VHF _ DSC Alarm yesteday - what is it?

The OP asked a legitimate question. I myself have my DSC but do not use a DSC enabled VHF yet. As I have not used one in the 3 years since doing the course, there are many things I have forgotten through lack of use, though I have a very good book which covers all the main points, which I shall read prior to and after fitting a DSC set.
However, if I was to ask the same question as the OP in a face to face situation and received similar, arrogant responses as some have replied with I would have no hesitation in knocking the living sh17 out of said respondents. What do you get out of posts like that? A sense of self importance? It certainly serves NO useful purpose that I can see.
The gentleman asked a fair question, whats wrong with giving an informative answer?
On the other hand, some interesting reading in the other replies - thank you.
 
saltwater_gypsy said:
In my humble opinion the DSC alarm is a complete nonsense for recreational vessels!!!!!
It is delivered at 90db so that it will be heard on the bridge of a commercial vessel and is "over the top" for a sailing yacht. Because of this , many yachts switch off the VHF at night so that the of- watch crew can get some sleep.
It should be possible to reduce the volume of the alarm and/or have a flashing light to alert the watch to urgent messages.
There is still a good market for non-DSC sets at boat jumbles because of this unfortunate feature.
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I only fitted DSC when my old set became unserviceable and unsupportable. However, when choosing my new set, I did so because:

1. The alarm starts quietly and only gets louder if not acknowledged.

2. All the DSC functions are available on both the main set and Command Mic so any acknowledgements or actions can be all but instant.

3. The speaker on the main set (through which the alarm tone is transmitted as well as voice) can set can be selected 'off' which means that for passage making, all routine VHF communication is handled in the cockpit leaving it nice and quiet for the off watch below.
 
mcframe said:
As you'll know, there are /also/ other DSC features - like position send & position request - practice with a friend, and you might be able to get a handy new waypoint appear on your plotter for a breakfast RVP without any embarrassing VHF chit-chat nor mobile phone usage.

Cockpit mics are great.
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The postion polls sound excellent ideas, but the problem is finding someone else to send the info to, Its like having a mobile number, no one likes to give it out to anyone, unless you know them first. this has kind of stumped the advance of dsc to the leisure market, some really useful procedures in there you can just simply text to the recieving station, but unless you know there number you have to go back to the ch16 way of contact.
 
Goldie said:
I only fitted DSC when my old set became unserviceable and unsupportable. However, when choosing my new set, I did so because:

1. The alarm starts quietly and only gets louder if not acknowledged.

2. All the DSC functions are available on both the main set and Command Mic so any acknowledgements or actions can be all but instant.

3. The speaker on the main set (through which the alarm tone is transmitted as well as voice) can set can be selected 'off' which means that for passage making, all routine VHF communication is handled in the cockpit leaving it nice and quiet for the off watch below.
Click to expand...

m505 is it????
 
Rowana said:
Mind you, up here I can go from one message from HMC saying "Go to channel 23 for the weather forecast" through to the next one without hearing a soul on Ch16. One of the advantages of sailing up here! :)
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Perhaps you should check your antenna connection. :)

Seriously, I have had my DSC set for two seasons and have yet to experience a DSC alert. (And yes, my antenna connection is OK - last week I heard within the same hour Clyde, Stornoway and Belfast CG, and the Lord of the Isles announcing its arrival at Oban while I was off Kilchoan.)
 
The ability to grab the attention of nearby vessels in an emergency is clearly a valuable feature. But I think the dsc alert system is counter productive. Like the statements in previous posts, I find that the dsc alarm goes off like a bomb on my radio and unless you can get to the set quickly to cancel the alarm, the noise then drowns out the following voice message... and so I miss the spoken details of the call. Apart from being extremely annoying as it invariably goes off when I and the crew (wife) are busy in the cockpit, the rush below to "turn that damm noise off" usually results in the set being turned off and then back on. In order for a safety feature to be effective, it needs to be practical and "user friendly". That doesn't seem to be the case with dsc alerting.
 
Laundryman said:
VHF_ DSC Alarm

I now have an icom 411. Please, if the alarm goes off, what do i do, which buttons do i press?
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Any button. Section 6 "DSC Alarms" - push any key to stop the alarm. I read them then delete them from the list (more button presses). Most boats I get on have an uncleared list of dozens of alarm messages, most of them mundane.
 
JohnJB said:
The ability to grab the attention of nearby vessels in an emergency is clearly a valuable feature. But I think the dsc alert system is counter productive. Like the statements in previous posts, I find that the dsc alarm goes off like a bomb on my radio and unless you can get to the set quickly to cancel the alarm, the noise then drowns out the following voice message... and so I miss the spoken details of the call. Apart from being extremely annoying as it invariably goes off when I and the crew (wife) are busy in the cockpit, the rush below to "turn that damm noise off" usually results in the set being turned off and then back on. In order for a safety feature to be effective, it needs to be practical and "user friendly". That doesn't seem to be the case with dsc alerting.
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Welcome to the forum.

This is a 10 year old "phoenix thread" and I don't suspect there will ever be a change in internationally agreed protocols. A RAM (remote head unit) in the cockpit might assist you in cancelling the "dsc alarm going off like a bomb", although I've always found bombs just a tad louder, I've found one extremely useful as there is no need to clamber down to the Nav Table, to hear of incoming live fire near Plymouth.
 
I know it's an old thread but it raises an interesting question with me.
I can't remember getting an alarm over the last few years EXCEPT when I do an autotest to Aberdeen Coastguard. Do Coastguards not issue a DSC alert before weather forecasts etc? I'd assume there was something wrong with my set if it didn't give me an alert on those occasions.
 
colvic987 said:
On my vhf it starts low and gets louder the longer you ignore it.
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This is the reason I installed a remote mic for my vhf in the cockpit....you get a bin load of alerts in the solent. Pesky thing keeps going off. However I would rather listen to them than turn the vhf off....if I hit that red button I would want others to listen to my message.
 
To be fair, in the intervening decade most yachts have fitted/moved their plotters in the cockpit so the issue has largely gone away for anyone with more than a passing interest in reading manuals. I'm sure a lot of people will still go to the radio, but even when this thread was fresh I could ack from the plotter and see emergency waypoints for Maydays etc.
 
I'm afraid it is a question of reading the manual for your set. On my B&G there is a soft menu showing 'Silence' amongst other options.
Unfortunately the wireless handheld that I use on deck is a little more cryptic and you have to match the soft menu with little dots on the keys.
Be prepared for several such interruptions a day in the summer months. You'll soon learn how to turn the alarm off.
 
Neil said:
When I first got my short range cert of competence, I noted that it was a legal requirement to call the CG and confirm your newly-programmed MMSI No. Which I did. I'd programed an address list of a couple of useful MMSI No's, including the Dublin CG. About 2 mins after I'd confirmed my MMSI No., I got a DSC alarm. It was Dublin CG, calling me! Panic! I called back immediately to see what was up! To be dryly informed is was a securite all stations call. Red ears! (face, neck, chest)

Funnily enough, I don't remember being bothered any alarms going off afterwards - I can't remember if there was a way to disable the DSC alarm? (it was a Cobra F55), It was few years ago.......
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I did my VHF DSC course eleven years ago, (in the same week as my ISA Keelboat Instructor Course, as it was a requirement for qualification), in the intervening time, I have never made nor received a DSC call, or heard a DSC alarm. (Funnily enough I also have a Cobra F55!)
Comes to that, I've never heard a radio check call to the Coastguard or much in the way of radio traffic in general. We don't go in much for all that radio chatter over here.
 
chrisclin said:
I know it's an old thread but it raises an interesting question with me.
I can't remember getting an alarm over the last few years EXCEPT when I do an autotest to Aberdeen Coastguard. Do Coastguards not issue a DSC alert before weather forecasts etc? I'd assume there was something wrong with my set if it didn't give me an alert on those occasions.
Click to expand...
You may have answered your question by use of the name Aberdeen, Try changing that to Solent and life will become a lot noisier. I'd guess on receiving alerts about three times a day, typically because someone 100NM away has let the strum box fill up with toenail clippings or suchlike while forgetting to shut off the head's seacocks, or they've run out of gin, but occasionally more local ones because an inflatable swan crewed by small children is on passage to France

Our 'repeater' is just a speaker so the head banging charge to the radio remains obligatory.

UK Coastguards don't seem to issue alerts for forecasts etc, but the French do, at least sometimes...
 
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