Possible to disable MMSI prompt on Std. Horizon VHF?

[Canibul]

Lightning fried our VHF some time back, and I bought a replacement radio to get us home. Now we're starting to spend more time on the boat with the VHF on. On a regular basis I get a loud BEEEEP from the radio along with a scrolling LCD message that there's no MMSI number and that I shoud imput my MMSI number. The beep is annoying. I have no intention of inputting an MMSI number. I'd like to disable the notification. Or at least the annoying audio alert.

I checked the manual, but couldn't find any mention of a way to turn this annoying "feature" off. Does anyone know of a way to do it?

[hellosailor]

Not offhand, but if you call SH support in a hurry, before the business week ends...they're incredibly good at customer support.

[Canibul]

Good idea. I don't make many phone calls but I did email them. surely they sell their radios outside the US to other people who don't use MMSI for anything.

[colemj]

An MMSI number is an international thing related to DSC, not a US-centric one. It is free to get and will be needed if you want to use any of the DSC functionality in the radio.

Mark

[hellosailor]

"surely they sell their radios outside the US to "
Probably not.

Bear in mind that a SH radio is a Yaesu (Japanese) radio. And the radio they are selling in each geography, is programmed in many ways to meet the requirements and preferences of that geography. Buy one in the EU, and it won't be the same as one you buy in the US. Or the real home market--which could be Japan.(G)

MMSI programming? probably part of the "local" customization. But that's often changeable by secret key codes or jumpers inside, and SH would be the most reliable way to find that out.

[MarkJ]

Theres only two ways to do it: get an MMSI number.

Or if you will never have an MMSI then just make one up and bung it in

Works a treat and friends can DSC you

[Scott Berg]

If you are using a VHF radio outside the US and have a US Flagged vessel you MUST have a MMSI by law; it comes with the station license. Since you probably do have a licensed radio why wouldn't you want to install the MMSI number? It's an international number, indeed, except for ones issued by BoatUS (a big FCC mistake, IMMO) and most European countries require it along with licensing of both radio and operators.

[Scott Berg]

Originally Posted by colemj

An MMSI number is an international thing related to DSC, not a US-centric one. It is free to get and will be needed if you want to use any of the DSC functionality in the radio.

Mark

MMSI numbers in the US are only free if you don't count the cost of the marine station license that they come with. BoatUS numbers aren't recognized outside the US. I'll check the US Code but I'm guessing putting in a false MMSI is a crime; I KNOW it is in most of Europe and the Med...

[Canibul]

I wrote SH and got an email back from Technical Support within two hours. Those guys are on the ball.

Bad news is that all their radios sound the alarm unless you hook up a GPS to them. They said they are following ITU guidelines for marine radios, whatever that is.

So I'm going to pull a brand new VHF radio out and replace it with a five year old Uniden from my skiff. I'll stick the SH in a locker somewhere in case I ever need a spare. Or trade it to someone who uses the DSC stuff.

I do have a MMSI, it's on the radiotelephone license paperwork. No intention of using it.

[colemj]

OK, so I guess there is that station license I forgot about because we needed it for other things anyway. I know several boats outside the US that got new radios without MMSI numbers and just got them from BoatUS anyway. They may not be recognized outside the US, but they do allow using the DSC functions and they aren't putting in a false MMSI.

On the other hand, it just occurred to me that these people probably didn't realize they already had an MMSI with their station license! I know I didn't realize we already had one with our license until I tried to apply for one when we replaced our old radio with a DSC version.

Mark

[DeepFrz]

Canibul, I'm just wondering why you don't want to use an MMSI number in the radio when you already have the number? Would you explain that to a curious mind?

[Scott Berg]

The ITU is the International Telecommunications Union. They are the worldwide governing body for radio and TV spectrum management and almost all counties are members. Again, in Europe MMSI's are mandatory

Why don't you want to set up your VHF with one? Just curious?

[colemj]

I was going to mention that the beep was because of no GPS, but you specifically said the error was no MMSI. Does the no GPS beep go away if you manually enter your position data?

BTW, it isn't just SH - all DSC radios do this now. If you have a standalone GPS antenna/receiver, you can always connect that - it is particularly easy if you have a NMEA0183 one.

Mark

[MarkJ]

Originally Posted by colemj

Does the no GPS beep go away if you manually enter your position data?



Mark

Only until you turn it off and back on again.
Manual enter is a pain too.

[klmmicro]

My SH beeps once when I first turn it on while displaying a message regarding no MMSI being entered. Have not had that message come up again in an ON cycle. I did look for a setting that would disable MMSI until I am ready to get one, but had no luck on my 1700.

Last weekend, there was a call out on 16 from the CG...someone had activated their DSC with no MMSI number programmed in to whatever radio they were using. The radio apparently did transmit a set of GPS coords, but no specific identifying info.