Great stuff - keep the good ideas coming!
I supply and fit the Icom as first choice for people.
The 304 is around $370
They are a lot better radio than most others.
If price is the issue, the Lowrance (rebadged Navman) VHF with DSC is around $250.
I have fitted a few of these and all reports are good so far.
Cheers
Pete
It has been awhile since I did my radio course so please correct me if I'm wrong, but the DSC panic button will still work if interphased with the GPS? A automatic distress message will be transmitted with the Lat and Long of the distressed vessel however no identification of the vessel will be sent!
Still think you should do a course however.
Cheers Richo
Have a navman on two boats, only hassle with the navmans is, the installer, may not permanently wire the GPS unit to power.
Easy test, the @#$$@$@ thing, rings every time you turn the sounder/gps off!
Took ages, to work out why as I relied on a dealer to do install (never again, use a proper electronics person)
Other than that, they've been really good, especially boat to boat buddy.
Another vote for ICOM, I buy them because of ease of use and reliability.
I had a 422 on a previous boat and a 504 on the current boat, both imported when the $$ was good.
I was buying a new vhf about a year ago and was looking at this dsc thing. I wasn't convinced by the sales pitch of the local guy, so I phone Coast Radio Hobart, our local coastguard guys, and a pretty good bunch They said it wasn't something they were on to and didn't expect to be for a while.
So I phoned AMSA in Camnberra, the national search and rescue coordinators to ask them about it. The guy there asked me to explain what dsc is. He asked round the office, blank stares all round
Back to the local guy with this info and he was a bit sheepish, saying "Mmm, well, yeah, it hasn't really been widely adopted in Australia yet..."
As I said, this waas 12 months ago, so before thinking it's the bees knees, it might be worth checking not so much how it works, but who's actually listening.
Cheers,
Jigs
jig, you are takin' the piss... right???
Errr, no, unfortunately.
That was Tassie though. They were all sitting around boxes of pigeons.
Sorry mate, can't help meself. The point you raise though is a very valid one and it would certainly pay for people to check with their local coast guard or whatever. I would guess that Q would be far better monitored than "other areas."
Hohoho, you'll have to do better than that wilcara.
But yeh, worth checking, could have been a big uptake in the last 12 months
Gotta say that the Coast Radio Hobart crew are pretty good, they deal as much with pros as amateurs, and I've actually heard them handle a few dramas - very cool and collected
I queried both VMR and Coast Guard here in Brisbane about six months ago and they do not monitor DSC.
However if you send a distress DSC call and other boats in range are carring VHF with DSC they will pick up the call as will commercial vessals that are required to carry class A radio's.
Here two links that might help
http://www.amsa.gov.au/Publications/...HFDSC_fact.pdf
http://www.boatus.com/foundation/dsc/player.html
Les
Almost forgot you need two radios in Tassie one for each head
I think Jigs will have you for that one taroona. Unless your'e from Taroona?
Grew up at Kingston Beach and went to Taroona High in the 60's. Learnt to sail at 14 when in the sea scouts at kingston beachOriginally Posted by wilcara
This place seems full of escaped tasmanians! (New Town/St Virgils 61-70)
G'day Richo,
To have DSC enabled you need a license. If you have a license you apply for the MMSI code to enter into your radio.
If you activate a DSC alert you will send your MMSI code.
If you have a GPS interface it will send your position.
Good VHF radios allow the operator to edit the message being sent - same as texting on a mobile but scolling menus and selecting options.
You can usually edit for the following, depending on radio: Stations being called or all stations; the priority (mayday, pan-pan, etc); your last position (if you don't have a GPS interface); and some radios allow some free text, such as "Sinking".
Typically, a distress message would be sent to all stations. All stations should start a radio log of the call and monitor the distress channel, waiting for a coast or limited coast station to acknowledge. If this hasn't happened for about a minute stations that received the message should send a relay distress message and wait. If there is still no acknowledgement stations that received the message should coordinate the rescue based on location and capability.
Hope this helps.
White Pointer
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