Should I get a DSC set?

[doug748]

My old Huson VHF has been a little iffy though I am sure I could soldier on with it. I probably use it only a handful of time each year.

I have been offered a DSC unit for not much money but am not convinced. Should I change? I seem to recall that folks got very miffed by constant squawking alarms that could not be disabled, is this still the case? I don't want to get a glitzy new set only to end up switching it off.

A couple of concrete questions:

I have an old monochrome Raymarine RC420 plotter which feeds position info to my NASA AIS plotter. Can I just extend the wires to the new VHF to input position data?

The new unit has been flushed of it's previous identity. Is it an easy thing to put in the new stuff for my boat?

Thanks in anticipation.

 

[prv]

I seem to recall that folks got very miffed by constant squawking alarms that could not be disabled, is this still the case? I don't want to get a glitzy new set only to end up switching it off.

The French at CROSS Jobourg seem to have a habit of preceding some of their routine announcements with a DSC safety alert (the equivalent of the verbal Securité). I usually hear those in the Solent, but I guess at Plymouth you probably won't. Even then I'd hardly describe it as "constant".

I have an old monochrome Raymarine RC420 plotter which feeds position info to my NASA AIS plotter. Can I just extend the wires to the new VHF to input position data?

Yes, that should be fine.

The new unit has been flushed of it's previous identity. Is it an easy thing to put in the new stuff for my boat?

Again, yes. The difficult part is clearing the old one, entering the new should be easy (the manual should explain how).

Pete

 

[RichardS]

According to the thread on here a few days ago, it's impossible to buy a fixed marine VHF which is not DSC, unless you're buying second-hand I suppose.

I guess that the old Raymarine must be NMEA0183 so you can just feed that into the VHF as well as the NASA unit.

The MMSI and boat details are easy to input into the VHF. I did mine a few months ago when I re-registered from Croatian to SSR. I had to do VHF and AIS.

Richard

Thanks Pete. That's 5 minutes of my life I won't get back

 

[jwilson]

The new unit has been flushed of it's previous identity. Is it an easy thing to put in the new stuff for my boat?
Thanks in anticipation.

If you are talking about MMSI number on a VHF it is usually a dealer job (often £30-ish) to change. With new DSC radios from £99 upwards secondhand ones seem unattractive unless you are sure you can enter your new MMSI as it is sold to you.

 

[l'escargot]

Get one. The number of alarms is overstated, even here in the Solent and you just accept and silence them - people who say they can't just don't know how to use their radio properly. Read the manual before you use it.

 

[graham]

I have recently installed a DSC set.

My reason was I often sail with inexperienced people who would struggle to send our position in an emergency.

Teaching them to lift a flap and hold down a button takes only a minute .

When entering your mmsi number take great care ,if you enter it incorrectly it has to go back to the manufacturers to have incorrect number removed.

Here in the Bristol Channel we only get the occasional beep out of it. We once heard a distress alarm which was deafening but could be silenced by pressing any key on our set.(It was dealt with by Coast Guard).

Getting an mmsi number took about 5 minutes on the Ofcom radio license website. Just add a DSC VHF radio to your list of equipment.

 

[dunedin]

A lot depends on the radio type - some only allow one shot at MMSI entry. As the original owner did this, it may need return to manufacturer or dealer to put in your MMSI. Mine did when changing from French to UK MMSI
Frankly I am in the "wouldn't bother camp" with DSC. Never used any feature and in emergency think a channel 16 call would be equally effective in UK waters

 

[JumbleDuck]

Frankly I am in the "wouldn't bother camp" with DSC. Never used any feature and in emergency think a channel 16 call would be equally effective in UK waters

I'm with you. My boat came with a DSC radio and I haven't yet used any DSC features. Maybe that's because I haven't actually done the course and so don't know of some marvellous use which would revolutionise my life, but mainly it's because I hardly ever use the radio anyway. Mobile phone is far more useful. I was tempted to downgrade to non-DSC, but my young crew has been trained in Big Red Button pressing and that seems like a reason to keep DSC for now.

 

[elton]

When I bought a replacement for the boat I lost, the first thing I did was replace the radio with a DSC set, for the specific reason that I probably wouldn't have lost the old boat if it'd had DSC. I'd lost my specs as I ran into trouble, and when making the Mayday call, I couldn't read my location off the GPS properly, which probably led to a delay in the coastguard locating me.

To anyone suggesting a mobile phone is an adequate means of calling a Mayday, that's just dangerous, misguided drivel.

 

[capnsensible]

DSC was invented to save lives, not hinder them. Push and jump. Cant see why anyone would take a step backwards in Safety at Sea.

Agree with the mobile phone stuff Elton, I might not have been able to phrase it so subtly though.

 

[JumbleDuck]

To anyone suggesting a mobile phone is an adequate means of calling a Mayday, that's just dangerous, misguided drivel.

Good thing nobody has suggested that, then. Mind you, I wouldn't rule out a mobile call to 999 if a VHF call didn't have immediate effect.

In general, though, I find a mobile phone far more useful than VHF when I'm sailing. It's easier to get hold of the people I need to get hold of - sealocks, marinas and so on - by mobile and I can do it from further away. Does anyone hanker after link calls? I found my old YTD agreement with BT when I was tidying up recently.

 

[Tranona]

Agree with the mobile phone stuff Elton, I might not have been able to phrase it so subtly though.

Think the point that was being made was not about the emergency aspect of DSC but all the other things you can do with it that most people don't bother with, preferring to use a mobile phone for contacting others in a non emergency situation.

Before mobiles VHF had a use for phone calls but most of the other usage is just chitter chatter and best done on mobile.

 

[capnsensible]

Think the point that was being made was not about the emergency aspect of DSC but all the other things you can do with it that most people don't bother with, preferring to use a mobile phone for contacting others in a non emergency situation.

Before mobiles VHF had a use for phone calls but most of the other usage is just chitter chatter and best done on mobile.

Thanks but I might just have known that! :encouragement:

 

[JumbleDuck]

Think the point that was being made was not about the emergency aspect of DSC but all the other things you can do with it that most people don't bother with, preferring to use a mobile phone for contacting others in a non emergency situation.

Before mobiles VHF had a use for phone calls but most of the other usage is just chitter chatter and best done on mobile.

Absolutely. If I want to contact a pal on another boat and have the options of (a) call him up on his mobile or (b) hope that he's within range, call him by DSC, find a suitable working channel and then converse with formal procedure in full radio earshot of anyone who cares to listen in, it's a bit of a no-brainer.

VHF and especially VHF with DSC, are great safety tools but for everything else they are, for most people in most places, long out of date.

 

[prv]

DSC was invented to save lives, not hinder them

Mostly it was invented so that ships could stop employing radio officers

Pete

 

[prv]

A lot depends on the radio type - some only allow one shot at MMSI entry. As the original owner did this, it may need return to manufacturer or dealer to put in your MMSI.

The OP's already said that "The new unit has been flushed of it's previous identity."

Pete

 

[laika]

hope that he's within range, call him by DSC

DSC Position request will tell you where you pal is if he's within range

find a suitable working channel and then converse with formal procedure in full radio earshot of anyone who cares to listen in

DSC individual call allows you to select your working channel and have his set change to it when he acknowledges without all the faff of arranging a working channel on the calling channel.

Sounds like you really need DSC

To the OP though, much as I would hesitate to suggest that anything with a safety angle is unnecessary, with a limited budget and various safety-related things to spend it on I wouldn't necessarily regard replacing a working VHF (depends how dodgy yours is) with another just for DSC. Almost no-one exploits it to its full potential. If you just want The Big Red Button, as an alternative you could always consider augmenting your VHF with a PLB. IIRC (someone will doubtless correct me if I'm wrong) there is a place on the registration form for stating the callsign of the vessel it is normally used on.

 

[Tranona]

Almost no-one exploits it to its full potential. If you just want The Big Red Button, as an alternative you could always consider augmenting your VHF with a PLB. IIRC (someone will doubtless correct me if I'm wrong) there is a place on the registration form for stating the callsign of the vessel it is normally used on.

A PLB is not a substitute for a DSC emergency call which goes out to anybody who is in range whereas a PLB is via the satellite system to Falmouth and then to recuse services if deemed necessary.

So, an alternative but less good if in VHF range of a shore station, but arguably better if out of VHF range. Also better if you are in the water, provided you can operate it.

DSC for me would be top of the list for sailing in UK and N European coastal waters. £100 - about the same as a flare pack and far more effective.

 

[laika]

A PLB is not a substitute for a DSC emergency call which goes out to anybody who is in range whereas a PLB is via the satellite system to Falmouth and then to recuse services if deemed necessary.

A good point but a VHF voice mayday will go out to anybody who is range and the OP can do that with a non-DSC set. A PLB augments that in that it's an option if you're out of VHF range (which may not apply, according to where the OP sails), your electrics die, or you can't get to the fixed VHF set (e.g. you're knocked overboard).

I wasn't suggesting a PLB as a DSC alternative though: I was actually trying to say that I'm not convinced (although I respect that the opinions of others may be different) that DSC is an essential safety upgrade with the PLB proposal being purely an example of an alternative safety feature that money could be spent on (though obviously more money).

..Which is not to say that I'm not a DSC fan. I am. And I did replace a perfectly good non-DSC VHF with a DSC set. But then I wasn't buying it just for the Big Red Button.

 

[ShinyShoe]

It seems your concern is mostly about the alerts, They aren't that common at all. Just make sure you know how to cancel them. Its when people don't cancel and they then re-alert after a period of time that makes them think there are loads.

Entering an MMSI will be easy.

Interfacing NMEA data should be straightforward to receive position. If you want to be able to send pos data from the DSC (pos requests and distress alerts) that may get trickier as you already have one talker and unlike in a pub with a bunch of women only 1 person is allowed to talk and many listen. We would need the makes and models of all the kit. There is a possibility the DSC set doesn't send that data anyway.

So you currently have a dubious set. You need to consider the likelihood of being out and needing to call for help and it not working. At that point will this have seemed like a distracting conversation where people told you DSC wasn't all its cracked up to be? Bet you'd quite like the red button at that moment in time!

Now for the sales pitch for DSC... it very much depends what you do with your sailing:

- Option to group call - if you sail in company you can effectively all move to a working channel at once to be advised the first boat just went into the planned anchorage and the wind/sea etc is not right so plan B is now applying. Without DSC you need to either make some 'announcement' on say 16 and then hope everyone moves over or have previously nominated a working channel and hope everyone is dual watching it. SMS messaging could do the same provided everyone has mobile signal.

- Option to pos request - you know your mate should be out on the water but he's not where you expected him to be. You can voice call him and ask. You can SMS him and ask, or you can ask his radio where he is and it can reply without thinking about it. Much like AIS but for people who dont have AIS A/B Transmitters and more manual.

- You are sailing along and you see an AIS target. For whatever reason you want to talk to him. Maybe you want to check he's seen you, Maybe he's behaving strangely and you thing he has a problem. You can use his MMSI to call him - no issues of them not understanding your pronounciation of their vessel name etc.

- While its not 'secure' if you want to call someone its not openly broadcast for anyone who's being nosey to easily hear. (If they had the right kit and listened on CH70 they could decipher the message). Anyway, that means unlike going on 16 and saying "Big Dave go CH8" and 6 other boats flick to CH8 to see what you were calling Big Dave for you tell him to go 8 'silently' and so unless they are scanning all the working channels they won't know to listen in.

- The digital message can travel further than voice.

Ultimately all of the above is effectively about social interaction on VHF. If you don't interact on VHF currently you probably wont on DSC.

Not sure many Marinas etc are on DSC so you will still voice call them or telephone.

Ultimately the real selling point remains when its all going wrong holding down a red button for 5 seconds could be mighty handy.

Why not a PLB? I have one. I would encourage you to have one too. However response from pressing the button on a PLB to first launch or rescue asset may well be approaching an hour by the time messages are passed through various places, attempts made to contact you via shore, attempts via VHF and other vessels asked for any sightings etc. Time to launch for a red button press is likely to be single figure minutes.