DSC radio-ship positioning

RAD · Sep 7, 2009

Radio 101
DSC radio when hooked up to a GPS via the NEMA connections will display your position at the radio so you can look and broadcast your position to others and if you push the MAYDAY Emergency button a signal will go to the coasties and they can see your position and also know your vital statistics eg. your name,boat name,hailing port,etc.....providing you get a MMSI number and register the radio.
another cool feature is once the radio is registered then you can call other radios like calling on a cell phone for example when I call my friend Barry from the list on my radio his radio rings like a telephone and the display says my name so this ship to ship calling is pretty neat
here's a link with more detail

http://www.boatus.com/DIYArticles/2006_4_911.asp

Shell · Sep 7, 2009

Nice idea. My radio has it. Got my MMSI. Never hooked up the gps to it because in a 500 slip marina in NY harbor not one boat uses it.

Bill Roosa · Sep 7, 2009

neet and must have VHF stuff

Must have
Weather channels,
Weather alerting; goes to the weather channel when the alert tone sounds
Duel or tri watch; so you can monitor 16, and an other channel or two at the same time.
Water proof; water resistant is OK if the vhf is going to be at the nav station but why put it there when you will be communicating from the helm? water proof.
US, CAN, and international freq toggle if you plan to do any long distance stuff.
A secondary antenna for when the mast comes down.

Nice to have.
DCS with distress (all stations), group (all stations on a list), and ship to ship (a single station) functions.
Scan mode for listing to all the "sillies" on Saturdays
Tuning from the mike
A remote control for the nav station or better yet a "command mike" that remotes the VHF primary functions (tune, volume, squelch) to the helm. Solves the where do I put it issue.

Also you can't, to my knowledge, get your chart plotter to map the DCS equipped boat in the area. AIS will do that for you but then you need an AIS transmitter and receiver and so do they. DCS will show the lat-long of a station that is transmitting but there is currently no way to port that over to the plotter that I know of.

kloudie1 · Sep 7, 2009

Bill is right on.. I’d get DSC even though no one uses it much right now. I’d get remote mike capability, the plug in kind.. GREAT not to have to keep up charge on handheld or the remote mike.... weather is a standard feature, I’d not get the alerting ones because here the alerts are almost constant from the rigs and structures out in the Gulf.. annoying.. Practical sailor did a review of VHF’s not too long ago that is useful.. Their numbers point to Standard Horizon or Icom or the West Marine brand ..all were friendly and put out the power advertised.. I think Standard had the best audio output and “hear-ability” .. I’ll see if I can find the article.. They don’t cost much toward the lower end and have all the features I need. Good to have a waterproof handheld as well for the dink trips.

Stu Jackson · Sep 7, 2009

Hermit Scott said:
So can Stu give me his ID number to his DSC radio, and I will be able to watch where he sails around San Francisco bay on my chart plotter?

I would if I had one. I'm kinda old school here, hermit, with a 1986 down below Standard Horizon that works just fine for me. My "primary" is a handheld cockpit SH scanner. Neither has DSC. My handheld Garmin GPSMap 76Cx maybe has NEMA output, but I haven't gone there. Maybe someday but not in the near future.

What you need to determine is whether or not a handheld's range is adequate for where you plan to sail. If it isn't, you need a fixed radio, but a fixed radio down below is essentially useless for shorthanded crews, so the trade offs become obvious: location, location, location.

I once had to escort a friend up the coast here who had his exhaust riser break, no engine, no wind, no cockpit radio. Talking to his wife on the radio when i needed to speak to him was absurd, and he wouldn't leave the wheel even though he wasn't going anywhere. You need a mic at the helm, how you get there has many different routes.

Stu Jackson · Sep 7, 2009

And for goodness sake, go get a FREE WM catalog

and read the section about radios. It explains it all, saves a lot of everyone's fingers and I suggested you do it months ago. You do have one (or two) right? Have you read it lately? OK, crankypants out!

The advisors are online, too, here: http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wc...tView?storeId=10001&langId=-1&catalogId=10001 Scroll down to Electronics, VHF, four articles.

Stu Jackson · Sep 7, 2009

kloudie1 said:
Bill is right on.. I’d get DSC even though no one uses it much right now. I’d get remote mike capability, the plug in kind.. GREAT not to have to keep up charge on handheld or the remote mike....

I was concerned about that, too, when we got a recent handheld radio, and always keep alkalines handy on board.

But, my radio works from 7 a.m. to dusk (5 p.m. winter, 8 p.m. summer) without a hiccup. We then charge it on board in the crade via 12V or at home with the 120V charger.

I think the days of radio rechargeable batteries crapping out during the day are largely over.

What's been your experiences?

Bill Roosa · Sep 7, 2009

off topic VHF usage

Do any of you use your hand held VHF for dink runs ashore and do you use it while ashore? I've been using my GMRS radio which is smaller and seems to work fine out to several miles.

BarryL · Sep 7, 2009

DSC Radio Info

Hello,

What kind of chartplotter do you have? Does it work with the NMEA 2000, or the older NMEA 0183? Do you like your current plotter or would you consider a new one?

BTW, a great place to learn about marine electronics is at panbo:
http://www.panbo.com/

Anyway, if you have a plotter that uses NMEA 2000, then you should buy a VHF with NMEA 2000 as well. The reason being that connecting the two devices is just a matter of plugging them in. If you use the older NMEA 0183 then you will need to do some wiring. It's not too hard, but you will need to do it.

Features that I like on my Standard Horizon GX1500 with remote MIC (wired, no batteries):
-The display works like a repeater and will display speed and heading
-If I know someone's MMSI number I can hail just them
-I can control all functions from the remote mic
-It was cheap (about $150 for the main unit, and $100 for the remote)

BTW, if your plotter can handle it, you CAN see the location of another boat on your display. Your radio will request his position. His radio wil send it, and your radio will send it t oyour plotter.

Barry

Joseph Shirley · Sep 7, 2009

Hermit Scott said:
25 watt radios range from $66 to $500 and up. What features are useful that aren't included in the cheapies? What features do I want to have?
I have been looking at new ones on line. I would really appriciate it if someone would tell me all they know about how marine radios are used in practice.

Currently, I have a whip antena on top the mast, with coax running to the nav station.

My ICOM has the DSC and I have an old GPS dedicated to it. I too have an antenna on my mast, and have a second with an inside switch on my stern in case of rig loss. My ICOM also has a loud hailer option, and I do have the on-deck speaker which serves double duty because my radio also puts out various fog signals.

I think a good radio is well worth the money. My only mistake was mounting it at my Nav Station. I should have mounted it under the overhead accessible from the cockpit. I may move it yet.

Have fun

Joe S

Rick D · Sep 7, 2009

Re: off topic VHF usage

Well, I believe they are not supposed to use it ashore. However, many people do for hailing friends, calling shore boats, coordinating slip assignments, etc. So do the harbor patrols, marina helpers, yard workers and dozens of others I've seen. Doesn't make it right of course, but it is common use. I try to remember to take mine in the dink when I use it for safety back up reasons.

rpwillia · Sep 7, 2009

Hermit, ...

You and I have the same Humminbird chartplotter and it puts out NMEA 0183. I recall you need to turn it on in the menu.

For my $0.02 everyone should have a DSC capable radio with an MMSI and have it hooked up to a GPS. It is not unusual to hear someone requesting help from the USCG or TowBoatUS and they don't know where they are. Having the 3 above eliminates all that (well, maybe not the dumb repetitive questions from the USCG).

Just about every fixed radio made now has DSC and even some handhelds have the DSC and a GPS receiver built in. I have a Standard Horizon that is just rock solid and easy to use. It is also worth the money to get the remote for the helm - it does no good for someone to call you and you don't hear them because the radio is down below. My wired remote is great and never needs charging.

Cpt. Jon · Sep 8, 2009

I bought one with DSC, but I don't think my GPS accepts the incoming positioning of other boats, or the radio doesn't... bummer. Also, I would like to stress having the radio available at the helm, whether by remote or placed somewhere close enough to hear it when under engine power or in weather. Yesterday after we got the snot kicked out of us on the Chesapeake right as we were passing some shoals, there was a disabled motorboat that hailed us, we got close and he yelled to me because I couldn't leave the helm and the wife was not feeling well, either before or after actually getting sick. He ended up calling BoatUS and they passed us on our way in as we weren't heading the right direction as he wanted to go.

Having my wife have to monitor the radio in those conditions or what if I had been single handing would not work too well. I justified the cheaper radio without remote because it works well as a radio (now vs not having one until I saved my pennies), and if I hook up DSC, which will be a pain due to running wires to the plotter I will at least have the funtionality in an emergency and I think I can use the calling function from it as well, if any of our friends had it hooked up. I am planning on a handheld for the cockpit (I think) as that can be taken with when we finally have a dinghy or on other boats etc, and should be enough for the cockpit. I could hear a number of Pan-Pans yesterday, but was unable to hear what they were saying and my wife was done in by the weather/waves etc.

Stu Jackson · Sep 8, 2009

Yeah, Jon, I hear ya (npi). It's like having no radio at all, isn't it. Planning is so important. See my reply #6 above. Handhelds are sooo inexpensive these days. Good luck savign your boat bucks.

For anyone who spends mega bucks on installing a wonderful radio down below, I say HOO-EEE, NUTS and other diminutive rants. Jon has just explained, in great detail and HONESTY just why that makes no sense. Buy an el cheapo down below that has the basic functions you want and will transmit in the event of an emergency, and get SOMETHING, in any configuration you choose, that will work at the helm, which is where you need the radio. Doh...

Lee Coller · Sep 8, 2009

If you want to see the position on your chart plotter, you need to make sure the radio you buy outputs the position, not all do (mine doesn't).

Many radios only accept NMEA input.

DSC radio-ship positioning

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