DSC mayday

[gtflash]

Two weeks ago I was just launched and waiting for the wife holding the boat on the jetty., when the vhf started screaming about mayday.

At first I thought the 6yr old had pressed the button as she was sat infront of it, but she swore blind she hadn’t. It turned out to be a boat on fire but I was surprised I could not work out who, where, location, etc.

Nothing came up on plotter and VHF just stated distress (I think). Admittedly I have an old plotter.

What should I have seen? I expected to see a position so I could assertain if I was nearby to assist.

[jncunliffe]

It all depends on what radio/plotter you’ve got so may be time to dust off the manual.[emoji3]

On my GX1500E, on receipt of a DSC distress call, I just turn the main knob to see the the distress vessel’s MMSI, nature or distress and location.



Cheers,
Jon C

[Poly]

if your plotter is clever enough and wired to the radio correctly it will show the location of the distress call, you'll need to read the manual for that. Most manufacturers still seem to have made it remarkably clumsy. You'd expect:

"Distress Alert received - show on chart? Yes No"

Then "Navigate to distress alert? Yes No"

I think on Garmin you get a message, then have to go to Info, DSC, to find the actual call (that may depend on the zoom level)

[Pikey Dave]

Originally Posted by Poly

if your plotter is clever enough and wired to the radio correctly it will show the location of the distress call, you'll need to read the manual for that. Most manufacturers still seem to have made it remarkably clumsy. You'd expect:



"Distress Alert received - show on chart? Yes No"



Then "Navigate to distress alert? Yes No"



I think on Garmin you get a message, then have to go to Info, DSC, to find the actual call (that may depend on the zoom level)

It also depends if the sending vessel has its VHF wired correctly to send valid GPS positions. If it hasn’t, it’ll just broadcast a mayday without a valid position. This will squawk every VHF within range, but won’t show on the plotter.

[tehguy]

If your VHF is linked to your plotter via NMEA0183 or NMEA2000 it should definitely put a marker on the chart with the location of the distress vessel, assuming it is transmitting its coordinates

[ChrisxsRIB]

What radio do you have?

[gtflash]

Icom 421. However my plotter is ancient lowrance. It still works so well I can’t part with it. Both are connected.

[gtflash]

RTFM. Looks like I have to go to received calls. Distress calls and then the serial is in there. Location and reason etc.

[ChrisxsRIB]

On the icom, an alarm will sound when you revive a DSC alert. That could be routine, safety, urgency or distress. Pressing any button will doable the alarm.

For distress you will then have an option to accept (this will not return any message to the casualty vessel). From there it will give you an option for info. That will display the the MMSI, Time sent, position and nature of distress if selected.

The DSC log will also give you the information if you didn’t accept the discreet at the time of the alarm

Hope that helps

[Matt]

The above is the exact reason I plan to upgrade my electronics, it’s vhf and plotter.