I just got my new Icom M412 radio installed this weekend (purchased at the Annapolis boat show, great price from GPS store) and have the NMEA interfaces working with the GPS and everything tested with the Coast Guard test call (which reports back to the plotter quite nicely I might add), and with my new technical capability, I am now thinking about the potential additional uses of DSC, and I wanted to ask about the "all ships safety call"...
Imagine yourself getting caught out 15 miles offshore in moderately heavy fog with visibility of roughly a half NM, and no radar or AIS, and not far from a commercial traffic lane (which you are crossing as quickly as possible).
I have had this happen before, and in addition to the horn signals I made low power Sécurité transmissions from my hand held radio every 5-10 minutes with my approximate position, course and heading to anyone in the area so they knew to be on the lookout (one person did respond saying thanks for the heads up so I know it helped).
Since we all know that many people (like those Maine Sail recently posted pictures of) are out there just staring at their GPS and often don't even have the radio on, I am wondering if it is appropriate to also issue a "all ships safety call" from the DSC radio from time to time in those conditions, which will also pop up an alert and plot my current position on their GPS (if they have it properly hooked up to a DSC capable radio of course)?
My understanding is the "all ships safety call" is the DSC equivalent of a Sécurité call, which would be completely appropriate to make in a situation where visibility is poor. My question is would this be misinterpreted as a distress call and cause problems, or would it safely increase the awareness of other vessels around me to my position, or would the transmission go too far to be appropriate to use in that circumstance and only serve to raise confusion with other vessels?
The last thing I would want is to issue a safety call to alert people to my position in times poor visibility, and as a result of them not knowing what the call is for, they rush towards me at full speed thinking something is wrong, only to cause the collision I was trying to avoid.
Begin Debate..... Now.
Imagine yourself getting caught out 15 miles offshore in moderately heavy fog with visibility of roughly a half NM, and no radar or AIS, and not far from a commercial traffic lane (which you are crossing as quickly as possible).
I have had this happen before, and in addition to the horn signals I made low power Sécurité transmissions from my hand held radio every 5-10 minutes with my approximate position, course and heading to anyone in the area so they knew to be on the lookout (one person did respond saying thanks for the heads up so I know it helped).
Since we all know that many people (like those Maine Sail recently posted pictures of) are out there just staring at their GPS and often don't even have the radio on, I am wondering if it is appropriate to also issue a "all ships safety call" from the DSC radio from time to time in those conditions, which will also pop up an alert and plot my current position on their GPS (if they have it properly hooked up to a DSC capable radio of course)?
My understanding is the "all ships safety call" is the DSC equivalent of a Sécurité call, which would be completely appropriate to make in a situation where visibility is poor. My question is would this be misinterpreted as a distress call and cause problems, or would it safely increase the awareness of other vessels around me to my position, or would the transmission go too far to be appropriate to use in that circumstance and only serve to raise confusion with other vessels?
The last thing I would want is to issue a safety call to alert people to my position in times poor visibility, and as a result of them not knowing what the call is for, they rush towards me at full speed thinking something is wrong, only to cause the collision I was trying to avoid.
Begin Debate..... Now.
