

Which having done the course that day will be quiet simple and strait forward. I am sure there must have been someone who has failed the exam but they would have to have the retention span of a goldfish to do so.

Which having done the course that day will be quiet simple and strait forward. I am sure there must have been someone who has failed the exam but they would have to have the retention span of a goldfish to do so.

Or not understand why the same message is printed three time:D:D:D
 
aluijten said:
Thanks for your "slightly more more elaborate" answer :-)

What does a "assessed course" mean? Is it that the teacher grades you during the course?
That would be nice to have in Holland as well. Many people suffer from fear for exams and as a result just use the set without any training.
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Just to clarify, the requirements for the certificate and syllabus for the course are on the RYA site. If you already have a VHF certificate you just need to do the part that covers GMDSS and the use of DSC, but the full course covers standard VHF procedures as well. The course is a mixture of lecture, practical exercises on the use of equipment and procedures and a written test at the end - which has nostrodamus has said, if you fail, you have probably been asleep during the day (not difficult to fall asleep if you have any previous knowledge - but then not difficult to answer the questions!).

Part of me says it is a waste of time as you can learn what is required from the book that covers the syllabus - but on the other hand when you see the level of competence of some of your fellow "students" you realise that some form of test is required.
 
The difference with Holland is quite small then. The only difference I can see is that the course and the exam are completely separated as the people that organize the exam are from a different (state) organization as the (many different) companies that organize the courses. So you can't have the course and directly afterwards the exam. But from curriculum point of view it seems very similar with base certificate and GMDSS 'extension' .
 
found this thread in the archives which covers most of my questions but i need some clarification on a couple of points.
my license pre- dates dsc but i think it is illegal to sell non dsc vhf fixed radios, therefore i have three choices:
1] i break the law and buy a second hand non dsc one
2] i pay £125 to learn to -press a red button
3]i use a dsc radio with my current license and hope no one asks to see it.
there may be a forth option, get one of you guys who have upgraded to pass on to me your old radio for free with say £20 p&p
bet you cant guess my preferred option?

also, does anyone know of a prosecution for using dsc on a non dsc licencse?
it seems that i would be able to register the set without any license.
 
viago said:
1] i break the law and buy a second hand non dsc one
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I may be proved wrong, but I don't think this is illegal. It's manufacturing and selling new non-DSC fixed radios that was stopped, not the transfer of them by any means.

viago said:
2] i pay £125 to learn to -press a red button
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To be fair, there is a little more to DSC than how to send a Distress message. Also Safety and Urgency messages, routine calling, position requests, how to respond when someone else calls you (or you receive a Distress/Safety/Urgency message), etc. nothing you couldn't learn (probably) by reading the radio manual, but it's not just "press this red button when the water gets to your knees".

viago said:
3]i use a dsc radio with my current license and hope no one asks to see it.
...
also, does anyone know of a prosecution for using dsc on a non dsc licencse?
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Not only that, I don't know of any prosecution for using a VHF radio without any license. Doesn't mean I d ont hear people who don't know what they're doing most weekends though.

Pete
 
prv said:
Doesn't mean I d ont hear people who don't know what they're doing most weekends though.

Pete
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thanks, maybe thats the crux of the matter, as long as i behave on 16 i should be ok, that is, if 16 is still the listening channel.
I may be proved wrong, but I don't think this is illegal. It's manufacturing and selling new non-DSC fixed radios that was stopped, not the transfer of them by any means
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the info i was reading was on a us site maybe its not yet the case here. ok £25
 
DSC VHF Radio course

If anyone around the Solent area is interested, Marchwood YC is holding a one-day DSC VHF course on 15 April - cost will be £32 plus the £30 licence issuing fee, i.e. much cheaper than a commercial school, although the course is still being presented by a professional instructor. Send me a PM if you are interested, and I'll send you the contact details to book a place.
 
IIRC the upgrade course I took covered new fangled things like EPIRBS etc, and also the requirement now in certain areas marked on charts to maintain a listening watch on channels other than 16, so there were definite changes other than simply how to press a red button.

As to exams, when I took my first radio course, the examiner told us that the idea was to make sure we wouldn't be a nuisance by using Channel 16 as a working channel, knew how to make a proper MAYDAY call and a few other things. The aim was to make sure we could use a radio as a safety tool if we ever needed it, not to check whether we know all the ins and outs of the RYA booklet. It seemed a very sensible approach.

I hardly ever use the dsc facility - apart from occasional calls to friends - but the real benefit is that if I'm not in full working order, SWMBO or anyone can just press the red button in an emergency. And before I get a telling off, everyone does get a safety briefing and demonstration and the full MAYDAY procedure with MMSI and call sign is next to the radio, but 'if in doubt just press and hold the red button' is the end of the briefing.
 
viago said:
found this thread in the archives which covers most of my questions but i need some clarification on a couple of points.
my license pre- dates dsc but i think it is illegal to sell non dsc vhf fixed radios, therefore i have three choices:
1] i break the law and buy a second hand non dsc one
2] i pay £125 to learn to -press a red button
3]i use a dsc radio with my current license and hope no one asks to see it.
there may be a forth option, get one of you guys who have upgraded to pass on to me your old radio for free with say £20 p&p
bet you cant guess my preferred option?

also, does anyone know of a prosecution for using dsc on a non dsc licencse?
it seems that i would be able to register the set without any license.
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There is nothing magic about this subject. No need to go down the archives - there is a long thread currently running on Scuttlebutt which (amongst all the extraneous material) tells you everything. However, the sensible thing is to visit the RYA site and you will get the official position.

You need to take the revised exam, but most people take either the conversion course or the full day course. The penalty for improper use is £500.

Registration of the ships station is separate and now free - done on line and you get your MMSI number. It would not be wise to spend money on a non DSC radio, although it is not illegal to use an old VHf - just you do not have access to the most important safety feature of GMDSS.
 
Tranona said:
(Snip)
You need to take the revised exam, but most people take either the conversion course or the full day course. The penalty for improper use is £500.
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Only no-one ever seems to have been fined . . . yet . . .

Tranona said:
Registration of the ships station is separate and now free - done on line and you get your MMSI number. It would not be wise to spend money on a non DSC radio, although it is not illegal to use an old VHf - just you do not have access to the most important safety feature of GMDSS.
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I think I might just survive without it for another 35 years, thank you.
 
He asked what the penalty was. Did ask also if anybody has been caught to which I did not answer as I do not know.

Sure that even a Grade A skinflint like you were buying now you would have a DSC set! - expecting, like me, never to have to use the little red button.
 
greenalien said:
If anyone around the Solent area is interested, Marchwood YC is holding a one-day DSC VHF course on 15 April - cost will be £32 plus the £30 licence issuing fee, i.e. much cheaper than a commercial school, although the course is still being presented by a professional instructor. Send me a PM if you are interested, and I'll send you the contact details to book a place.
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thats more like it. youll be crammed to the rafters.
so, whos going to run one in so plymouth at that price?
 
viago said:
found this thread in the archives which covers most of my questions but i need some clarification on a couple of points.
my license pre- dates dsc but i think it is illegal to sell non dsc vhf fixed radios, therefore i have three choices:
1] i break the law and buy a second hand non dsc one
2] i pay £125 to learn to -press a red button
3]i use a dsc radio with my current license and hope no one asks to see it.
there may be a forth option, get one of you guys who have upgraded to pass on to me your old radio for free with say £20 p&p
bet you cant guess my preferred option?

also, does anyone know of a prosecution for using dsc on a non dsc licencse?
it seems that i would be able to register the set without any license.
Click to expand...


I think you are confusing ship radio licence and operator's certificate. All you need to do to get an MMSI number is update your ship radio licence with Ofcom to give them details of new DSC equipment.
http://ask.ofcom.org.uk/help/spectrum/mmsi
 
And probably if you don't input an MMSI number into the radio then the DSC functions will not work.

And the ships licence doesn't ask the make/model of the radio, in fact want details of any radio.
 
I think that, apart from improved distress working, DSC radio really comes into its own when used with AIS - because the AIS info should include the target's name and MMSI number, making direct communication with stuff large enough to sink you a lot easier.
 
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