This has been a great thread and I applaud John and the other contributors for providing valuable information....
My favorites DSC commands are:
Position Reports - Most DSC Radios are connected to your NEMA 0183, which not only obtains the Lat/Long for other boats, but can display other boats on your chart plotter when polled. This allows the Lat/Long of the
boat you requested the position report from to appear on most newer (ten years or less) Chart Plotters.
It goes like this... Request a Position Report from another
boat using DSC; Other Boat Acknowledges the DSC Call, which returns the Lat/Long to your boat's
radio; The position shows up on your Chart Plotter, in my
Raymarine E-120 it shows as a RED "X"
GROUPS: If you are a
RACE COMMITTEE or RALLY LEADER or just traveling with a group of boats - You can pre-program all the participating boats into your VHF. Then make a Group. This will allow you to either call ALL THE BOATS to a working channel or find out where they are at the push of a button.
COMMERCIAL TRAFFIC - Most Commercial Vessels, especially in Vessel Traffic Services (VTS) Zones are NOT REQUIRED TO
MONITOR CHANNEL 16. This frustrates many recreation boat skippers when Commercial Vessels don't answer their hail on Channel 16.
For a list of VTS Zones go here:
http://www.navcen.uscg.gov/?pageName=vtsLocations
COMMERCIAL VESSELS are required to have an active Watch Stander monitoring DSC (GMDSS) or a passive audible
alarm that sounds on the bridge when a DSC call is received.
So by using
AIS you can find the ship's MMSI number and send a DSC Call to them or use an ALL CALL, which will sound the ships
alarm and require the Watch Standers to listen to you.
Finally, for routine/non-distress calls, you can pre-program you local USCG Stations into your VHF/SSB:
Astoria 003669910
Baltimore 003669961
Boston 003669901
Charleston 003669907
Corpus Christi 003669916
Delaware Bay 003669905
Detroit 003669930
Hampton Roads 003669922
Houston/Galveston 003669915
Humboldt Bay 003669909
Jacksonville 003669962
Key West 003669918
Long Island 003669931
Los Angeles/Long Beach 003669912
Miami 003669919
Mobile 003669914
New Orleans 003669908
New York 003669929
North Bend 003669911
North Carolina 003669906
Northern
New England 003669921
Port Angeles 003669904
Portland 003669937
San Diego 003669913
San Francisco 003669926
Seattle 003669938
Southeastern
New England 003669928
St. Petersburg 003669917
All USCG coast stations 003669999
(List Obtained from
Power &
Motor Yacht Magazine:
USCG Sector MMSI numbers )