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Old 17-03-2010, 13:51   #1
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Radio Procedure

I came across a clock on the Chelsea website called the Radio Room Clock that shows special times of the day for radio silence. It states:

"The sinking of the Titanic resulted in the Radio Act of 1912, requiring 24-hour radio watches at sea. The disaster also led to a clock design featuring two 3 minute periods marked in red to mark a silent period when only emergency radio messages could be transmitted. Two green markings designate silent periods during which time one would listen for coastal distress signals."

Is this still the case? Or does VHF Channel 16 replace this?
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Old 17-03-2010, 14:06   #2
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Welcome to the forum trev.
Thats an interesting post...cant wait to see the replies.
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Old 17-03-2010, 14:18   #3
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AFAIK there's a priority scheme for VHF 16 - no silent periods - and with the advent of DSC, VHF 16 monitoring is no longer compulsory even.

http://www.sailing.org/sailors/1716.php

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The IMO accepted ISAF’s proposals and the abolition of the compulsory watch on Channel 16 has been postponed indefinitely.
Looks like there's been some back-pedalling on that
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Old 17-03-2010, 16:16   #4
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Trev, as best I recall the silent periods are for HF (high frequency, marine SSB) radios and have nothing to do with VHF on Channel 16.

2182 kHz - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

And with the use of EPIRBs, monitoring of 2182 is generally discontinued as well, making the special periods a moot point although some may still observe the tradition.
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Old 17-03-2010, 20:42   #5
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Recomended silence...

If my memory is correct from my MROCP exam (fading fast, passed at last) silence periods of 3 minutes on the hour and the half hour are recommended but no longer mandatory.

This would apply on both 2182 kHz and VHF channel 16.

With Marine Rescue in NSW, Oz there might be a bit of chill in the air if one kept on calling on the hour and half hour.
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Old 18-03-2010, 01:53   #6
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From The Australian Marine Radio Operators Handbook (2006), section 3, para 20.

20.1 International regulations no longer require silence periods to be observed on the distress and calling frequencies.

20.2 However, to increase the safety of life at sea in Australia, two three-minute periods of silence should be observed in each hour.

It goes on with more detail and then at

20.5 It is the practice in all Australian waters to observe silence periods on the radiotelephony distress frequencies of either 2182,4125,6215,8291,12290,16420 and VHF channel 16.

and

20.9 Silence periods are not observed on the MF/HF DSC frequencies and VHF DSC channel.

So from that I take it that the ITU has dropped mandatory silence periods but some countries still odserve them
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Old 18-03-2010, 05:19   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by idpnd View Post
AFAIK there's a priority scheme for VHF 16 - no silent periods - and with the advent of DSC, VHF 16 monitoring is no longer compulsory even.

ISAF : VHF Channel 16 & GMDSS



Looks like there's been some back-pedalling on that
Reading the entire article you quoted, the monitoring of channel 16 is still required on all vessels.

"The IMO accepted ISAF’s proposals and the abolition of the compulsory watch on Channel 16 has been postponed indefinitely."

The proposal was to abolish the Channel 16 watch with the advent of DSC but apparently they did not consider that the requirement for upgrading to DSC was for ships 300 tons or greater. Until all vessels have DSC, I don't think that channel 16 will be abolished.
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Old 22-03-2010, 12:43   #8
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Thanks for the responses. It gets a little confusing with all the different types/ranges of radio/frequency.

Personally, even with the fancy new DSC etc. It seems like it would be a good idea to continue the practice. For such simple effort, there's the real possibility of saving of life in those 1 in a million situations where other technologies fail (or someone in their panic doesn't remember to hit a specific button).
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Old 22-03-2010, 12:54   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by trevpage View Post
Thanks for the responses. It gets a little confusing with all the different types/ranges of radio/frequency.

Personally, even with the fancy new DSC etc. It seems like it would be a good idea to continue the practice. For such simple effort, there's the real possibility of saving of life in those 1 in a million situations where other technologies fail (or someone in their panic doesn't remember to hit a specific button).
Agreed. Appreciate many have DSC on VHF and HF, and many have other means of issuing a disctress call. But there are many out there with older radios and lots with low power.
So as keeping to the 2 x 3 minute no transmission / listening watch is hardly a problem for anyone - it is a convention we stick with on our boat.
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Old 22-03-2010, 18:36   #10
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These rules applied to ships carrying Radio Officers. During these time slots the ROs were required to monitor 500 khz for distress traffic and make an entry in the radio log while on watch. During off watch times there was a very crude electromechanical alarm system that monitored 500 khz for a unique cw signal.

I stopped shipping out as a RO in the late sixties. I think they did away with ROs sometime in the mid to late seventies.Which is really a bummer! It was a great gig that paid really well. The best part was that when in port you locked the radio room door and went ashore until one hour before getting underway. Oh yes, the ship couldn't depart without the RO. If they still had ROs I would sign on in a flash.

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Old 23-03-2010, 02:12   #11
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And unfortunately you might find they have done away with 500 KHz as well (AFAIK), such is progress!
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