NOVIKONTAS MARITIME COLLEGE

GMDSS (subject name)

1.1 (exercise number)
On board communication equipment
(topic of the subject)

Teacher:
Student: S.Agejevs
ID (personal number): _________

29.07.2016 (date of work completion)

The basic concept of the system is that search and rescue authorities ashore, as well as shipping in the immediate
vicinity of the ship in distress, will be rapidly alerted to a distress incident so they can assist in a co-ordinated search
and rescue operation with the minimum delay. The system will also provide for urgency and safety communications
and the dissemination of marine safety information, including navigational and meteorological warnings. In other
words, every ship will be able, irrespective of the area in which it operates, to perform those communication
functions considered essential for the safety of the ship itself and of other ships operating in the same area.

Recognising that the different radio subsystems incorporated in the global system have individual limitations with
respect to the geographical coverage and services provided, the equipment required to be carried by a ship will be
determined in principle by the ship's area of operation, which has been designated as follows:

Area AI - within range of shore-based VHF coast stations (20-30 miles);

Area A2 - within range of shore-based MF coast stations (excluding A1 areas) in the order of 100 miles;

Area A3 - within the coverage area of geostationary maritime communication satellites (excluding A1 and A2)
approximately between 70°N and 70°S;

Area A4 - the remaining sea areas outside areas A1, A2 and A3. In all areas of operation the continuous availability of
alerting should be provided.

Functions of the GMDSS .

The system requirements and design may be considered under the following functions, which should be performed
efficiently:

Alerting .

Distress alerting is the rapid and successful reporting of a distress incident to a unit which can provide or co-ordinate
assistance. This would be another ship in the vicinity or a Rescue Coordination Centre (RCC). When an alert is
received by an RCC, normally via a Coast station or Coast Earth station, the RCC will relay the alert to SAR units and
to ships in the vicinity of the distress incident. A distress alert should indicate the identification and position of the
distress and, where practicable, its nature and other Information which could be used for rescue operations.
The communication arrangements are designed to enable distress alerting to be performed in all three directions:
ship-to-shore, ship-to-ship and shore-to-ship, in all sea areas. The probability of a successful alert will be high and, as
the alerting tune is expected to be short, response should be rapid, thereby increasing the likelihood of successful
rescue. However, ship-to-ship alerting is designed to be effective at distances of up to about 100 miles. When there
is no ship within about 100 miles of the ship in distress, the system is designed to enable assistance to be provided
through arrangement made from the shore, using either satellite or HF communications, or a combination of both.

Communications systems for use in the GMDSS .

Satellite communications .

The use of satellite communications to improve maritime safety is particularly important for the introduction of the
GMDSS and for establishing a reliable communication network..

Satellite communications will be used in both ship-to-shore and shore-to-ship directions. The INMARSAT satellite
system, which employs geostationary satellites and operates in the 1.5 and 1.6 GHz frequency bands, will provide a
means of alerting from ships by using ship earth stations or satellite EPIRBs and a capability for two-way
communications using radiotelex and optionally radiotelephone.

Broadcasts of Marine Safety Information to ships using radiotelex will also be provided through the INMARSAT
system using either a standard ship earth station and associated equipment or dedicated facilities.

A near polar-orbiting satellite EPIRB service (COSPAS-SARSAT system ), operating in the 406 - 406.1 MHz frequency
band, will provide a main means of distress alerting and determining the location of float-free satellite EPIRBs
operating through the system.

Two types of shipborne equipment will be used for satellite communications:

 ship earth stations, approved by INMARSAT

 satellite EPIRBs capable of being activated manually and of being activated on floating free from a sinking ship.
INMARSAT C communications networks use the satellites.

The INMARSAT C system provides text and data communication to and from ships via the INMARSAT satellite
system. This system is based on digital technology, which means that anything that can be encoded into digital data,
whether it be text typed in, numeric data read from instruments, or other information in digital form, can be
transmitted and received by the system.

The satellites are identified by the primary ocean area which they serve. The current FOUR satellites are positioned
over the equator at:

• Atlantic ocean Region-East - 15.5° West

• Atlantic ocean Region-West - 55.5° West

• Pacific Ocean Region - 180.0° East

• Indian Ocean Region - 64.5° East .

Coverage of the satellites is 'line of sight' and being in a geostationary orbit the satellites provide continuous
coverage, at 0° elevation, from 76°N to 76°S, normally a 5°elevation is required for reliable communication.
EPIRB

The Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon ( EPIRB ) will provide the survival craft with a means of
communicating the survivors plight to the world should circumstances have prevented the transmission of a Distress
Alert from the parent craft.

EPIRB’s of the COSPAS / SARSAT system radiate signals on 406.l MHz which can be picked-up by dedicated satellites
locked in polar orbit. Any such satellite which receives an EPIRB transmission will automatically compute the position
of the EPIRB on the earth's surface, and communicate this information down to a control station on earth. The
corresponding MRCC can then alert vessels and aircraft in the vicinity of the EPIRB's location.

Survival craft in the GMDSS system will, therefore, be equipped with;

a means of distress alerting (EPIRB),

a source of locating and homing signals (SART),

and a means of two-way voice communication between ships, aircraft (or other survival craft).

Terrestrial communications .

Long-range service

HF will provide long-range service for use in the ship-to-shore and shore-to-ship directions. In areas covered by
INMARSAT it can be used as an alternative to satellite communications and outside these areas it will provide the
only long-range communications capability.

Frequencies have been designated in the 4, 6, 8,12 and 16 MHz bands for provide means for transmitting and
receiving distress alerts and safety calls and for passing distress and safety traffic.

Digital Selective Calling ( DSC ) will form the basis for distress alerting and safety calling. Coast stations participating
in the HF distress and safety watchkeeping network will need to choose from the five available frequency bands
relaying an alert. The choice will depend on the position of the ship in distress, the geographical area to be alerted
and the current propagation characteristics. It is envisaged that ships equipped with the HF option will maintain a
watch on the 8 MHz alerting frequency and one of the other dedicated HF frequencies. The latter will be the
frequency most appropriate to the area in which the ship is sailing.

Distress and safety communications following DSC calling will be performed by radiotelephony or Narrow Band
Direct Printing (NBDP) or both.

Medium-range service .

A medium-range service will be provided on frequencies in the 2 MHz band. In the ship-to-shore , ship-to-ship and
shore-to-ship directions 2187.5 kHz will be used for distress alerts and safety calls by DSC , and 2182 kHz will be used
for distress and safety traffic by radiotelephony, including SAR co-ordinating functions and on-scene communications
. 2174.5 kHz will be used for distress and safety traffic by radiotelex (NBDP ).
NAVTEX (NAVigational TelEX) is an international telex system and is one of the most important elements of the
GMDSS. The system makes it possible for ships sailing in coastal waters to receive safety messages at distances of up
to 400 nautical miles offshore.

MSI messages can be transmitted by the NAVTEX system via the INMARSAT EGC system, or via short wave (HF) telex
narrow band direct printing (NBDP).

The dedicated transmitting frequency of the NAVTEX system is 518 kHz.

The system uses only one single frequency. To avoid mutual interference, both limited transmitter power and
frequency time-sharing is required. Careful coordination of broadcast schedules is imperative, and gives room for up
to 24 stations in one NAVAREA. These 24 stations are divided into 4 groups consisting of 6 transmitting stations.
Every group is allowed one hour of transmission time, and this means that every station can be "on the air" for 10
minutes every four hours. Areas with few stations will allow longer transmitting times.

10.3 NAVAREAs .

There are 21 of different NAVAREA areas. The NAVTEX stations are geographically separated (A-Z), and the stations
have their own "hours of duty". Within the different NAVAREAs, every NAVTEX station has its own identification
character. This character is always a part of the preamble to the message.

The subject indicators in use are:

A - Navigational warnings,*

B - Meteorological warnings,*

C - Ice reports ,

D - Search and Rescue Information,*

E - Meteorological forecasts,

F - Pilot service messages,

G - Decca messages,

H - Loran messages,

I - Omega messages,

J - Satnav messages,

Other electronic nav.aid messages,**

L - Navigational warnings - additional to letter A,***

V,W,X,Y - Special services - trial allocations for special

purposes e. g. NANTEX transmissions in

 a national language ,

Z - No messages on hand.

Remarks : * - Cannot be rejected by the receiver.

** - Messages concerning radionavigation services.

*** - Should not be rejected by the receiver

Short-range service.

VHF BAND 156 MHz - 174 MHz .

Provision of VHF channels .

All ships which operate a VHF service must- have:

• Channel 16 (156.8 MHz) - Distress and calling channel.

• Channel 06 (156.3 MHz) - Primary inter-ship channel.

• Channel 13 (156.65 MHz)- Inter-ship Navigational safety.

• All other channels necessary for their service

Communications for dissemination of Marine Safety Information

These communications will provide for the collection and dissemination of information which might either help in
preventing an accident or reducing its effect or, when a distress occurs, to expedite the SAR operations. They include
ship position and movement reports, navigational and meteorological warnings and all other urgency and safety
messages.

Such communications will include messages on distress and safety traffic frequencies and broadcasting messages
from shore-to-ship by NAVTEX on 518 kHz, and by INMARSAT Enhanced Group Call service or by HF, which services
are expected to be integrated in a co-ordinated system for the promulgation of Maritime Safety Information.

Digital Selective Calling ( DSC ) .

DSC forms a major part of the GMDSS system for both urgent and routine communications. DSC is a form of
medium-speed data transmission in which information is inputted to an encoder which converts it into a data format
prior to transmission which can be decoded by a distant machine on reception .

GMDSS fitted ships are allocated a unique 9-digit Maritime Mobile Station Identification number ( MMSI ) , and
similarly Coast Station also have a unique 9-digit MMSI .

Ships can call other stations by programming the called stations MMSI into the encoder, the transmitted data being
recognised by the decoder programmed to respond to that 9 -digit number. Ships in distress can contact other
stations by transmitting a 'distress alert', a call which will be recognised by all other decoders which receive the
transmission.

DSC is covered in detail in the regulations section of these notes. VHF, MF and HF bands are used to support DSC.

Ship equipment carriage requirements .

Some of the important general principles being used to formulate the global carriage requirements for ships subject
to the 1974 SOLAS Convention are as follows:

 every ship shall be provided with equipment capable of performing each of the functions described earlier, as
appropriate its area of operation. using at least one of the prescribed radiocommunication techniques;

 every ship shall be provided with at least two separate and independent radiocommunication system to perform
the alerting function;

 except as described above, an item of equipment fitted to a ship may perform more than one function and may be
associated, with more than one radiocommunication system;

 equipment to be carried on ships will be simple to operate and, wherever appropriate, be designed for unattended
operation;

 survival craft shall be provided with a 9 GHz SAR radar transponder.

SART .

SART is the abbreviation of Search And Rescue Radar Transponder, will transmit homing and locating signals for
vessels engaged in the search for survival craft (and survivors). As with the portable VHF equipment, the range of the
SART transmissions are directly related to its height. SART’s are supplied, with a mounting pole - this has been
confused with the antenna, resulting in the SART being operated up-side down . The SART, mounted on the top of
the pole to give it a height advantage, should if possible be held aloft thus further increasing its height. Under such
conditions it will have an effective range of approximately 4 nm .

Vessels engaged in SAR operations should switch to their 3 cm radar system when approaching the scene of the
incident. The SART response at approximately 4 miles will take the form of a radial line of dots on the radar screen.
As the SART is approached the line of dots will extend into arcs which will widen and subsequently merge into a
'bulls-eye' pattern when alongside the SART location .

 survival craft shall be provided with equipment capable of performing the on-scene communications function by
VHF radiotelephony;

Portable two-way VHF radio-telephone equipment .

This will be in the form of conventional marine "walkie-talkie " equipment, powered from rechargeable batteries and
operating on Channel 16 ( Distress and calling channel ) and 06 ( Primary inter-ship and ship-aircraft during Search
and Rescue operations).

As with ship-board VHF, the maximum range of the equipment will be determined by the height of the antenna - the
higher it is the greater will be the range (this will not be a problem when you are in communication with aircraft
engaged in SAR operations). For this reason, the portable VHF should be used as high above the surface of the sea as
is practical. Power does not have a significant influence of the range of a VHF transceiver.

Survival Craft Radio Equipment.

To date, survival craft ( lifeboat, liferaft ) radio equipment has consisted of either permanently fitted or portable
equipment capable of communication on 500 kHz and 8,364 kHz by morse telegraphy and on 2,182 kHz by voice.

The introduction of GMDSS will render this equipment obsolescent. Its place will be taken by three, separate pieces
of equipment:

 portable two way VHF radio telephone,

 SART,

 EPIRB .

Areas

Up to 30 miles from the coast can be covered by VHF.

 Up to 150 miles from the coast can be covered by MF.

 Beyond 150 miles is covered by HF.

VHF - Very High Frequency. -The band of frequencies between 156 -174 MHz.

MF - Medium Frequency. -The band of frequencies between 300 kHz up to 3 MHz.

HF - High Frequency. -The band of frequencies between 3 MHz up to 30 MHz.

MF and VHF services are provided by coast stations located at intervals along with shore-line; hence the name 'coast
station'. Such stations provide ship-shore communications up to approximately 150 miles from the coast.
HF services which provide world-wide, long-range ship-shore communications are operated from a number of
specialised radio stations. Each major developed country which, has a vested interest in ship-shore communications
will have, as a minimum, one such station. HF stations do not, as a rule, operate MF or VHF services.

Provisional carriage requirements for ships sailing In GMDSS areas can be summarised as follows:

 area A1 ships will carry VHF equipment;

 area A2 ships will carry VHF and MF equipment;

 area A3 ships will carry VHF, MF and either HF or satellite equipment;

 area A4 ships will carry VHF, MF and HF equipment;

all area A2, A3 and A4 ships will carry a satellite EPIRB;

all area A1 ships will carry either a satellite EPIRB or a VHF EPIRB;

Types of communications .

Distress , Urgency and Safety Communications .

Marine radio communications are organised with an order of priority.

At the 'top of the pile' so to speak, is Distress and all radio communications associated with the incident. After
Distress is the Urgency category followed by Safety communications.
Distress communications are those relating to the safety of a person, or that of the ship and her crew.

Urgency communications cover such incidents as 'man-overboard', urgent medical advice and other types of
assistance which, unless procured quickly may result in an Urgency situation turning into a Distress.

Safety communications involve routine weather information, gale and storm warnings, navigational warnings.

Public correspondence .

Public correspondence is the routine ship-shore communications in which both private and “official ships' business"
traffic is involved.

It can take the form of telephone calls, radio telex letters ( RTL ) or telegrams which may be transmitted either by
Coast Stations equipped to handle such traffic or by INMARSAT satellite.

Port Operations Service .

The port operations service is confined to within the port limits and is handled by VHF.

Ships entering or leaving port, manoeuvring within port, or requiring assistance - in case of emergency (ship fire etc.)
can contact port operations by VHF.

Public correspondence cannot be handled by a Port Operations Station.

Inter-ship Communications .

Inter-ship communications are ship-ship radio communications primarily intended for safe navigation purposes. In
some extreme cases inter-ship communications can be extended to ships' official business or even personal radio-
telephone calls to parties between ships.

Inter-ship communications are normally conducted by VHF on channels assigned for inter-ship communications.
On-board Communications .

On-board communications are those carried out by radio ( walkie- talkie ) using channels in the VHF band of
frequencies, and which are intended to assist in mooring operations, or when the ship is approaching an anchorage.
The use of portable radio equipment can be extended to cargo handling operations, or for use during 'boat-drill' and
similar exercises.

Marine applications:

The MF band supports radio-location ( DF ) beacons, NAVTEX, DSC (routine and distress), telex and radio-telephony
(routing and distress) ship-ship and ship-shore.

The HF band supports DSC (routine and distress), telex, facsimile and radio-telephony ship-shore and ship-aircraft.

The VHF band supports DSC, radio-telephony ship-ship and ship- shore and ship-aircraft, EPIRBs.

The UHF band supports COSPAS / SARSAT EPIRB's, INMARSAT ship-satellite links.
The SHF band supports INMARSAT shore-satellite links, SART's and 3 cm Radar.

Remark : The 10 cm Radar band, 1.6 - 5.2 GHz spans both UHF

and SHP bands.

GMDSS batteries provide power to GMDSS equipments in case ship’s main as well as emergency power fail. The
requirement of GMDSS batteries is governed by Regulation 13, Chapter 4 of SOLAS.

As per SOLAS, GMDSS batteries should provide power to operate GMDSS for

1 hour in case GMDSS has the power from emergency generators

6 hours in case GMDSS does not have the power from emergency generators.

Batteries must be recharged to the required minimum in less than 10 hours.

The capacity of the batteries must be checked at interval of less than 12 months.

Maintaining the GMDSS batteries in excellent condition is important to have them ready in emergency. There are
typically three type of tests/Maintenance done on GMDSS batteries.

Daily on Load/Off Load test

Yearly Capacity test

General Maintenance required on the battery.

Traffic Report ( TR ) .
Ships should send traffic reports to coast stations;

• when leaving port ;

• when transferring from one coast station service area to that of another ;

• when entering port and closing down the radio station ;

The traffic report consists of :

• TR ;

• Ships name/Call sign ;

• Current position ;

• Next port of call .

A traffic report has a higher priority than official ship business traffic or private traffic, and must, therefore, be sent
before such traffic.

Methods of calling, reply to calls and signal preparatory to the exchange of traffic .

The call consists of :

• the name/call sign of the called station (not more than three times);

• THIS IS ;

• the name/call sign of the calling station ( not more than three times) .

On VHF, when conditions are good, the call on the working channel may be abbreviated to :

• the name/call sign of the called station ;

• THIS IS ;
 • the name/call sign of the calling station .

When the ship has more than one telegram/telephone call, or other traffic to clear through the coast station, this
fact must included in the initial call.

Radio telephone calls are known as “ link calls ” - a radio link between ship and shore.

Establishing contact using Distress and Calling frequency.

Coast Stations which do not keep continuous listening watch on their working frequencies/channels have to be
contacted using the

Distress and Calling frequency/channel of the appropriate band ( 2182 kHz MF, Channel 16 VHF ).

The caning format is that already explained in this Section, but in addition to indicating the type and quantity of
traffic on hand, the ship will also have to nominate a 'working frequency' onto which it will transfer, after
establishing contact, to clear its traffic. The coast station in reply will also specify the 'working frequency' it will use.

Although the ship will nominate a 'working frequency', the final decision rests with the coast station as to whether or
not it is acceptable. If it is acceptable, agreement will be indicated by the use of the word "ROGER" .

Control of working .

Ship - Shore .

When a coast station is called by several ships simultaneously, the coast station will decide on the order in which the
ships will be worked. The decision will be made on priority of the traffic, and the number of telegrams/telephone
calls in order to allow maximum time for each ship.

In addition, the Coast Station also controls the time duration of radio telephone calls for charging purposes. At the
end of each telephone call, the coast station operator will advise either "minimum charge ( 3 minutes is the
minimum) " or will advice the time in minutes "That was a five minute call" etc.
Ship - Ship .

In the case of inter-ship communications, it is the called ship which controls the communications ( it may be
convenient for the calling ship to contact you, but it may not be convenient for the called ship to handle to call then
and there ) .

Difficulties in establishing contact .

When calling a station which does not reply immediately, the call may be repeated at two minute intervals up to a
maximum of three consecutive calls .

After this a three minute gap should elapse before re-commencing with the call. However, before renewing the
calling the ship operator must ascertain that further calling will not cause interference to other communications.

When waiting to call a coast station on a working frequency ( assuming traffic is being exchanged on the frequency )
the ship transmitter must be placed on 'stand-by' so that no signals which could cause interference are radiated .

Difficulty in reception .

If the stallion called is unable to accepts traffic immediately, it will respond with WAIT …. MINUTES. i.e. WAIT ONE .

If the probable delay is likely to be in excess of 10 minutes a reason for the delay will be given .

If the called station receives a call , but is not certain that the call is intended for it , the station should do nothing
until the call has been repeated and understood .

When a station receives a call which is intended for it, but is uncertain of the identification of the calling station, it
should reply immediately , on the appropriate frequency with

STATION CALLING …….. ( your name/call sign )

PLEASE REPEAT YOUR CALL

 Radio telephone calls .

On the working frequency/channel, the following procedure will be adopted :

Ship - Coast Station :

Coast station operator dials number, then responds with :

The party on board ship speaks to the called party ashore. The call is considered terminated when the shore
subscriber replaces the telephone handset in the cradle.

Radio telegrams .

When radiotelegrams have to be transmitted by telephony, the

following procedure should be adopted.

The telegram is made up of four parts :

• the preamble ;

• the address ;

• the text ;

• the signature ( optional ) .

The preamble is made up of :

• Prefix

• Office of Origin

• Serial number
 • Number of words

• Date

• Time

• Service Instructions.

Prefix :

This is relates arrival determined by the text of the telegram. It the text to ships' official business ( e.g. require on
arrival 2,000 tonnes bunkers etc. ) , the prefix will be "MSG" .

Office of Origin :

The place where the telegram originates from. On a ship this will be the ships name, e.g. "Kaunas".

Serial Number:

A consecutive numbering system for all telegrams. The numbering starts at '1' at midnight UTC each day, with a
separate numbering sequence for each coast station worked.

Number of words :

This shows both the 'chargeable' number of words and the 'actual' number of words in the telegram. ( This includes
all words in the address, text and signature ).

For charging purposes, a word comprises 10 characters ( letters, numerals, punctuation marks etc.) . Any word
having more than 10 characters will be charged as two words, up to a maximum of 20 characters. If the word has 21
characters it will be charged as three words etc.
(new page)Task Nr2. _______________________ etc.
Conclusion...
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