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DSC-Equipped VHF Radios Offer Significant Advantages For Recreational Boaters

DSC-EQUIPPED VHF RADIOS OFFER SIGNIFICANT ADVANTAGES
FOR RECREATIONAL BOATERS

You have finally found the fish, and they're in a cooperative mood. In between hook-ups, you take a minute to get on your VHF radio and notify your buddy on another boat. There's just one problem. How do you inform your friend about the wide-open bite and provide your position, without giving away this propriety information to every weekend warrior on the water?

The answer is Digital Selective Calling or DSC. This advanced technology, available to recreational boaters, represents a significant improvement in marine communications, especially for anglers. DSC-enabled VHF radios allow for private "ship-to-ship" calls to other DSC-equipped vessels, while also supplying the intended receiver with the exact coordinates of the calling craft via an LCD display.

Uniden Oceanus
VHF Radio with DSC

Thanks to this private calling feature, you can use your DSC-enabled VHF to tell a specific vessel what's happening and where the fish are, without alerting a flotilla of other boats.

Although commercial vessels have used DSC since 1988, the technology has just recently become available to private boaters as part of the new Global Maritime Distress and Safety System (GMDSS). In addition to providing a higher level of privacy, radios with DSC also offer several safety advantages over standard VHF units.

In emergency situations, a radio equipped with DSC and connected to a Loran or GPS is capable of sending an encoded "mayday" directly to satellites that automatically identifies the position of the vessel in distress. Also, much like an EPIRB, these radios continue to transmit this emergency message, even if the skipper is disabled. Users can initiate or receive distress, urgency, safety and routine calls to or from any similarly equipped vessel or shore station, without being near a radio loudspeaker.

DSC distress calls, along with the boat's coordinates, can be sent out instantly to the U.S. Coast Guard or any other rescue authority around the world. Currently, commercial ships over 300 tons are required to monitor distress calls on the DSC Radio-reserved Channel 70.

The U.S. Coast Guard, which is in the process of updating and upgrading their equipment, still monitors Channel 16, but plans to monitor DSC Channel 70 in many areas by 2003. Full Coast Guard functionality and compliance is expected by or before 2006.

While boaters are no longer required to have an FCC-issued ship's station license to operate standard VHF radios, the new DSC-equipped VHF models must be registered in order to function properly in emergency situations.

DSC units are also encoded with a nine-digit FCC identification number, called a Maritime Mobile Service Identity (MMSI), that operates much like a cell phone number and allows for private ship-to-ship calls. In order to ensure that only one intended vessel receives your call, you'll need to know the MMSI number of the radio you want to reach.

DSC should become a standard feature on all VHF and HF radiotelephones in the near future, but at present, not all VHF units are DSC-enabled. However, if you want to take advantage of this improved technology now, there are a number of DSC-equipped models available that you can choose from.

Raymarine RAY 215
VHF Radio with DSC

Online retailers such as BoatersWorld.com (www.BoatersWorld.com) offer a variety of these radios designed for recreational vessels – all of which can be purchased with a few clicks of a mouse.

While these units cost a little more than traditional VHF models, if you buy online at BoatersWorld.com, you'll reap the benefits of a "Low Prices Guarantee," no sales tax, and free shipping (for orders over $100).

Boatersworld.com also offers a special section at the site where visitors can register for their MMSI numbers online, making this process easy and convenient.
The combination of private ship-to-ship communications and additional safety features should make DSC extremely attractive to private boaters.

By investing just a few more dollars for a DSC-enabled unit, you'll be able to better protect not only your proprietary radio transmissions, but everyone onboard as well.