DSC Distress Calls --- I can't take it anymore!

[AllenRbrts]

Originally Posted by David Mathis

To avoid the constant annoying distractions, we shut off the AIS receiver unless we are operating at night or in poor visibility. Too bad we can’t program the AIS to turn on and off with the Nav lights.

Most AIS receivers alarms are programmable. We have all AIS alarms off when near shore. Might be a simple adjustment for you to silence the alarms.

[tstano]

Press the talk button. That stops the alert.

[Nicholson58]

Originally Posted by GadgetGeek

All morning my Vesper Cortex VHF / AIS has been ringing with an "All Ships" DSC distress call. Over and over and over. There is no position with the call.

I'm in Punta Gorda, FL at a marina at the moment and USCG has been announcing the same alert with a position that is a hundred miles from my location.

I can't figure out how to get the radio to stop the alarm. If I choose "End" it will ring again in a few minutes. I've just clicked "End Standby" and it looks like the call is in progress and the radio is totally quiet so the beeping has stopped for now. My only other choice it seems is to turn off the radio.

This happens about once a week and then stops. Any thoughts?

We have Vesper 815. If you are anchored:
Switch profile to ANCHORED
find and set your filters. Filter out all vessels with low or no speed. Filter out vessels greater than 3 miles. Filter out CPA GREATER THAN 1/2 mile.

In the anchored profile we only get alarms from MOB tests or dragging.

If your filters are disabled you will get constant alarms from every boat. We disable offshore once vessels are few and far between. Approach to harbors you must enable filters.

Vessels choosing to test the AIS or MOB will drive you crazy. Get on the VHS and strongly implore them to desist. This is the tech version of the little boy crying WOLF. If the new versions of Vesper have a filter to ignore tests, enable it.

[JRO]

Originally Posted by s/v Jedi

Maybe give up the boat? I mean if you can’t take it anymore, something needs to be done. Have you considered switching the radio off?

Are you an ******* everyday?

[s/v Jedi]

Originally Posted by JRO

Are you an ******* everyday?

Great solutions to the problem of the OP you are bringing to the thread! Instead of attacking me, you could have tried to contribute something helpful, like I did.

[bil56]

frankly, during the day, in clear weather, you don't need an AIS alarm!
free yourself a bit from all those gadgets that you are made to believe essential every minute ...

[goboatingnow]

Maybe it’s a local thing

My dsc set has never been triggered by a dsc alarm from anyone in several years. Mine is never in in port

[saltfree]

We spent December and January cruising in the Canary Islands. The Spanish Coastguard would broadcast a DSC alert twice a day EVERYDAY to issue the same Pan Pan over and over. It was a generic notice to be on the lookout for and report any migrant boats coming from Africa. It was the exact same canned message twice a day in English and Spanish.

It was definitely NOT an emergency broadcast, but they used the DSC alert feature that automatically sets off a loud alert tone, and then hijacks your radio to switch to channel 16 and not allow you to switch to any other channel until they were done broadcasting and you then pressed the “acknowledge” button. The only workaround was to switch off the radio and then power it up again a couple minutes later. EXTREMELY frustrating if you happened to be right in the middle of docking in high winds when it happened…

It definitely WAS a misuse of an emergency feature that could be a lifesaver in a real emergency, but not if you got in the habit of ignoring it out of overuse.

[AllenRbrts]

Originally Posted by AllenRbrts

Interesting to see that others have been a frustrated on the Cortex VHF. Like others, I have had mine for a year. The AIS, monitoring, anchor alarm all work great. I would buy it again just for those features (I was upgrading from the Vesper 8000). The VHF not so much. I'm going to be installing the fourth M1 in a year to try to fix the VHF. The good news is I kept my ICOM and it is connected to the VHF in of the M1 and works fine.. so for me it is not the end of the world... just a pain to have two handsets at the helm.
I think they had a design issue with the VHF transmitter. I recorded my transmission and it had drop outs which is why nobody could understand me. Vesper said it an A to D problem. The latest M1 (#3) I got solved that problem, but when the unit warmed up, the range of all VHF reception and transmission went to hell. That unit got returned. I have my fingers crossed that number 4 (arriving tomorrow) will be the magic bullet.

Sorry for the thread drift, but thought I would post an update to my Cortex status. I did get the fourth unit last week and it seems to address all the VHF transmission issues I had. Folks report my AIS can be seen more than 20 miles and no issues with VHF voice transmit clarity. I have put my ICOM handset away for now.

[s/v Jedi]

Originally Posted by AllenRbrts

Sorry for the thread drift, but thought I would post an update to my Cortex status. I did get the fourth unit last week and it seems to address all the VHF transmission issues I had. Folks report my AIS can be seen more than 20 miles and no issues with VHF voice transmit clarity. I have put my ICOM handset away for now.

What is the time delay between receiving a transmission and hearing it from the radio? It was reported to be a couple seconds and I wonder if they improved that?

[AllenRbrts]

Originally Posted by s/v Jedi

What is the time delay between receiving a transmission and hearing it from the radio? It was reported to be a couple seconds and I wonder if they improved that?

If you have two radios on, the receive audio from the Cortex is definitely delayed compared to an analog unit (like my ICOM). My guess is the A to D, WiFi, D to A delay to the handset. It is not seconds, not even one second. Using the unit without hearing a second radio, it is not noticeable at all. So far I have no issues with the audio quality of the VHF on this latest unit I received.
I still have a number of issues with parts of the user interface, things like it comes off dual watch when you change channels and in some menu states it doesn't return to the VHF screen when you press the VHF key. I'm hoping all these rough spots get worked out as the product matures.

[Palarran]

As an FYI, I have to agree with the OP, I simply can't take the DSC distress calls anymore. Almost every night - every time the Greek coast guard issue a PAN PAN, it goes off with gusto. Absolutely crazy. There has to be a way to turn DSC off, but I can't find it.

[goboatingnow]

Originally Posted by Palarran

As an FYI, I have to agree with the OP, I simply can't take the DSC distress calls anymore. Almost every night - every time the Greek coast guard issue a PAN PAN, it goes off with gusto. Absolutely crazy. There has to be a way to turn DSC off, but I can't find it.

Well on the last four days sailing there was two DSC alerts in Greek waters , a mayday and a pan pan fire on board.

Hardly “ I can’t take it anymore”

The specification for GMDSS DSC radios is that Distress and Urgency and Safety Alerts cannot be disabled . The whole point of DSC was to remove a dedicated radio watch. Disabling the alerts would simply undermine the whole point of the exercise.

On my standard horizon 1850 I can disable alarms on other DSC calls , ( all ships , individual , group and position polling alerts )

Some early vhf DSC models had a DSC disable ( an older standard horizon on my RIB had that feature ) , but any recent class D units once updated with an MMSI can’t have DSC disabled

[donradcliffe]

Its one thing to have a VHF DSC watch which alerts you when a boater needs help, AND you may be the only source of help. Its another thing entirely when you have a coast guard watch on the DSC and then the coast guard interrupts your rest when they are already aware of and working on a situation which is 10 hours away from you at your top speed. If I'm in Mykonos I can't really help a mayday in Athens or if someone jumped off a ferry near Corfu. Unfortunately, if you aren't Greek no one is going to listen to your suggestions.

[Palarran]

Originally Posted by goboatingnow

Well on the last four days sailing there was two DSC alerts in Greek waters , a mayday and a pan pan fire on board.

Hardly “ I can’t take it anymore”

The specification for GMDSS DSC radios is that Distress and Urgency and Safety Alerts cannot be disabled . The whole point of DSC was to remove a dedicated radio watch. Disabling the alerts would simply undermine the whole point of the exercise.

On my standard horizon 1850 I can disable alarms on other DSC calls , ( all ships , individual , group and position polling alerts )

Some early vhf DSC models had a DSC disable ( an older standard horizon on my RIB had that feature ) , but any recent class D units once updated with an MMSI can’t have DSC disabled

Or, maybe your radio didn't pick them all up. The migrant boat in distress south of Zakynthos went on for a long time. There must have been 20 alerts off that one alone. Regardless, I'm not lying and it is effing crazy how often it goes off, even at night. Maybe if you can disable some of the DSC calls yours doesn't alarm as often but on mine I'm not seeing a way to do that.